Ferris Teams Finish Season With Trophies Saxon Hoop Squads Bring Home State Hardware Despite Disappointing Losses
UNPUBLISHED CORRECTION: The name of football player Jeremey Williams is misspelled in this story. The correct spelling was confirmed by his mother.
Saturday afternoon wasn’t a very good time to be a Ferris Saxon.
Both the boys and girls basketball teams lost their final games of the season and walked out of the Kingdome with eighth-place trophies, far less than what they hoped for when the season began and far less than they wanted when they arrived in Seattle for the State 4A basketball tournaments Tuesday.
“I’m just sad we had to go out this way,” said Ferris senior Karie Pruett, crying after a 58-37 loss to Sehome. “I wanted to win my last game.”
By now, though, the light reflecting off the state trophies is probably much brighter.
Only one Greater Spokane League school sent two teams to the state tournament. Only sixteen of the almost-80 4A schools reach state, and just eight earn trophies.
Ferris is only the third GSL school to have both teams place the same year and the first since Central Valley in 1993.
“I felt like we would have a successful season,” boys coach Wayne Gilman said. “For us, that means competing for state hardware.”
The boys, with four junior starters, opened the state tournament with a 40-39 loss to Rogers of Puyallup on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. They followed with 12- and 2-point wins before losing 58-49 to Franklin in the trophy game.
“The highlight is winning hardware at state,” Gilman said. “We had to come through some adversity. …
“We would have had a shot to be in the semifinals if Rogers hadn’t made that shot. But we would have had to beat Davis to do it, which we didn’t do a week earlier.
“I’m excited about next year. Just being at the state tournament is a plus. There remains a lot of work to be done.”
The girls also expected to make state, returning the most players among the GSL teams, including Pruett, Amy George and Janelle Morrisette, who started on the 1996 team that finished third.
“We’re happy to get a trophy,” coach Art Rojas said. “When the kids look back on it, they’ll realize we had a good year.”
Although four senior starters will graduate, including point guard Christy Martin, several younger Saxons received good experience.
“Looking at next year, we will be young, but we won’t be inexperienced,” Rojas said. “It’s hard to see (the seniors) leave.
“They are good players and they’re good people. You can’t always say that about people.”
After a disappointing 49-29 opening loss to defending champion Federal Way, which ended up fourth, the Saxons came back to win by 17 and 19 points.
The girls were particularly emotional after the final game, in part because four of them - George, Martin, Morrisette and reserve guard Jenny Lytle - started first grade together at Adams Elementary.
“It’s the end of an era,” Morrisette said. “It’s sad to see it end.”
George said: “Playing with everyone so long, it’s sad. … It’s hard to think about right now. Gradually I’ll think about the good times.”
Reserves Billy Sleeth, Erick Gill and Nick Donner depart the boys team with Servine.
“It’s been fun,” said Tommy Servine, who also started on last year’s third-place team. “I wish I could do it again. It goes by quick, real quick.”
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