Whitman Tournaments To Open Friday

Prep basketball

All is ready for the opening of the Whitman County League basketball tournaments Friday at Endicott.

The final night of the regular season Monday, highlighted by wins by the St. John-Endicott boys and LaCrosse-Washtucna girls that earned them No. 2 seedings, finalized the pairings.

On the boys side Friday, Colton (12-8, 6-6) meets Asotin (8-12, 2-10) at 2:30 p.m. and LaCrosse-Washtucna (11-9, 7-5) faces Rosalia (2-17, 0-12) at 5:30 in loser-out games.

When the double-elimination portion resumes Saturday, St. John-Endicott (16-4, 9-3) plays Tekoa-Oakesdale (10-10, 7-5) at 1 p.m.

Regular-season champion Garfield-Palouse (17-2, 11-1) has earned a spot in the district tournament and a bye into Saturday’s championship game.

On the girls side Friday, Asotin (11-9, 5-7) plays Rosalia (5-15, 2-10) at 4:30, followed by Teka-Oakesdale (13-7, 7-5) against Colton (2-18, 0-12).

Saturday, LaCrosse-Washtucna (15-5, 9-3) gets a rematch with St. John-Endicott (14-6, 7-5), which defeated the Tigercats 65-60 Monday, at 2:30 p.m..

League champion Gar-Pal (17-2, 12-0) has a berth in the district tournament and bye into Saturday night’s title game.

Boys

St. John-Endicott 63, T-O 43

Poor shooting the second half and a 39-7 rebounding deficit for the game cost the Nighthawks as the Eagles broke open a close game after intermission.

Josh Hames augmented 21 ponts with 14 rebounds for SJE.

St John-Endicott 17 12 17 17 - 63

Tekoa-Oakesdale 11 15 8 9 - 43

St. John-Endicott (16-4, 9-3) - Riehle 0, Siler 4, Bafus 2, Bezdicek 13, Duncan 9, Hames 21, Scheuerman 11, Johnstone 0, Shields 3.

Tekoa-Oakesdale (10-10, 7-5) Buergel 4, Heaton 8, Smith 4, A. Ellis 9, Wagner 2, Thompson 1, S. Ellis 4, Crossett 5, Sperber 4, Bruce 2.

Garfield-Palouse 76, Asotin 63

Jason Evenson, in his first game of the season, had 11 points, five rebounds four assists and three steals to spark the champion Vikings.

Jason Fox, 13 of 19 from the field, had 26 points and Jeremy Kimble 20, including two 3s for the Vikings. Ryan Uptmor scored 20 for the Panthers.

Asotin 15 13 16 19 - 63

Garfield-Palouse 16 20 23 17 - 76

Asotin (8-12, 2-10) - Dickinson 4, Welch 0, Peer 10, Appleford 2, Witty 4, Vantrease 5, Weiss 7, Uptmor 20, Smith 7, Caldwell 4.

Garfield-Palouse (17-2, 11-1) - Evenson 11, Aa. Elder 4, Riedinger 2, Kimble 20, Fox 26, Wride 0, Smick 6, Ad. Elder 2, Million 3, Rosebrook 2.

LaCrosse-Washtucna 64, Rosalia 35

Cody Goll, hitting 5 of 6 shots from the floor, led three double-figure scorers for the victorious Tigercats. He also had eight rebounds.

Craig Shindler scored 13 for Rosalia.

Rosalia 9 12 3 11 - 35

LaCrosse-Washtucna 20 15 12 17 - 64

Rosalia (2-17, 0-12) - S. Nelson 5, Slemp 1, Van Dyke 0, Shindler 13, Porter 8, Workman 8, A. Nelson 0.

LaCrosse-Washtucna (11-9, 7-5) - B. Colter 0, D. Colter 6, Goll 16, Schneider 6, Webley 0, Meyers 7, Stueckle 14, Hammond 12, Henley 2, Hille 0, Rash 0.

Girls

LaCrosse-Washtucna 58, Rosalia 29

Rochelle Schneder hit 4 of 5 3-pointers and Danielle Ayers-Stamper had 19 points and eight rebounds to lead the Tigercats to victory at Washtucna.

Cari Heinemann had 18 for Rosalia.

Rosalia 9 4 8 8 - 29

LaCrosse-Washtucna 17 18 8 15 - 58

Rosalia (5-15, 2-10) - Henning 3, Heinemann 18, M. York 1, Paulson 0, Pittman 0, Coe 0, Bothman 4, Dale 2, Wood 0, Koppel 0, Brown 1.

LaCrosse-Washtucna (15-5, 9-3) - Kinch 2, Schneider 12, Whitman 0, Ayers-Stamper 19, Wigen 2, Ker. Mays 0, Evans 9, Kel. Mays 6, Blankenship 0, Baumann 8.

Garfield-Palouse 59, Asotin 46

The Vikings hit three of their four 3-pointers in the second half to help dig themselves out of a halftime hole and defeat the Panthers at Palouse.

Katie Coles had 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Mandy McCann had 17 points to lead Asotin’s upset bid.

Asotin 15 11 7 13 - 46

Garfield-Palouse 11 14 18 16 - 59

Asotin (11-8, 5-6) - D. Witters 2, Johnsen 0, King 12, Schnider 0, Deffer 3, Walburn 0, Eller 1, McCann 17, S. Witters 11.

Garfield-Palouse (16-2, 11-0) - Smick 2, Iverson 0, Kildew 7, Parrish 0, Fox 7, Tronsen 7, Coles 14, Hayden 7, Swinney 12, Hershaw 3.

SJE 65, Tekoa-Oakesdale 60

The Eagles, who hit 26 of 53 shots from the feld and 11 of 19 from the line, broke to a 14-point halftime lead and weathered a comeback by the Nighthawks at Oakesdale.

Desi Zuger shot 9 of 13 from the field and 5 of 7 from the line in a 23-point game for SJE.

Katie Driscoll had 21 points and Betsy Smart five assists and seven rebounds for Teoka-Oakesdale.

St John-Endicott 21 11 18 15 - 65

Tekoa-Oakesdale 10 8 19 23 - 60

St. John-Endicott (14-6, 7-5) - D. Kile 0, A. Kile 1, Cronrath 10, Olson 0, Gossard 11, Schmick 12, Zuger 23, Hedlund 8.

Tekoa-Oakesdale (13-7, 7-5) - Driscoll 21, Smith 12, Smart 4, Hurley 6, Gardner 0, Buergel 0, Bruce 8, Faunce 9.