Mead Wins Third Straight Title

GSL girls

The Mead Panthers achieved the near impossible Tuesday night - they got a rave review from their cautious coach.

Mead, the third-ranked girls team in the state, won its third straight Greater Spokane League title by demolishing No. 5 Central Valley 54-33 at the Arena.

And the game wasn’t that close.

“Didn’t we play great,” Mead coach Jeanne Helfer acknowledged with an ear-to-ear grin. “That is by far the best overall game my team has played from the first girl to the last player on the bench.”

Mead scored off the opening tip - Jennifer Bennett tipping to Stacy Clinesmith who dished to Jennifer Clark for a 5-footer - and never trailed. After CV’s Crystal Lee, the league’s scoring leader, converted a three-point play to cut the Mead lead to 11-8 with 3:15 left in the first quarter, the Panthers went on a 16-0 run over the next 8:12 to break the game open.

“We got beat,” said CV coach Dale Poffenroth, who had a wry smile of his own. “Mead stepped up. Stacy came to play but don’t just say that. All their other kids did, too. They’re not a one-person team, that’s what makes them so tough to beat.”

The Panthers (17-2, 14-1) pushed the lead to 36-14 at halftime, 44-16 after three quarters and the lead was 29 points with 6:21 to play.

“Others expect it more than we do,” Mead forward Jennifer Clark said of the Panthers’ fourth title in five years. “You never expect it but that’s one of our goals.”

Clinching by beating CV (16-3, 13-3) is a bonus.

“It’s always fun to play CV,” said Clinesmith, who had 14 of her 17 points in the first half. “CV is one of our biggest rivals in basketball.”

Mead did for a half on offensive and the whole game on defense.

“We played them straight up man,” Helfer said. “We got after it defensively. They played their guts out. “

With CV controlling the tempo and the non-related Clarks and Bennett dominating the inside, the outcome was never in doubt. The inside trio combined for 24 rebounds as the Panthers had 15 more rebounds than the Bears and allowed just more than 20 percent shooting.

A big part of that included Allison Beatty, who had the job of stopping Lee. Lee scored five points early and didn’t score again until Mead was ahead by 29.

Mead 54, Central Valley 33

Mead 15 21 8 10 - 54

Central Valley 8 6 2 17 - 33

MEAD Lunzer 0 0-0 0, Beatty 2 0-3 4, C.Clark 3 1-2 7, Turner 3 1-1 9, Zelinski 0 0-0 0, Cllinesmith 6 3-4 17, Leaf 0 0-0 0, Roberts 1 1-2 3, Wakefield 2 0-0 4, Edburg 1 3-5 5, J.Clark 2 1-2 5, Bennett 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-19 54. CENTRAL VALLEY Kallas 2 0-0 5, Carpenter 1 0-0 2, Ault 1 0-0 2, G.Clark 1 2-8 4, Macphee 0 1-2 1, Sanders 0 0-0 0, Lee 4 6-7 14, White 1 0-0 2, Jackson 1 0-0 3. Totals 11 9-17 33.

3-point goals - Turner 2, Clinesmith 2, Kallas, Jackson. Total fouls - M 15, CV 19. Fouled out - Beatty, Macphee.

Ferris 55, Lewis and Clark 31

Jayme Morrisette poured in 20 points and Amy George added 13 points and 14 rebounds as the Saxons (16-3, 13-2) pulled away from the Tigers (6-13, 2-13) in the second half at the Arena.

Jennifer Swinton added 12 points and 12 rebounds for Ferris, which won its fifth straight game.

Ferris 8 11 16 20 - 55

Lewis and Clark 4 9 8 10 - 31

FERRIS Pruett 0 1-2 1, George 4 5-9 13, Jay.Morrisette 7 3-5 20, Martin 1 0-0 3, Watkinson 1 0-0 2, Rasmussen 1 0-0 2, Brown 0 0-0 0, Curry 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-0 0, Swinton 4 4-4 12, Jan.Morrisette 0 2-4 2. Totals 18 15-24 55.

LEWIS AND CLARK Marquess 1 0-0 2, Barlow 0 0-0 0,Huddle 5 2-5 13, Davey 0 2-2 2, Giebel 1 0-0 3, Wendle 2 0-0 6, Springer 1 0-0 2, Thompson 0 1-2 1, Oeljen 1 0-0 2, Stillian 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 5-9 31.

3-point goals - Jamyme Morrisette 3, Martin, Huddle, Geibel, Wendle 2. Total fouls - Ferris 12, LC 17. Fouled out - Giebel.

Gonzaga Prep 41, Shadle Park 37

The Bullpups (11-8, 7-8) built a big lead and then held off the visiting Highlanders (11-8, 8-7).

Prep, which hit 18 of 31 free throws, allowed the Highlanders to erase a nine-point deficit, before grabbing the win. Shadle made just 4 of 13 free throws.

Shadle Park 6 8 8 15 - 37

Gonzaga Prep 9 10 12 10 - 41

SHADLE PARK Larkin 1 0-0 3, Christensen 1 0-2 2, Pilkington 5 1-2 11, Heimbigner 0 1-2 1, Drake 1 1-3 3, Alexander 1 0-0 3, Clary 1 0-0 3, Nelson 0 0-0 0, Potter 1 0-0 2, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Harchuck 3 1-4 7. Totals 14 4-13 37.

GONZAGA PREP Jordan 0 0-0 0, Bradley 2 0-4 4, Cronin 0 1-5 1, Kendrick 2 5-9 10, Hession 1 5-6 7, Williams 2 2-2 6, Palmer 4 3-3 11, Nadeau 0 2-2 2. Totals 11 18-31 41.

3-point goals - Larkin, Alexander, Clary, Kendrick. Total fouls - SP 24, GP 17. Fouled out - Heimbigner.

Rogers 54, North Central 36

Jaime Christensen scored a career-high 18 points to lead the Pirates (5-14, 4-11) past the Indians (0-19, 0-15) at NC.

Christensen hit four of six 3-pointers as Rogers earned its most wins in seven years.

Rogers 10 13 15 16 - 54

North Central 10 10 8 8 - 36

Rogers - Wells 1 0-0 2, Christensen 4 6-6 18, Tannehill 1 0-0 2, Bertholf 0 0-0 0, Delger 0 0-0 0, Abrahamson 3 0-0 6, Scott 1 0-2 2, Fairbanks 1 2-4 4, Flores 5 0-1 11, Mullerleile 4 1-2 9. Totals 15 9-15 54.

NORTH CENTRAL Young 3 1-4 7, Schumacher 5 2-8 12, Nelson 0 0-0 0, Delauder 0 3-4 3, Meredith 0 0-0 0, Emery-Cloy 0 0-0 0, Johnson 1 0-0 2, Wilson 2 0-1 4, Kostelecky 0 0-0 0, Hammond 1 1-2 3, Stotts-Johnson 0 0-0 0, Smith 2 1-2 5. Totals 14 8-21 36.

3-point goals - Christensen 4, Flores. Total fouls - Rogers 22, NC 10. Fouled out - Tannehill.

, DataTimes