Sasquatch Women Win Easily Balanced Ccs Drubs Yakima, Clinches Nwaacc Tourney Spot

If this is Bruce Johnson’s idea of sweating, then the Community Colleges of Spokane coach can’t use more than an ounce of Right Guard a year.

“They made a run at us in the first half. We got it up to 20 and they cut it to 12. That’s a run,” said the veteran women’s basketball coach.

Actually, it was a 19-point lead and Yakima Valley Community College cut the lead to 13 points late in the first half. But that was about it as far as it went for suspense. The Sasquatch went on to rout Yakima 98-61 Thursday night at Spokane Falls CC in the first round of the NWAACC Eastern Region playoffs.

Both second-seeded CCS (25-3) and top-seeded Wenatchee Valley (27-3) qualify for next week’s eightteam NWAACC tournament.

Wenatchee Valley beat Big Bend (15-13) Thursday night 52-49 to set up Saturday’s seeding game against CCS at Wenatchee. The Knights and Sasquatch finished the regular season as co-champs, but Wenatchee earned the No. 1 seed for the region playoffs by sweeping CCS.

Spokane’s most recent loss to Wenatchee was three weeks ago. Since then, it has won four straight and looks to be peaking at the right time.

“Tonight was the first time I thought we really moved the ball well,” said Johnson. “Our pressure really got to them.”

The Sasquatch beat the Indians in every area. Six players scored in double figures, headed by sophomore Amy George’s 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting. The Sasquatch dominated on the boards, outrebounding Yakima 45-20. George, a 5-foot-8 sophomore guard from Ferris, had nine rebounds.

The Yaks committed 28 turnovers. CCS had 19 steals.

“They have five kids (starters) who are all good,” said Yakima’s second-year coach, Eric Harper, whose team improved from 5-18 a year ago to 16-10. “They score, they pass, they dribble, they rebound.

“We knew we were going to have to play extremely well to beat them.”

Instead, the visitors never led and fell behind 9-1 in the opening minutes after Bernice Stime scored on a putback. Stime and Karie Pruett both finished with 12 points. Sara Harchuck, Courtney Phinney and Rebecca Triplett each had 10.

“We played more as a team tonight,” said Pruett, named the region’s player of the year earlier this week. “Our defense was great. That’s kind of what started everything. Tonight, we made the extra passes instead of shooting on our own. And we stuck shots.”

The Sasquatch made 38 of 71 shots (53 percent) to Yakima’s 24 of 57 (42 percent).

After Yakima cut into the lead 40-27 with 3:34 left in the first half, CCS started to pull away and took a 48-29 lead at the half when Heather Ridnour hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds.

CCS continued to create problems for Yakima defensively in the second half and with 14 minutes remaining, the Sasquatch had opened their lead to 68-37.

CC Spokane 98, Yakima Valley 61

Yakima Valley (16-10) - Debacker 0-1 0-0 0, Whitefoot 2-9 0-0 4, Pratt 0-3 1-3 1, Chase 5-11 0-0 11, Hamilton 5-7 2-2 15, Smith 5-9 1-2 12, Wippel 3-4 2-5 8, Sevigny 0-2 0-0 0, Berg 3-9 2-4 8, Leadon 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 24-57 8-16 61.

CC Spokane (25-3) - Phinney 3-6 3-4 10, Pruett 5-7 0-0 12, Ridnour 4-7 0-0 10, Harchuck 0-2 0-0 0, Sau 0-1 0-0 0, Stime 5-9 2-3 12, Sackmann 1-5 1-3 3, Brazzle 2-2 0-0 4, Wood 3-6 2-2 8, George 8-12 2-2 18, Triplett 5-6 0-0 10, Stearns 1-1 0-0 2, Curry 1-7 7-8 9. Totals 38-71 17-22 98.

Halftime - CC Spokane 48, Yakima Valley 61. 3-point goals - Yakima Valley 5-15 (Hamilton 3-5, Smith 1-3, Chase 1-4, Debacker 0-1, Whitefoot 0-1, Pratt 0-1), CC Spokane 5-11 (Pruett 2-3, Ridnour 2-3, Phinney 1-1, Sackman 0-1, Curry 0-1, Wood 0-2). Fouled out - None. Rebounds - Yakima Valley 27 (Hamilton 7), CC Spokane 45 (George 9). Assists - Yakima Valley 9 (Debacker, Berg 3), CC Spokane 19 (George 5). Total fouls - Yakima Valley 20, CC Spokane 18. Technicals - None.