It’s Dayton, Wishkah! Wishkah Valley Wins School’s First-Ever Championship

The diminutive Oliver Wendell Holmes once said he felt like a dime among pennies at a particular gathering he attended where he was one of the smallest people in the room.

At the Coliseum Saturday night, the Tekoa-Oakesdale Nighthawks looked like dimes among silver dollars against the Wishkah Valley Loggers.

For that, the Loggers cashed in on their size advantage and made small change of the Nighthawks, winning the girls State B high school title 47-34.

Wishkah Valley (29-0) started the season No. 1 and finish it there.

“We were looking for the gold basketball after our quarterfinal loss to Pateros last year,” Loggers coach Rick McDougall said.

“On the wall in our locker room is a large map of Washington with the state championship trophy in the middle of it.

“Attached to it is a sign that reads, ‘Mission Impossible - Not! Prepare to Succeed.’ We did just that.”

Because of their talent, the Wishkah Valley team had indeed been faced with the pressure of winning this year’s title - something a Logger team had never done.

But with a frontline of players that seems to be just a tad bit lower than the elevation of the average Olympic peak, the expectation to win a title climbed as this team grew older.

“We’ve gotten a lot closer as friends since we lost last year,” Wishkah senior center Sissel Pierce said. “For me - in my last year - to win it all with my sister (Abbie) on the team, it’s been great. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Sophomore Abbie Pierce, two inches shorter than her 6-foot-5 sister, was the second-leading scorer, finishing with eight points. Her sister led the team in scoring with 13.

Wishkah will lose just Pierce and Ronda Moodenbaugh to graduation.

Did somebody say repeat?

“We’re just going to enjoy this for now and not even worry about that,” McDougall said.

For the Nighthawks, they capped a stellar postseason, finishing fourth in their division and forcing them to fight through the losers’ bracket in district play just to qualify for state.

“Throughout this tournament, I don’t think they were intimidated by anyone simply because they had been up against the wall so many times before,” T-O coach John Jaeger said.

Wishkah led 26-20 at halftime as the Nighthawks slowed the pace of the game to nearly a standstill in order to keep up with the bigger Loggers.

But in the second half, the Nighthawks’ offensive touch went south to Whitman County. T-O (20-10) shot 13 for 56 from the floor.

“The shots were there, we just didn’t hit them like our other games,” T-O point guard Stephanie Crider said.

The Nighthawks didn’t get their first basket of the second half until Brandi Peringer hit a 3-pointer with 4 minutes to play in the third quarter. She hit another shortly thereafter to move T-O within 30-26. A 7-2 Wishkah run at the end of the quarter iced the game.

Before the end of the third quarter, the Loggers got a scare when Crystal Teague stepped on a teammate’s foot and rolled her ankle. The ankle was slightly sprained and Teague left the game for good.

The younger Pierce came off the bench and immediately scored to put Wishkah on top 39-30 at the end of the third quarter.

“We expected them to slow the game down,” McDougall said. “At times our kids got taken out of the game plan, but in the end, we kept our focus.”

And for the first time since 1989 when Raymond won the title, the girls B championship trophy will be home to a team west of the Cascades.

MEMO: The story about the boys’ State B Tournament championship game is under the headline: It’s Dayton, Wishkah! \ Dayton uses ‘Will power’ to win first basketball title