Blackhawks And Indians Off To State

AA boys

Cheney’s girls and Colville’s boys have both been on an extended vacation from the high school state basketball tournament, but that’s about to change.

The Blackhawks (23-0), who made their last trip to the State AA tournament in 1984, mauled Colville 57-37 in the Excell Frontier League district tournament Friday night. Then Colville’s boys, who haven’t been to State since a Class A visit in 1973, walloped West Valley 73-47 at Eastern Washington University’s Reese Court.

The winners will be the Frontier’s representatives to next week’s AA tournaments in the Tacoma Dome, beginning Wednesday.

Colville 73, West Valley 47

The Eagles (19-5) saw their chances for a fourth straight trip to Tacoma vanish when they ran into a team that likes to run as much as they do, and Friday night, the Indians (13-11) did it better.

They did it with guard Mike Mostek, who made his first nine shots and finished with 28 points. They did it with post Joe Wilson, who made his first seven, blocked five shots and scored 15. Keith Grittner had four blocks and eight rebounds for Colville, and Matt Smith 12 points and eight boards.

Colville exploded out of the gate to a 7-0 lead in the first minute of the game and soon expanded that to 16-4. The Indians led 25-11 after one period.

Mostek scored 18 in the first half, hitting four 3-pointers, Wilson added 14 and Colville was up 44-26 with two quarters to play.

The Indians extended their lead to 29 points, 57-28, with a 13-2 run to start the second half, and an eight-point run by WV at the end of the third period didn’t do much to slow them down - Colville rallied for a 10-2 streak to start the fourth.

“It’s been a nice run,” said WV coach Joe Feist, “but we simply got beat by a better team tonight. They turned their season around when they beat us in Colville, and that confidence carried into the tournament.”

Greg Jones scored 17 points for West Valley.

Cheney 57, Colville 37

The Blackhawks outscored Colville 11-1 to start the game and began the second half with a nine-point run that extended their lead to 41-18 barely a minute into the third period. They led by 24, 47-23, at the end of the quarter.

“We felt it was important to get some runs early,” said Cheney coach Marty Jessett. “We didn’t want to let them stick around. Colville did a good job of responding to our press later on, but it produced some quick points for us early.”

The Indians, with no regular taller than 5-foot-8, simply had no way to defend 6-3 Jenny Hoots, who led the Hawks with 20 points. More importantly, she collected 19 rebounds and blocked five shots.

The impressive performance came after a lackluster effort a week ago, when she spend most of the second half on the bench in Cheney’s narrow escape against Pullman.

The Blackhawks also got a strong effort - abbreviated as it was - from Erin Soliday, who scored 16 points even though she played only three minutes of the second half before fouling out.

Cheney had an extraordinary evening on the boards, pounding the Indians 51-27. Melissa Krogh had nine rebounds as the Blackhawks owned their offensive boards, sometimes getting two or three chances if they needed them.

Chris Brozik led Colville with 14 points, but once the Indians lost contact late in the first period, they never got inside 11 points.

Colville 73, West Valley 47 West Valley 11 15 10 11 - 47 Colville 25 19 15 14 - 73

WEST VALLEY Elias 0 0-0 0, Schillinger 2 3-5 9, Sweet 0 0-0 0, Lindley 2 0-0 4, Stone 2 3-3 8, Mortensen 0 1-2 1, Schroder 0 1-2 1, Jones 7 2-3 17, Bonner 2 0-1 4, Pecht 1 0-0 2, Gregorak 0 0-0 0, Dilloo 0 1-2 1. Totals - 16 11-18 47.

COLVILLE Hardison 0 0-0 0, Mostek 10 2-2 26, Sprangers 2 0-0 5, Kane 0 0-2 0, P.Smith 0 0-0 0, Grittner 2 0-0 4, Wilson 8 1-2 17, M.Smith 6 0-0 12, Salina 0 0-0 0, Anderson 3 0-0 7, Barker 0 0-0 0. Totals - 31 5-8 73.

3-point goals - Schillinger 2, Jones, Mostek 4, Sprangers, Anderson. Total fouls - WV 10, Colville 20. Fouled out - none.

Cheney 57, Colville 37

Cheney 17 15 15 10 - 57 Colville 7 11 5 14 - 37

CHENEY Ewing 0 0-0 0, Bifano 0 0-0 0, Soliday 6 2-4 16, Getz 3 2-2 9, Richer 0 0-1 0, Day 3 0-2 6, Anderson 1 0-0 2, Sooy 0 0-2 0, Krogh 2 0-0 4, Reagan 0 0-0 0, Webster 0 0-0 0, Hoots 10 0-0 20. Totals 25 4-11 57.

COLVILLE Wood 0 0-0 0, Sherwood 0 0-0 0, Brozik 4 6-8 14, Ewan 1 1-4 3, Hedrick 0 0-0 0, Rukke 0 0-0 0, Brown 2 2-2 6, Anderson 1 2-2 4, Kuh 3 2-5 8, Snook 0 0-0 0, Wollan 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 13-21 37.

3-point goals - Soliday 2, Getz. Total fouls - Colville 17, Cheney 19. Fouled out - Soliday. Technical fouls - Colville bench.