Area basketball teams have their assignments for state

The 2014-15 basketball season was lean in terms of state qualifiers for the Greater Spokane League.

One team, the Gonzaga Prep girls, made the trip to Tacoma. Of course, the Bullpups left with a gold ball. It was just the second time in the league’s history that no boys teams made it over the mountains.

Lean has given way to prosperous for the GSL for state qualifiers this season. The GSL is sending the most teams ever, six.

And it’s the fourth time, and first time since 2002, that three boys teams are headed to Tacoma.

From 4A to 1B, teams learned their first-round draws Sunday.

The Central Valley and Gonzaga Prep boys had to be on opposite sides of the bracket because they were considered No. 1 seeds. CV by virtue of being a No. 1 already and G-Prep by virtue of beating a No. 1, Wenatchee.

And the odds were good that one of the three would end up being matched against No. 1-ranked and undefeated Federal Way.

Sure enough, Lewis and Clark (20-6) is matched up against defending state champ Federal Way (26-0) on Thursday, tipping off at 7:15 p.m.

CV (20-5) opens against Curtis (23-3) at 3:45 p.m. and G-Prep (21-3) meets Union (22-2) at 9 p.m.

“When we got three teams I knew there was going to be a difficult part to the draw,” LC coach Jim Redmon said. “When you get down to eight teams there are eight good teams. We’ll start doing our homework and go in and prepare and play it like it’s the next game. I don’t think you do anything else other than that. You can’t treat it as anything different.”

Federal Way is favored to repeat.

“I don’t know anything about them,” Federal Way coach Jerome Collins told the Tacoma newspaper. “I know they’ve got pretty good size, but other than that, I don’t not know.”

Collins knows the characteristics of GSL teams.

“Structure. Being physical. Running their stuff. And discipline,” he said. “We are more focused on what we do, and not so much on the opponent. We play better basketball focusing on what we do and do correctly.”

CV coach Rick Sloan flew over for the draw.

Sloan said he didn’t know what he gains by actually attending the draw live rather than watching the web stream.

“It’s something I’ve done every time we’ve qualified,” Sloan said, perhaps acknowledging that it would be superstitious not for him to attend the draw.

G-Prep coach Matty McIntyre was counting his blessings for his team to win a big road game Saturday over Wenatchee.

The Bullpups trailed 32-28 with 1:40 to go in a game where Wenatchee took the air out of the ball and the Bullpups shot poorly.

“We played our worst game of the season,” McIntyre said. “So to still be able to win a state-opening game is pretty impressive. We grinded out the win.”

In the girls, the two lone undefeated teams, No. 1-ranked CV (25-0) and Moses Lake (23-0) were paired. They meet at 12:15 p.m.

LC (18-6), on the other side of the bracket, takes on Snohomish (20-3) at 10:30 a.m.

CV coach Freddie Rehkow and his assistants gathered at the school to watch the draw. They invited their players but none showed up.

Rehkow thinks it shows his team – that features four sophomores and six freshmen – are more interested in just playing rather than which team they’re playing.

But the Bears players are quite familiar with Moses Lake. The Chiefs’ top players, the Loera sisters – Jessie, who has signed with Gonzaga University, and Jamie – play with most of the Bears in club ball.

Rehkow was disappointed that the lone undefeated teams were paired.

“There are eight good teams and you have to beat three of them to win it,” Rehkow said.

Rehkow said LC coach George Pfeifer “had to be dancing on the ceiling” with the draw.

Pfeifer had just finished watching one video of Snohomish and was preparing to watch a second when a reporter called.

“Snohomish is big, they’re the opposite of dribble-drive let’s put it that way,” Pfeifer said. “If they were a football team, they’d be in the Power I. They’re going to try to power the ball inside.”

While collecting as much information about his opponent is important, Pfeifer said his team won’t stray from its season-long motto.

“We’re going to do what we do,” he said.

In 3A girls, Mt. Spokane (14-10) is making its first trip to state.

The Wildcats drew undefeated Bellevue (25-0) in an opener at 3:45 p.m.

Bellevue features a younger sister of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.