U-Hi Bench Not Getting Many Splinters In Girls Hoops

Casey Lektorich told administrators at University High that she’d get three 3-point baskets against Lewis and Clark last Friday.

She only got two and had to answer for it on Monday. Her excuse? She didn’t get to play much in the fourth quarter of U-Hi’s 57-52 triumph.

Coach Bob Finn apologized for the oversight.

Lektorich, a junior, is one of the many interchangeable parts of a Titan team that had won five of its last sixn games until Tuesday night and moved temporarily into a share of fifth place in the Greater Spokane League.

Tuesday night the Titans dropped back into a tie for sixth as Rogers rallied for a win.

“What’s doing it now is our bench,” said Finn. “We play 11 almost every single game.”

In 10 league games, all but one Titan has played in 32 quarters or more. While none is averaging higher than 8.7 points per game, a bunch are at 5.0 points or more.

“A lot of it, I think, is we’re keeping the scores real low because we’re playing good defense,” said Finn.

Coming off the bench, Lektorich has scored eight points or more in her last four games including 12 against Rogers on Tuesday. Her season high was 13 last month against Central Valley. She is hitting 55 percent of her 3-point attempts.

Another contributor off the bench, Teresa Valkenaar scored 13 during Friday’s important win over LC in the arena.

They have backed senior regulars Jaimie Frost, Crystal Conant, junior Julie Schroeder and sophomores Vanessa Shelton and Megan Owen to make U-Hi one of the GSL’s hottest current commodities.

Frost is the team’s scoring (8.7) and rebounding leader.

“I’m not really surprised,” said Finn. “She just had a good summer and you could tell she was going to break through.”

Shelton, the point guard who has helped lower U-Hi’s turnover average, and Owen are scoring 7 points per game. Conant and Schroeder are at 6 per contest.

The Titans lost their first six games, including two non-leaguers, before whipping Gonzaga Prep by 14 on Jan. 6.

Another major victory was a 15-point win at Shadle Park on Jan. 13 after weathering a third-quarter rally.

“When we didn’t flinch, I knew we could do something,” said Finn.

The team lost by just a point to second-place Ferris and held off LC after leading by 15 points entering the fourth quarter.

U-Hi’s bench, including Lektorich, gets the credit.

“Casey does a great job,” said Finn. “Anytime she goes in something happens instantly. She’s a good spark for us.”

Dreamy dream duals

East Valley and Moses Lake, the two teams considered the State 3A wrestling favorites, went head-to-head in the championship of last weekend’s Washington Dream Duals at Auburn.

Moses Lake won a 30-27 thriller.

“It was definitely the feature match of the tournament,” said Knight coach Craig Hanson. “We could have won it in a number of places.”

EV jumped to a 19-0 lead and won six of the first seven matches before things went downhill.

Mike Manuel, fighting the flu, lost his 158-pound contest in overtime. Rusty Ruchert, re-injured his ribs and was forced to default at 168 pounds.

Several other matches, said Hanson, could have produced extra points for the Knights.

“And we still had a chance at the end,” he said.

Ryan Stengle, bumped up to 275 from 215, won by decision in the final contest but needed a pin.

Central Valley finished third in the 4A division of the duals after losing to top-ranked Tahoma 33-28 in a thrilling semifinal.

“We knew going in that Tahoma and Evergreen would be tough,” said CV coach Dale Ethridge. “The one we lost went to the final match.”

Tyree Clowe was at the center of CV’s finish. He won by forfeit during the semifinal loss when Tahoma moved Dan Seger away from him and later on beat Sehome state runnerup Jim McPherson 4-2 in overtime during the 33-29 win for third.

Although Brandon Bouge won a major decision over Tahoma’s Seger, the move had prevented CV from jockeying wrestlers in the final three weights. Tahoma won at 275 for the victory.

“Tahoma was in the driver’s seat at 190 and we couldn’t stop their bump,” said CV coach Dale Ethridge.

CV did some jockeying in the earlier weights with little success.

Unbeatens during the three-match duals included EV’s John Sommer (101), Justin Walker and Brad Crockett and CV’s Kyle Bush, Shane Cunanan and Blair Alderman.

Bears stay tied for first place

An upset loss to North Central last Friday didn’t prevent Central Valley from maintaining its claim on first place on Tuesday.

The Bears’ inability to convert free throws or defend against a late 3-point basket resulted in the 64-62 overtime loss to NC.

Tuesday, however, defense produced a stunningly easy 60-45 victory over previous co-leader Ferris and are tied with LC for the lead.

While the Saxons shut down recently torrid Tom Perkes, who had a total of 43 points in his previous two games, they couldn’t contain guards Ryan Smith, 16 points, Jake Hebden, 12, eight of them during a 23-5 third-quarter run.

Showdown time for Scotties

Freeman’s boys and girls basketball teams reach the mid-point of the Northeast A league schedule when they host Colfax Friday in important encounters.

The boys are 2-0 in league and 11-5 overall. They have already beaten Reardan and Kettle Falls, 53-36 on Matt Miller’s 20-point night, and would hold undisputed first place with a triumph.

The girls have won just three times this year, but last week convincingly beat Kettle Falls 57-37 to even their league record. Victory over Colfax would enable them to share first place.

, DataTimes