Area 2A teams finish 0 for 4 at regionals

Sometimes the comeback gets you a win and sometimes it falls short.

The West Valley boys and Cheney girls saw both ends of the comeback saga Friday in Cheney.

At Cheney High, WV’s Eagles came from 13 points down to start the fourth quarter but could not overtake Toppenish in the 2A regional tournament, ending their season in a 68-62 loss.

In the end, the Central Washington Athletic Conference swept all four games Friday, leaving only the Great Northern League’s No. 1 seeds, the Pullman boys and Clarkston girls, with a shot at representing the league at next week’s state tournament in the SunDome in Yakima.

At Eastern Washington University, Cheney’s Blackhawks took a nine-point lead into the fourth quarter against Ephrata only to watch the Tigers claw back to earn a 50-48 win.

Wapato’s boys ended Medical Lake’s season, running away to a 61-44 win at EWU, while the girls ended Pullman’s season 61-41.

Girls

Ephrata 50, Cheney 48: Cheney went on a 16-0 run in the second quarter and the Blackhawks looked as though they could cruise to a rematch with Clarkston tonight in a first-round state tournament game.

Ephrata coach Aaron Ross saw the same quarter and knew his team could battle back.

“We talked in the locker room (at halftime) and I told them that, if they want to keep playing, they were going to have to get back to what got us here in the first place,” he said. “They’re seniors. They’ve been here before and they found it inside themselves to make it back. They don’t ever think they’re going to lose.”

Kendra DeHoog capped an 11-2 run with a field goal in traffic to make it 44-all, then answered a Cheney basket by Destinee Lake with a pair of free throws with 2:32 remaining, knotting the score at 46.

Kelsey Yenney made 3 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final 2 minutes, the last two with 5 seconds left, to give Ephrata the victory.

The Tigers take on East Valley (Yakima) tonight at 7:45.

Wapato 61, Pullman 41: The wheels came off for the Greyhounds in the third quarter.

Down by just a point at halftime, Pullman watched as the Wolves went on a 26-8 third-quarter tear that put the game away.

Sammi Jo Blodgett scored 24 points for Wapato to lead all scorers. Jenny Nakata led Pullman with nine.

Boys

Toppenish 68, West Valley 62: Shannon Isadore will haunt the Eagles’ shattered dreams of reaching the state tournament.

The Toppenish senior used an array of acrobatic shots, deft ball-handling and steely nerves from the free-throw line to pile up 31 points and end WV’s season.

Not that it comes as a surprise: Isadore was the CWAC MVP and the Eagles saw him in person this season, beating the Wildcats 68-59 in the third game of the year.

This time, Toppenish found plenty of open shots in the paint while the Eagles went cold from the field in the second quarter to fall behind by 12 at the half and by 13 going into the final period.

Back-to-back three-point plays by Dylan Ellsworth and Jake Love in the final minute got West Valley to within a 3-pointer of tying the game with the score 65-62, but Isadore slammed the door on the season by draining 3 of 4 free throws.

Isadore finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds and was 18 for 21 from the free-throw line.

Love finished with 28 points to lead the Eagles and Jordan Gassman added another 16.

Toppenish plays Ellensburg tonight at 6.

Wapato 61, Medical Lake 44: Trevor Shavehead led three Wolves in double figures as Wapato posted the wire-to-wire win and a chance to play Pullman tonight at 8.

Kendyl Dunn and Adam Paulson had 16 and 15 points, respectively, to lead Medical Lake.