Frontier League Squads Battle For State Berths Boys And Girls Begin Fight Today For Extra Aa Basketball Bid
Unaccustomed as they are to such luxury, Frontier League high school basketball teams continue pursuit tonight of four berths - two boys, two girls - to the State AA tournament next week in Tacoma.
After years of battling for single spots to state in an intensely competitive, emotionally draining district tournament, the Frontier was awarded an extra spot this season, its last before Washington high schools move to five enrollment classifications. Several Frontier schools will spend much of next season competing against Idaho schools.
But that’s next year. The district tournament resumes today at East Valley High School, where afternoon losers-bracket contests will precede tonight’s winners-bracket games that will send one boys and one girls team to state.
Tonight’s winners-bracket victors have Saturday off, while losers-bracket survivors meet winners-bracket losers Saturday at EV to determine the Frontier’s No. 2 seeds to the state tournament. Game times Saturday are 6 and 8 p.m.
The West Valley-Cheney girls contest will match an Eagles team that at one point had 16 straight wins against the team that broke the streak in the league finale after WV had already clinched the title. Both teams feature balanced offensive attacks and play pressure defense, but the marquee player is Blackhawk guard Anna Getz, a 5-foot-8 junior and three-year starter who is the key to Cheney’s success.
“Anna can do so many things,” says WV coach Mark Kuipers. “It’s not like you can take one part of her game away and shut her down. She just finds some other way to hurt you. We also really need to get after it on the boards. They’ve been getting outstanding post play recently.”
That’s been coming most obviously from junior Tiffany Van Matre, who has recorded double-doubles in her last two games, hitting twin figures in both points and rebounds. “She’s been doing a great job on the boards,” said coach Marty Jesset. “She’s become much tougher in the last month, and we’ll need to be strong inside against West Valley. They’re tough in there.”
The Colville-West Valley boys game is a hard one to chart. Both teams like to press on defense, and it may come down to who takes better care of the basketball - the Indians averaged only about 11 turnovers this season while forcing 21 a game. The Eagles, who in years past have lived or died with a run-and-gun offensive style, have shown more patience this season.
“In the past,” said WV coach Joe Feist, “we’ve wanted to play games where there were lots of possessions. Being more patient offensively this year also helps us defensively and cuts down the other guys’ time with the ball.”
WV’s Saturday afternoon victory over Cheney gave Feist his 200th victory (against 77 losses) in 11 seasons.
Colville coach Bill Pilgeram, in his fourth year with the Indians, has noticed the Eagles playing with more discipline. “The key thing for us, regardless, is to hold their shooters down and be able to play up-tempo ourselves. Our biggest strength is our depth, so we want to keep things moving.”
In today’s afternoon games, No. 3 seed Riverside tries to recover from a heartbreaking loss to Cheney last Saturday in which the Rams nearly caught the Blackhawks in the last minute after trailing by double figures earlier in the fourth period.
On the boys’ side, Clarkston is big and physical, but Cheney coach Denny Humphrey will be hoping for improved performances from starters August Parker and Tucker Urdahl, who combined for only one field goal Saturday against WV.