Ach Shocks Curlew; Davenport Advances

Northeast B

The final pieces are in place for Saturday’s Northeast B championships as the Almira/CouleeHartline boys and Davenport girls each won their respective semifinal games Thursday night at Spokane Falls Community College.

Cameron Carstensen hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Warrior boys a 54-51 victory over first-ranked Curlew (24-1), while in the girls bracket Jennifer Stinson scored 36 points to lead the Gorillas (24-1) past Almira/Coulee Hartline 57-43.

In a pair of loser-out games, the Republic boys crushed WilburCreston 45-29, and the Selkirk girls beat Columbia 44-35.

BOYS

Almira/Coulee-Hartline nearly blew a 49-41 lead with 2:25 remaining, but thanks to Carstensen’s long-distance heroics and a few untimely Cougar mistakes hung on to beat Curlew.

Carstensen received an inbounds pass with 5.6 seconds remaining and sprinted 3/4 the length of the court to hoist up a shot well beyond the 3-point arc.

“I figured we had to get a shot up soon so I came down to the right and looked to see if anybody was open on the break,” Carstensen said. “No one was open so I just left it off my hand. I figured it was short or it was long, but somehow it went in.”

Warrior coach Jim Wacker said his players made things harder on themselves by missing some free throws down the stretch but praised the team’s overall effort.

“We wanted to take the ball to the basket against them (Curlew),” Wacker said. “They spread out their 2-3 zone, we wanted to penetrate the thing - take the ball to ‘em. Then when they went man, same principle, take the ball to the basket on them. We got them in foul trouble and just kept pounding into them.”

The Cougars committed 20 fouls, 14 by their top three scorers, Curt Nelson, Gary Hughes and Wes Paul.

Almira/Coulee-Hartline will meet Nortwest Christian (19-8) on Saturday at 7:45 p.m. with both teams advancing to state.

ACH 11 14 13 16 - 54

Curlew 14 15 9 13 - 51

ALMIRA COULEE-HARTLINE Pierce 2, Murray 8, Elder 12, Janzen 6, Slahtasky 4, Carstensen 12, Evers 0, Andersen 10.

CURLEW Baker 0, Paul 9, Brown 4, Miller 2, Edwards 1, Hughes 12, Wakefield 6, Nelson 17.

Republic 45, Wilbur-Creston 29

John Kuchenmeister grabbed 10 rebounds and scored 18 points to lift the Tigers (16-8) over the Wildcats (13-13).

Republic outrebounded WilburCreston 27-13 and the Wildcats shot 11 of 39 from the field.

Republic 9 10 17 9 - 45

Wilbur-Creston 4 7 6 12 - 29

REPUBLIC B.Burt 0, Hanks 0, Krohn 3, Baldwin 6, Grimm 0, Michaels 0, G.Burt 0, Rickard 16, Symmes 0, J.Kuchenmeister 18, K.Kuchenmeister 0, Hunt 2.

WILBUR-CRESTON Gochenour 4, L.Katich 5, Turner 13, S.Katich 0, Harris 1, Kuchenbuch 0, Bahr 0, Hanson 2, McMurray 4, Krause 0, Nelson 0.

GIRLS

Davenport led just 35-31 heading into the fourth quarter, but Almira/Coulee-Hartline could not control Stinson.

Stinson scored 20 second-half points - 11 of which came in the decisive fourth quarter - in addition to passing the 2,700 point mark in life-time scoring.

“They (ACH) did a really good job of defense on Jennifer (Stinson) in the first half,” Davenport coach Jim Stinson said. “So in the second half we told her to look for her shot and go to the hoop more.”

Stinson also credited his defense which forced 12 turnovers, recorded five steals, and limited the Warriors to 20 of 54 shooting from the field.

“I think one thing people overlook is how well we play defense and that’s really why we won the game,” the coach said.

Davenport will play defending state champ St. George’s (24-1) at 6 p.m. on Saturday in a repeat of last year’s State B title game.

“It’s something everybody waits for every year and it’s just unbelievable that we get to do it again,” Jim Stinson said. “I’m sure that St. George’s is just as happy or anxious to play as we are.”

ACH 12 10 9 12 - 43

Davenport 10 16 9 22 - 57

ALMIRA COULEE-HARTLINE Horter 0, Hennigh 0, Rock 3, Thiry 12, Peterson 19, Hunsaker 3, White 2, Durrant 4, Malone 0.

DAVENPORT Becker 4, K.Marriott 0, J.Emery 2, A.Marriott 9, Schreck 0, Warwick 3, C.Emery 0, Jacobsen 1, Stinson 36, Mikelson 2.

Selkirk 44, Columbia 35

Tasha Dickinson scored 14 points to help the Lions (16-9) eliminate the Rangers (15-11).

Each team struggled from the field, Selkirk converting just 18 of 63. Columbia made 11 of 51.

Columbia 3 11 8 13 - 35 Selkirk 15 8 10 11 - 44

COLUMBIA T.Skidmore 16, Schrack 0, J.Skidmore 5, Schwartz 2, Brisbois 7, Dashiell 5, Hofstetter 0.

SELKIRK P.Dickinson 9, T.Dickinson 14, Sharp 0, Smith 3, Pichette 4, Koontz 5, Dury 0, Porter 0, Carlson 9.