Waitsburg Boys, Girls Reach District Title Games

9-B basketball

Garfield-Palouse senior Brad Bischoff had no trouble explaining this one.

The Vikings shot just 29 percent from the field Tuesday night on the way to a 56-37 loss to Waitsburg in the semifinals of the District 9-B tournament at Washington State University’s Beasley Coliseum.

“We missed a lot of easy killer shots,” Bischoff said matter of factly.

Waitsburg (17-6), which started the season 1-6 and now has won 16 straight, will face St. John-Endicott in the boys’ title game here at 8 p.m. Friday for one of the district’s two berths to the State B tournament.

The Waitsburg girls (18-5) also are playing for the district championship after a 54-47 victory over third-ranked Tekoa-Oakesdale (21-3) on Tuesday. This is the first-ever trip to the title game for the Cardinals. They will meet LaCrosse-Washtucna at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

Gar-Pal and T-O move into loser-out action today.

Waitsburg 56, Garfield-Palouse 37

The Vikings (18-6) made just 15 field goals and only reached double digits in their 14-point fourth quarter. They were a dismal 2 for 13 from the floor in the third quarter when Waitsburg began to pull away.

Vikings coach Tim Coles left the coliseum immediately after the game because his son, Logan, a senior on the team, was taken to Pullman Memorial Hospital by ambulance in the fourth quarter. Logan played only in the first half and did not score. He left the coliseum under his own power. The hospital released no information on Logan’s condition.

Garfield-Palouse 8 9 6 14 - 37

Waitsburg 15 8 9 24 - 56

GARFIELD-PALOUSE - Bischoff 12, Power 1, Flansburg 10, Cronk 1, Fox 13.

WAITSBURG - Adams 2, Archer 2, Leid 18, Scott 7, Pearson 8, Wyatt 9, McCaw 10.

Pomeroy 67, Jubilee 44

Nick Cox scored 10 of his 23 in second quarter, capped by two 3-pointers, and added six assists as the Pirates (16-8) eliminated the Warriors (7-14).

Pomeroy plays seventh-ranked DeSales (15-5) at 8 tonight in a loser-out.

Girls: Waitsburg 54, T-O 47

Tekoa-Oakesdale coach Mark Stinson says Waitsburg did the best job defending 6-foot Nighthawk junior Heather Cox of any team this season.

“They match up,” Stinson said of the Cardinals. “They have a 6-3 girl, a 6-footer and a lot of speed.”

Waitsburg junior Wendy Jones demonstrated that speed from the get-go and finished with 15 points, six steals, five rebounds and two assists.

T-O held the Cardinals to six points in the second period on 2-of-12 shooting and was within a point at the half, 22-21.

But Waitsburg posts Anne Bickelhaupt and Kynde Kiefel were a problem down low for the Nighthawks all night, contributing 15 and 13 points respectively.

Tekoa-Oakesdale 9 12 15 11 - 47

Waitsburg 16 6 19 13 - 54

TEKOA-OAKESDALE - S.Driscoll 8, Smart 1, Brown 15, Hay 4, Graffis 12, Je.Bruce 3, Ja.Bruce 0, Cox 4.

WAITSBURG - W.Jones 15, Hulce 6, Abbey 2, McCaw 3, Bickelhaupt 15, Kiefel 13, Conover 0.

Garfield-Palouse 57, Asotin 18

Katie Coles had eight rebounds and the Vikings (15-10) hit 22 of 37 free throws to eliminate the Panthers (6-18).

Asotin 6 4 6 2 - 18

Garfield-Palouse 19 11 13 14 - 57

ASOTIN - Giardinelli 0, Mendoza 0, Johnsen 0, King 2, Deffer 4, Vantrease 2, Fred 6, McCann 4, Eller 0, Schnider 0, Andrews 0, Witters 0.

GARFIELD-PALOUSE - Nelson 0, Iverson 7, Shelden 4, Smick 6, Tronsen 4, Coles 9, Smith 3, Swinney 11, Sheffler 3, Kildew 0, Hayden 8, Hershaw 2.