Travel Different, Destination Same

District 9 B

The Tekoa-Oakesdale girls had to run, scratch and claw, the LaCrosse-Washtucna boys just had to set it on cruise control, but both made it to the District 9 B Tournament championship to be played at Friel Court on Friday night.

In the girls’ game, Tekoa-Oakesdale had to score 20 points in the final quarter to outlast Garfield-Palouse 56-50 Monday night. They will face the winner of today’s Waitsburg va. St. John-Endicott game Friday night for a berth in the State B Championship at the Spokane Arena.

Garfield-Palouse will face the winner of today’s LaCrosse-Washtucna vs. Pomeroy game in the losers’ bracket Wednesday.

In the boys’ game, the Tigercats raced out to a 25-7 first-quarter advantage as they beat Waitsburg 82-55 Monday. The Tigercats face the winner of today’s Tekoa-Oakesdale vs. St. John-Endicott game for a berth in the State B. Waitsburg will play the winner of today’s Jubilee Academy-Liberty Christian game in the losers’ bracket Wednesday.

GIRLS:

Tekoa-Oakesdale 56, Garfield-Pal 50

In this one, T-O coach Ron Cox was just hoping his players didn’t cough up the ball or anything else. Saddled with a roster dotted with the flu, bronchitis and other respiratory infections, Cox and his team had to overcome Garfield-Palace’s pressure defense.

“Every time we have played them it has just been press, press and press. And each game we get a little more used to it and we are able to handle that pressure a little bit better,” said Cox, whose team is 3-1 against Gar-Pal. “But we have three sophomores out there at times and it just takes them a little bit to learn how to deal with that.

“Tonight I thought they handled themselves really well and really showed a lot of courage to play as well as they did.”

Tekoa-Oakesdale also had to handle Gar-Pal’s Katie Coles. Coles, who finished with 18 points, nine boards and two blocks, was able to combine both an inside and outside game to frustrate the Tekoa-Oakesdale defense.

“Usually we have Betsy Smart on her, but she had four fouls,” said Cox. “I can’t remember the last time she had four fouls.”

Without Smart at his disposal, Cox used a variety of players on Coles. In the end the strategy paid off. Tekoa-Oakesdale’s Heather Cox never seemed to wear down. The senior, and coach’s daughter, finished with 18 points and seven boards.

Tekoa-Oakesdale 12 12 12 20 - 56

Garfield-Palouse 9 16 9 16 - 50

Tekoa-Oakesdale - Katie Driscoll 2, 1-2, 5; Christen Smith 4, 3-5, 11; Betsy Smart 0, 5-7, 5; Christa Graffis 4, 2-4, 10; Janette Bruce 3, 1-2, 7; Heather Cox 7, 3-4, 18. Totals 20, 15-24, 56.

Garfield-Palouse - April Nelson 1, 0-0, 2; Jenny Iverson 1, 5-6, 7; Sandra Tronsen 1, 0-0, 2; Katie Coles 6, 5-6, 18; Jessica Hayden 3, 1-2, 8; Tasha Swinney 2, 3-3, 7; Kenon Kilden 1, 0-0, 2; Eva Hershaw 1, 2-2, 4.

3-pointers: Coles (GP), Hayden (GP), Cox (TO). Fouls: 18 TO, 21 GP. Fouled out: Swinney (GP).

Asotin 56, Touchet 32

Alicia Andrews scored 14 points and collected eight rebounds, four steals and a pair of blocks to lead the Pirates past the Indians in a loser-out game.

Mandy McCann added six rebounds and three steals for Asotin, which will play another loser-out game Wednesday night at 6:30.

Touchet 4 6 10 12 - 32

Asotin 13 26 14 3 - 56

Touchet (11-13) - Sansom 0, Town 0, Dorman 12, Richards 0, Plucker 3, Short 13, Brt 2, Bussell 2, McKenna 0, Gibson 0.

Asotin (14-10) - Wood 0, Mendoza 2, Johnson 2, King 14, Schnider 4, Sandaine 0, McCann 11, Eller 3, Andrews 14, Witters 6, McClain 0.

BOYS:

LaCrosse-Washtucna 82, Waitsburg 55

A little excitement is all right with Brian Koller, but having his last six games be decided in the final 10 seconds was even a little much for the Tigercats’ coach.

So he sat his players down before Monday night’s game and had a little heart to heart. He told them about moving the ball, running the offense, getting the open shots and giving up the shots that weren’t open.

The players responded as the Tigercats stormed out to a 48-18 halftime lead over the Cardinals and never looked back.

“They were ready for this,” said Koller. “They were just really ready to go out and really beat somebody.

“And that first half, that’s the best I’ve seen them play all year.”

The Tigercats were running the break, grabbing the boards and delighting the faithful clad in blue.

The Cardinals, on the other hand, continually failed to get into their offensive set. They were forced to rely on drives to the baskets or quick shots for the majority of their first-half points.

“I wasn’t really surprised at our defense, because we always can play defense like that,” said Koller. “It was the offense. We always have four or five guys who can score in double figures, but tonight they were really moving the ball and finding all the open shots.”

LaCrosse-Washtucna 25 23 13 21 - 82

Waitsburg 7 11 14 23 - 55

LaCrosse-Washtucna (17-5) Dustin Colter 2, 0-0, 4; Cole Schweiger 4, 0-0, 11; Derek Henley 6, 2-5, 15; Keith Wigen 1, 0-0, 2; Matt Meyers 5, 0-0, 13; Jonathan Stueckle 6, 0-0, 12; Greg Whitman 2, 0-0, 4; Brandon Startin 1, 2-3, 4; Cody Goll 3, 1-1, 7; Jake Schneider 1, 0-0, 2; Shane Hammond 2, 0-0, 4; Mark Fehrenbacker 2, 0-0, 4. Totals: 26 5-9, 82.

Waitsburg (17-7) - Jesse Arche 5, 1-2, 11; Jarod Gadwin 1, 0-2, 2; Scott Zeurcher 1, 0-0, 2; Marshal McKinley 1, 1-2, 3; T.J. Scott 3, 3-4, 9; Derek Martin 3, 2-2, 10; Scott Mason 3, 0-1, 6; Juan Landin 3, 1-2, 7. Curtis Johnson 1, 1-2, 3. Totals 20, 9-17, 55.

3-pointers: Schweiger (LW), Henley (LW), Meyers (LW) 3, Martin (W) 2.

Fouls: 15 (LW), 15(W).

DeSales 64, Pomeroy 54 (OT)

Brian Lindgren scored a game-high 26 points and snagged six rebounds and teammate Pat Barry added 20 points and six boards to spark the Irish to an overtime victory over the Pirates in a loser-out game.

Pomeroy rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit before being outscored 15-5 in OT.

DeSales advances to a loser-out contest against an as yet to be determined opponent Wednesday night at 8.

Pomeroy 7 11 14 17 5 - 54

DeSales 15 12 8 14 15 - 64

Pomeroy (7-17) - Cox 5, Greene 0, Kelly 15, Neal 6, Claassen 15, Feider 7, Matheny 5, Davidson 3.

DeSales (10-10) - Lindgren 26, Barry 20, Dutton 8, Baffney 0, Richard 5, Wolfram 5, Donnelly 0.