CV Girls Advance To Finals Bears Play Tonight For Crown; Ferris Boys Just Miss Title Shot

The Central Valley girls broke into a championship grin long before they made the championship game of the girls State AAA basketball tournament.

The smiles arrived at the same time Rikki Jackson did, a few minutes before the fourth-ranked Bears’ semifinal game with No. 10 Foss in the Kingdome.

Jackson left Overlake Hospital in Bellevue at 5:20 p.m. Friday after receiving two bottles of fluids intravenously to battle the flu and then helped the Bears ground the Falcons in their 6:30 game 55-36.

“I’m beat. I’ve never been so drained in my life,” Jackson said after contributing eight points, six assists and five steals. “I was feeling pretty good before the game. I was short of air a few times.”

The Bears play ninth-ranked Federal Way (26-3), which blasted No. 2 Mountain View 57-30, at 7 tonight.

There were only tears for No. 3 Ferris, which pushed top-ranked and unbeaten Mount Vernon before losing 49-43 in the boys tournament as the Bulldogs scored the final eight points in the last 41 seconds.

“There was a whole bunch of critical plays,” Ferris coach Wayne Gilman said. “When we had the lead, if we make one more defensive stop, make one more free throw, giving up the 3. It wasn’t for lack of effort.”

The Saxons had erased a ninepoint deficit to lead 42-41 when Tommy Servine went to the foul line with 53 seconds left. He made the first shot but missed the second and Nic Lind drilled a 3-pointer from the left corner at 41 seconds to put the Bulldogs up.

From there, Ferris couldn’t get a shot to fall and Mount Vernon made four free throws to end the Saxons’ hopes. Now Ferris will play No. 6 Prairie, which lost to No. 2 Mercer Island 67-61 as Bryan Brown drained an incredible five consecutive 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to carry the Islanders.

Girls

Central Valley 55, Foss 36

Crystal Lee scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Ginger Clark had 11 and 11, and the Bears dominated the second half for a chance to match the championship the school won in 1993.

“It’s just a gut check,” CV coach Dale Poffenroth said. “It has to be. When your point guard comes out of the hospital and plays the whole game, it must be a gut check.”

Jackson woke up sick, and maybe the illness was a blessing.

The Falcons (24-4) looked extremely quick in their first two wins. But to rest Jackson, the Bears didn’t press and Kallas, who had four assists, and Lee helped in the backcourt.

“I had to help her bring the ball up the floor,” said Kallas. “I haven’t played point guard since I was a freshman. It was kind of weird, but I’d do anything to help the team.”

The Bears outscored Foss, which lost in the semifinals for the third consecutive year, 30-11 in the second half.

Foss started the second half the same way it ended the first - with a 3 by Shiante Reed. But Lee answered that and Kallas followed with another and the Bears never trailed. After a free throw, the Falcons went scoreless for 5 minutes and CV upped the lead to 10.

“Rebounds, we got some rebounds in the second half we didn’t get in the first,” Poffenroth said after CV’s 50-36 edge on the boards.

Andrea Kallas and Jenny Coyle combined for 17 rebounds for Central Valley.

The Falcons couldn’t buy a basket in the fourth quarter, going 1 for 16 before a last-second basket.

The first half was a wash, and, all things considered, the Bears had to feel good escaping with a 25-25 tie.

“As long as we slowed it down and ran the offense we were OK,” Lee said.

“We played their game in the first half. We were throwing the ball off the wall. “We’ve been working hard just to make it to this game. It means so much,” Lee said. “It’s been our goal for 3 years. Everybody stepped up.”

C. Valley 15 10 14 16 - 55 Foss 16 9 7 4 - 36

CENTRAL VALLEY - Phinney 0 0-0 0, Donaldson 0 0-0 0, Grafos 1 0-0 2, Clark 5 1-1 11, Shoquist 0 0-0 0, Kallas 2 2-2 8, J.Coyle 1 0-0 3, R.Jackson 3 0-0 6, Lee 6 10-11 25, Bragdon 0 0-0 0, Liepman 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 13-14 55.

FOSS - Frazier 3 1-1 8, Okamoto 0 0-0 0, Wilson 1 0-0 2, Blakeslee 0 0-0 0, Reed 3 0-0 9, Sorsdahl 0 0-0 0, N.Davis 3 1-3 8, J. Davis 3 0-0 8, Arenas 0 0-0 0, K. Jackson 0 1-2 1, Craig 0 0-0 0, Christensen 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 3-6 36.

3-point goals - Kallas 2, J.Coyle, Lee 3, Frazier 1, Reed 3, N.Davis 1, J.Davis 2. Total fouls - CV 11, Foss 15. Fouled out - Clark.

Boys

Mount Vernon 49, Ferris 43

The Bulldogs (28-0) went on a 12-3 run to start the third quarter, taking a 27-26 lead at 3:41 on 6-foot-8 Grant Leep’s 3 from the left corner. The lead changed hands four times, the last time on Eric Kruger’s 3 from the right wing as time expired for the period, making it 32-30.

The Bulldogs then capitalized on Ferris turnovers for a 9-2 run to start the fourth for a 41-32 lead at 5:52. The Saxons (24-3) responded with an 8-0 run to cut it to one and had two chances for the lead before Servine’s short jumper from the lane.

But after Servine got to the line, the Saxons couldn’t get back on the board, wasting an effort that saw their half-court trap force Mount Vernon into turnovers on six of seven possession.

“There were some things that we did that are recurring things, such as not being as patient as we could be,” Gilman said.

Ferris was just three of five from the line, to 9 of 13 by the Bulldogs. Just as telling was Mount Vernon making five 3s in the second half after getting only one in the first.

The Saxons grabbed the lead with a 10-0 run, capped by 3-pointers from Servine and Justin Bursch, late in the first half. A Jeremy Lucke 3 early in the second quarter pushed it to 17-9. They had chances to stretch it but couldn’t get an inside basket against Leep and 6-8 Bryan Whitehead.

Leep finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Servine had 14 points and Bursch 13.

Mount Vernon 9 6 17 17 - 49 Ferris 12 11 7 13 - 43

MOUNT VERNON - Bell 0 0-0 0, Holliman 2 0-0 5, Kruger 2 2-2 7, Leep 6 4-7 17, Whitehead 2 1-2 5, Lind 3 2-2 10, McManus 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 9-13 49.

FERRIS - Bursch 5 2-2 13, Servine 6 1-2 14, Lucke 3 0-0 8, Soter 0 0-0 0, Watts 1 0-0 2, Hodl 0 0-0 0, Gordon 3 0-0 6, Weatherred 0 0-1 0. Totals 18 3-5 43.

3-point goals - Collins, Holliman, Kruger, Leep, Lind 2, Bursch, Servine, Lucke 2. Total fouls - MV 13, Ferris 16.

, DataTimes