Suspense, Not Surprises At Neb
The second day of the Northeast District B boys and girls basketball tournaments at Spokane Falls Community College produced no upsets Tuesday.
Still, it was anything but boring.
In the boys’ bracket, the Panorama League’s first seed, Curlew (24-0), survived Sorrell Katich’s six 3-pointers to defeat the Bi-County League’s fourth seed, Wilbur-Creston (13-12), 57-53. In an earlier game, Matt Elder’s baseline jumper at the buzzer gave Bi-County No. 4 Almira/Coulee-Hartline (19-5) a come-from-behind win over Republic (15-10), the Panorama No. 3, 42-41.
In girls’ games, Jennifer Stinson scored 19 points to lead the Bi-County’s top seed, Davenport (23-1), past the Panorama’s fourth seed, Selkirk (14-11), 63-46. Earlier, Christine Peterson scored 20 points to lift Almira/CouleeHartline (19-6), the Bi-County’s third seed, over Panorama No. 2 Columbia (16-8), 65-38.
BOYS
Bowe Browne’s three-point play with 40 seconds left sealed a win for Curlew in a game that had nine lead changes.
Browne was fouled while putting in a 5-foot jumper, and by hitting the ensuing foul shot he gave the top-ranked Cougars a 54-50 lead.
“They’re a very good ball team,” Curlew coach Steve Brown said of Wilbur-Creston. “A lot of their shots were going down, and it didn’t seem like ours were falling for us.”
Brown said his players were nervous, and it was sometimes evidenced by their shot selection. At least three times in the game’s latter stages, the Cougars heaved up low-percentage shots that missed when Curlew should have been protecting its slim lead.
“We were impatient,” Brown said. “This is just the second time we’ve been here in 15 years. I hope they (Cougars) got their first-game jitters out of the way, and Thursday night we might look a little different.”
Curlew 57, W-C 57
Wilbur Creston 15 10 10 18 - 53
Curlew 15 12 14 16 - 57
WILBUR-CRESTON Gochenour 11, L.Katich 18, Turner 3, Harris 0, Kuchenbuch 2, McMurray 15, Nelson 2, Katich 2.
CURLEW Paul 14, Harris 0, Brown 8, Hughes 17, Wakefield 14, Nelson 4.
ACH 42, Republic 41
The Warriors struggled from the field, making 16 of 43 shots, but Elder came through when Almira/CouleeHartline needed him most.
Warriors coach Jim Wacker said his team was looking to get the ball inside on its final possession before settling on Elder, who had hit 2 of 10 attempts prior to the game-winner.
“It was an awfully scary game,” Wacker said. “The kids were real tight and it was the first time here for these pups. It was an experience for us, we got away with one. They were the better team tonight.”
Republic 12 11 4 14 - 41
ACH 8 8 8 18 - 42
REPUBLIC Hanks 0, Krohn 10, Baldwin 4, Rickard 11, J.Kuchenmeister 15, Hunt 1.
ALMIRA COULEE-HARTLINE Pierce 2, Murray 2, Elder 8, Janzen 0, Slahtasky 6, Carstensen 17, Roberts 0, Andersen 7.
GIRLS
Davenport turned to its defense after Selkirk closed within 34-32 early in the third quarter, and the Gorillas defenders came up big.
Davenport forced nine steals and 12 turnovers in the second half to open up a 17-point lead.
Andee Marriott had four of the Gorillas’ 17 steals. “We were just more aggressive after being too lazy in the first half,” Marriott said.
Davenport 63, Selkirk 46
Davnprt 22 12 14 15 - 63
Selkirk 15 15 7 9 - 46
DAVENPORT Becker 4, K.Marriott 2, J.Emery 6, A.Marriott 11, Schreck 5, Pauls 2, Warwick 6, C.Emery 4, Jacobsen 0, Stinson 19, Mikelson 2, White 2, Cowdry 0.
SELKIRK P.Dickinson 4, T.Dickinson 14, Sharp 1, Smith 2, Grass 3, Pichette 10, Koontz 4, Dury 1, Porter 1, Carlson 6.
ACH 65, Columbia 38
The Warriors forced 21 turnovers and limited the Lions to 14-of-45 shooting from the field. Peterson had six steals, six assists and eight rebounds for ACH.
ACH 11 16 18 20 - 65
Columbia 8 6 12 12 - 38
ALMIRA COULEE-HARTLINE Horter 2, Hennigh 3, Rock 10, Thiry 4, Peterson 20, Hunsaker 9, White 2, Durrant 12, Malone 2, Dormaier 1.
COLUMBIA T.Skidmore 24, Schrack 0, MacMillan 2, J.Skidmore 8, Schwartz 0, Brisbois 4, Dashiell 0, Hofstetter 0. xxxx NEB DISTRICTS Today’s games at SFCC
Boys Davenport vs. St. George’s…3:15 p.m. NW Christian vs. Sprague-Harrington…7:45
Girls Inchelium vs. Reardan…1:30 p.m. Wilbur-Creston vs. St. George’s…6:00