Eagles In Driver’s Seat In Frontier Tourneys

Frontier League

It was a great day to be an Eagle, Saturday at East Valley High School in the Frontier League district basketball tournament.

Three Frontier schools have both boys and girls teams remaining in the quest for two berths each in the State AA tourney beginning March 12, but only West Valley has both of them in the winners bracket, needing one victory to get to Tacoma.

The WV girls, regular-season Frontier champs and now winners in 17 of their last 18 games, hammered fourth-seeded Clarkston 53-37. The No. 3 Eagles boys recovered from a lethargic first half to race past No. 2 Cheney 74-55.

Both WV teams will face formidable opponents when the Frontier tournament resumes Friday at EV. The girls will play Cheney (19-2), which held on to edge surprising Riverside 46-43 Saturday, and the boys (15-7) will meet league champion Colville, which defeated No. 4 Clarkston 61-58.

Losers-bracket contests Friday will match the Riverside and Clarkston girls and the Cheney and Clarkston boys. Winners of those games will stay alive, needing Saturday victories over winners-bracket losers to secure the Frontier’s second berths to state.

Boys

WV 74, Cheney 55

The Eagles went on an incredible third-period offensive explosion, out-scoring Cheney 23-3 in the final 7:40 of the period after the Blackhawks had taken a 32-25 lead.

West Valley trailed by 11 points in the second period, but scored 51 in the second half as the Eagles played Cheney for the third time in eight days.

The Eagles were listless in the first half, but coach Joe Feist told them at halftime, “We may not win today, but at least we can play like winners.”

Josh Sweet led WV with 18 points, Vinnie Pecht had 10 points and 12 rebounds and Jade Cardwell scored 14. Austin Gerrells, scoreless at halftime, finished with 12.

The Eagles shot 67 percent from the field in the second half, and out-rebounded the Blackhawks for the game 38-23.

Paul Malisani was the only Cheney player in double figures, with 12 points. Three Hawks fouled out as Cheney (14-8) was whistled for 25 fouls to WV’s 11.

West Valley 6 17 25 26 - 74

Cheney 13 17 5 20 - 55

WEST VALLEY McLachlan 0 0-0 0, Sly 2 0-0 4, Hilsabeck 0 0-0 0, Cardwell 6 1-2 15, Sweet 5 6-8 18, Deno 1 0-0 2, Sorensen 0 2-2 2, Groh 2 0-2 6, Mortensen 2 1-2 5, Gerrells 2 6-7 10, Spivey 0 0-0 0, Stockton 0 0-0 0, Gregorak 0 2-2 2, Pecht 3 4-5 10. Totals 23 22-30 74.

CHENEY Stiffler 2 0-0 6, Eggart 0 0-0 0, Waller 3 1-2 9, Urdahl 0 5-6 5, Goetz 1 0-0 3, Donnelly 0 0-0 0, Reser 0 2-2 2, Parker 1 1-2 3, Malisani 6 0-0 12, Stoddard 1 0-0 2, Sobotta 4 0-0 8, Ervin 2 1-1 5. Totals 20 10-13 55.

3-point goals - Cardwell 2, Sweet 2, Groh 2, Stiffler 2, Waller 2, Goetz. Total fouls - West Valley 14, Cheney 25. Fouled out - Waller, Parker, Sobotta. Technicals - None.

Colville 61, Clarkston 58

Colville built a 30-15 advantage early in the second period with almost flawless play, but the Bantams cut it to 33-26 by halftime. The Indians (15-6) had the lead up to 15 again early in the fourth before Clarkston (15-6) made a late run.

Tim Sprangers led the Indians with 13 points and Brandon True and Mike Bowland scored 11 each. Adam Johnson scored 13 to lead Clarkston.

Clarkston 13 13 10 22 - 58

Colville 23 10 12 16 - 61

CLARKSTON Tomlinson 0 0-0 0, Nielson 0 0-0 0, Havemann 0 0-0 0, Johnson 6 0-0 13, Cunningham 2 0-0 4, Legg 3 0-0 6, Fleishinger 0 0-0 0, Stiffarm 1 1-3 5, Burns 4 3-4 11, Norland 0 0-0 0, Jelinek 2 2-3 7, Olson 6 0-0 12. Team totals - 24 6-10 58.

COLVILLE Eslick 0 0-0 0, Anderson 0 0-0 0, Meinhold 2 1-4 5, Ortner 3 1-2 9, Bateman 0 0-0 0, True 3 5-7 11, Sprangers 4 3-5 13, Day 1 0-0 3, Bowland 4 4-4 12, Smith 0 0-0 0, Salina 4 0-0 8. Team totals - 21 14-23 61.

3-point goals - Clarkston 2 (Johnson, Jelinek), Colville 5 (Ortner 2, Sprangers 2, Day). Total fouls - Clarkston 16, Colville 11. Fouled out - none. Technicals - none.

Girls

WV 53, Clarkston 37

Kiesha Sowers scored eight of WV’s first nine points and WV took an early 11-0 lead against Clarkston. Sowers led WV (17-3) with 17 points and Sherry Shollenberger added 15.

Clarkston 8 9 14 6 - 37

West Valley 19 16 10 8 - 53

CLARKSTON Blankinship 2 3-4 7, King 3 2-2 8, Tucker 2 0-0 4, Heytvelt 1 0-1 2, Jones 0 0-0 0, Johnson 1 2-2 4, Rodgers 0 1-2 1, Anderson 1 0-0 2, Fazzari 2 0-0 5, Haight 1 2-6 4. Team totals - 13 10-20 37.

WEST VALLEY Monasmith 0 0-0 0, Kallas 1 4-6 6, Nihoul 0 0-0 0, Shollenberger 4 5-5 15, Simpson 0 0-0 0, McClintock 2 1-2 6, Frost 1 0-0 2, Salfer 1 1-4 3, Sowers 8 1-2 17, Roberts 1 0-0 2, Sweet 0 0-0 0, Huffman 1 0-2 2, Pedey 0 0-0 0, Vermeers 0 0-0 0. Team totals - 19 12-22 53.

3-point goals - Clarkston 1 (Fazzari), WV 3 (Shollenberger 2, McClintock). Total fouls - Clarkston 18, WV 19. Fouled out - none. Technicals - none.

Cheney 46, Riverside 43

Cheney’s girls led by nine with under 4 minutes left, but only a missed 3-pointer at the buzzer saved the Blackhawks from OT. They never trailed, leading by as many as 10 in the first half, but uncharacteristically made 16 turnovers to let Riverside back in the game.

Anny Getz led Cheney with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Tiffany Van Matre had 14 and 10.

Riverside 6 13 12 12 - 43

Cheney 16 6 14 10 - 46

RIVERSIDE N.Snyder 1 0-0 2, Koesel 0 1-2 1, Rizzuto 2 0-0 5, H.Wood 0 0-1 0, Stime 7 0-1 14, A.Wood 5 0-1 11, McMurphy 2 0-0 4, Shorts 3 0-0 6. Totals 20 1-5 43.

CHENEY Ewing 1 0-0 2, Conrath 0 0-0 0, Weitman 3 0-0 6, Getz 6 2-2 15, Pischel 0 0-0 0, Edgett 0 0-0 0, Birchler 1 0-2 2, Van Matre 6 2-4 14, Boline 0 0-0 0, Krogh 2 3-4 7. Totals 19 7-12 46.

3-point goals - Rizzuto, A.Wood, Getz. Total fouls - Riverside 12, Cheney 16. Fouled out - Weitman. Technicals - None.

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