Prep basketball playoff teams learn dates, times, sites

After having 20 hours to consider who they’re playing, Washington high school boys and girls basketball teams learned Sunday evening where and when they’re playing in state tournament openers Friday and Saturday.

Call it Assignment Sunday.

All four Greater Spokane League teams – the defending state champion Gonzaga Prep girls plus the Shadle Park girls, Rogers boys and Central Valley boys – will play at Mt. Spokane High School.

CV (20-5) goes against Moses Lake (16-5) on Friday at 8 p.m. The other three teams play Saturday. Arlington (21-3) faces off with Shadle Park (7-16) at 2 p.m., Lakeside of Seattle (20-7) meets Rogers (15-7) at 4 and Curtis of Tacoma (20-7) has the unenviable task of playing Gonzaga Prep (23-0) at 6.

Mt. Spokane and Cheney are the two regional sites in the Spokane area. There will be two games at both schools on Friday and six at both on Saturday.

Coaches were scrambling Sunday evening trying to track down film and scouting information on their opponents.

For CV coach Rick Sloan, not having a game until Friday is a change from the recent pattern.

After the Bears, as a No. 2 seed, lost their district opener, they’ve won four straight loser-out games in eight days.

“It’s been bang, bang, bang, game, game, game,” Sloan said. “Now it’s a week off.”

To keep his players fresh and focused, Sloan plans tapering back in practice.

“We’ll shorten practices a little bit, get them in and out quicker,” he said. “We’ll review some fundamentals, review basic stuff. Boys at this time of the year are champing to play a game. Practices are what coaches like.”

Late Saturday evening, the WIAA released the predetermined matchups for the six classifications. That was a change from last year when the activities association believed a handful of teams “threw” games for more preferable matchups.

The WIAA finalized the regional matchups in late January.

After all the state-qualifying games were finished Saturday, WIAA staff met Sunday to place the teams at various sites. No team is allowed to play on its home court. Where possible, boys and girls teams from the same school were assigned to the same site.

The 16-team fields will be trimmed to the final eight for the last three days of the Hardwood Classics in Tacoma, Yakima and Spokane.

• The East Valley and Lind-Ritzville/Sprague girls have the longest trips. EV faces Liberty at Renton and LRS heads to Tumwater to take on Napavine.

• Five area teams travel to Sunnyside for games Saturday: the Touchet, Colville and Northwest Christian girls and the Curlew and Riverside boys.

• The WIAA is using 16 venues for 96 games.

• Almira/Coulee-Hartline and Lakeside (Nine Miles Falls) will have both their boys and girls teams playing at Cheney.

• Riverside’s boys drew No. 1-ranked Zillah on Saturday at Sunnyside.