Girls Court In Dome Raises Eyebrows
Same site, same crowd, same times.
Equality is supposed to be the byword at Class AA basketball tournaments.
Anyone sitting high enough in the Tacoma Dome stands can watch every boys and girls game.
The girls have every advantage given to the boys, it seems, except for one crucial case.
The boys play on the same court reserved for Seattle SuperSonics home games.
The girls get an older, Washington Interscholastic Activities Association-owned court that has more dead spots than a lawn soaked with gasoline.
Lakeside’s guards smirked during warmups Wednesday as they attempted to locate the deadest dead spots. Cheney’s players said they forgot about the bad area when the game began. That’s fine until someone tries to plant a leg, and there’s no give underneath.
Nobody can prove a direct link between the mediocre floor and injuries, but at least five girls injured their knees after 12 games.
The worst mishap, to Stanwood point guard Angie Schmitt, was a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the left knee that will sideline the senior for 6 to 9 months.
Schmitt’s replacement in the starting lineup Thursday, freshman Angie O’Connor, injured her left knee late in the first quarter of a quarterfinal loss to Blanchet. O’Connor was assisted off and the early diagnosis is a sprain.
Chief Sealth junior forward Fono Keni, the Seahawks’ second-leading scorer, reinjured her right knee Wednesday and was questionable for a quarterfinal against Cheney.
“I asked for a floor inspection before our game (with Stanwood),” said Blanchet coach Terry Wilkinson. “The floor manager suggested that I put my request in writing and submit it to the WIAA.”
“The WIAA does a tremendous job in staging these tournaments,” Wilkinson added, “but I think there are tremendous concerns with that floor.”
Leapin’ lizards
Ferndale’s boys were eliminated in two games, but they looked like world-beaters before Wednesday’s tournament-inaugural game.
The Golden Eagles soared above the rim, jamming like a heavy-metal band after a case of Jolt Cola.
One of the saner players, however, suspected something was amiss and called for an inspection. Tournament workers measured the rim at 9 feet, 8 inches - 4 inches lower than regulation.