Vince Grippi

TACOMA – There is an easy way to open any state basketball tournament. Jump ahead, extend your lead, play subs and rest for Day 2. It was a formula both University and Lewis and Clark used Wednesday on opening day of the girls State 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome.

The Ferris High boys will open the WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington State 4A Basketball Tournament on Wednesday in Tacoma against Evergreen, the same school the Saxons' football team opened the season against in the Emerald City Kickoff Classic. But the faces won't be familiar. The second-ranked Saxons (23-3 and regional champions) have five players – Caleb Rath, Shawn Stockton, Bryon Stevens, Erick Cheadle and Jared Karstetter – who played in the football game. Evergreen? Zero.

The Ferris Saxons tied for the Greater Spokane League boys basketball title this season and cruised through the regular season 20-1. Then they lost two straight in district play, making the road for a return trip to the WIAA State 4A basketball tournament a long one. Saturday night the Saxons completed the three-game sweep through the ConAgra Foods/Lamb Weston Eastern Regional with a 47-26 rout of Central Valley in the championship game at Kennewick's Toyota Center.

On a day when University cemented its position as the best girls basketball team on the east side of the state, Gonzaga Prep came up short – literally. The Pups (21-5), who played no one taller than 5-foot-10, lost a winner-to-state game, 49-41, Saturday night at the ConAgra Foods/Lamb Weston 4A Eastern Regional to an Eisenhower team that featured 6-3 Cassie Robbins inside.

KENNEWICK – They call it Bruin Lob – a sideline out-of-bounds play. The Central Valley Bears ran it with 10 seconds left Friday night in their ConAgra Foods/Lamb Weston Eastern Regional basketball semifinal with Gonzaga Prep. And they ran it to perfection.

KENNEWICK – As Eisenhower's girls basketball team had cruised through an undefeated regular season, they used their press to impose their will. On Friday night at the Toyota Center, Lewis and Clark refused to submit. Instead, the Tigers did the opposite, pressing, forcing turnovers and dominating on both sides of the ball en route to 67-42 ConAgra Foods/Lamb Weston Eastern Regional semifinal win and a berth in next week's State 4A tournament in Tacoma.

University High boys basketball coach Marty Jessett has resigned his position, citing a desire to spend more time with his children. "They're 11 and 6 and they're only going to be young once," Jessett said. "They get to that age where they want to do a lot of things, and as a basketball coach you just don't have the time to spend with them. It's time for me to stop doing my thing and help them do theirs."

It was a Tuesday night lit up by the stars in the first round of the ConAgra Foods/Lamb Weston Eastern Regional basketball playoffs. Tara Cronin and Sarah Jennings combined for 40 points – and the biggest baskets – as the Greater Spokane League's third seed, Gonzaga Prep, went on the road to defeat Richland, the Big Nine's No. 2 seed, 64-45.

The Whitworth College Pirates knew who had to have the ball in their hands in the final minute of their 69-66 Northwest Conference playoff win over visiting Willamette on Thursday night. Their senior leaders, NWC Most Valuable Player Lance Pecht and second-teamer George Tucker, were the obvious choices.

Been there, done that – and let's don't repeat it. That was the attitude Central Valley High's girls took into Tuesday night's District 8 4A loser-out basketball game at Mead.

The Freeman girls packed in their defense Saturday night and are ready to make a trip to Brewster next week, defeating No. 1-ranked Colfax for the first time this year, 55-44 in the District 7 1A basketball championship at Mead High. All was not lost in Colfax, however, as its boys rallied in the second half to down Kettle Falls 60-45, also earning a winner-to-state game at Brewster against the Caribou Trail League's No. 3 seed.

University's 57-49 victory over Lewis and Clark's girls Thursday night marked the end of basketball's regular season in the Greater Spokane League. It also finalized the 2005-2006 scoring leaders. On the girls' side of the ledger, U-Hi's Angie Bjorklund repeated as league scoring champion, raising her per-game average to 19.8 (in 13 games) from last season's 18.7. Heidi Heintz of Central Valley, third last year, finished second at 19.1 with Clarkston's Misty Atkinson next at 18.0.

Tyler Hobbs knows what the key is for the ninth-ranked West Valley Eagles boys basketball team. "We play our best when we are rebounding at our best," the 6-foot-4 senior said Thursday night.

Call it execution by execution. The Whitworth Pirates put together 18 minutes of near-perfect offensive execution Saturday night, using the stretch to energize an easy 78-61 victory over Pacific Lutheran.

When playing the Puget Sound Loggers, there is pressure put on your point guard. Enough pressure to break him. Or make a diamond. In Bryan Williams' case Friday night – during host Whitworth's 98-74 victory over the 11th-ranked Loggers before a season-high crowd of 1,305 – it was the latter.

Greater Spokane League activities coordinators agreed to a new football schedule Wednesday for the fall season. With it, the Tuesday night state playoff play-in games became a thing of the past.

A box score rarely tells the whole story. It certainly didn't Tuesday night at University High, because there's no column labeled grit.

Basketball coaches love to talk about matchups, and how much each game revolves around who you are playing and what they can do. Nothing could illustrate that point better than Whitworth College's 90-54 Northwest Conference victory Saturday night over Linfield before an alumni-night crowd of 825 at the Fieldhouse.

Sometimes a basketball game builds slowly. A quiet first half yields to a quicker tempo as the second half moves on. Then, as the end comes into view, the intensity builds and builds. Such was the case Friday night at the Whitworth College Fieldhouse.

Change is coming next year to Spokane's longest-running high school event, the State B basketball tournament. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's executive board voted Monday to hold the 2B Basketball Tournament in Spokane starting in March 2007, but to send the smaller 1B schools to Yakima.

The Pacific Boxers came into Whitworth's Fieldhouse on Saturday night saddled with a six-game losing streak. Fifteen minutes into the opening half, it was obvious that streak was going to reach seven. Riding the long-range shooting of Jon Young and an efficient defense, the Pirates broke out to a 22-point first-half lead en route to an 86-73 Northwest Conference men's basketball victory before 585 fans.

Lance Pecht scored a career-high 29 points Tuesday night, helping the Whitworth Pirates survive the Whitman Missionaries 94-86 before 560 fans at the Fieldhouse. None of Pecht's points was more important than his final three, coming with 56 seconds left and the Pirates leading 83-80. With the 35-second clock winding down, Pecht rose from the left side and buried a 20-footer.