Eagles Fly To State Wv-Spokane Wins Dramatic 3A Regional

The West Valley Eagles made a better percentage of their 3-point shots than they did free throws and it’s the reason they are the 3A regional boys basketball champions.

Two timely 3-pointers by Lance Pecht in the fourth quarter proved the difference in a 52-46 victory over Mid-Valley champion West Valley-Yakima Friday night at Eastern Washington University.

The win earned the Eagles the first-ever title for a Spokane-area team since the regional concept was initiated three years ago. It also qualified the Eagles for their second-straight state tournament.

“This one tops it off,” said second-year coach Jamie Nilles. “Last year there was tremendous pressure on the team. As soon as we were on the floor everyone expected us to win and go to state. This year was supposed to be a drop-off, but we reloaded.”

Spokane’s West Valley will be joined at state by Eastmont of Wenatchee, which won the girls regional title with a 55-48 win over West Valley-Yakima.

The Colville girls, a 46-37 winner over Sunnyside, plays the WV-Yakima Rams today at noon at EWU’s Reese Court for a second state berth.

The WV-Yakima boys play Ellensburg, which ousted Eastmont 63-51. Game time is 2 p.m. Eastmont had defeated Ellensburg in four previous meetings this year.

WV-Spokane 52, WV-Yakima 46

Pecht, WV’s season-long scoring leader hit three 3-point baskets, but none were bigger than one that came with 3:13 remaining in the game and the Eagles nursing a 42-41 lead.

It was the first basket of the quarter for a team that had led by as many as nine points in the first half.

Pecht’s second fourth-quarter 3-pointer came with 57 seconds remaining and broke a 46-all deadlock.

The Eagles, who hit 5 of 8 shots from beyond the arc, were struggling with 8-of-17 free-throw shooting to keep the Rams within striking distance before Craig McIntyre made two free throws with 16 seconds left to secure it.

“I didn’t feel I was off,” said Pecht, who had made 3 of 12 shots before his two game-breakers. “I was just missing and getting bad rolls.”

As he had all season, the rolls eventually were good and the Eagles are district champions.

Pecht finished with 16 points and Tony Kopp had 10 for the winners.

When the Eagles stretched their defense to stop the Rams 6-foot-6 sophomore Ryan Rostvold from shooting long-range, Chris Perrault hurt the Eagles inside, with 12 of his 16 points in the second-half.

W.Valley (Yak) 9 15 12 10 - 46

West Valley 14 13 11 14 52

West Valley-Yakima (18-5) Murray 4, Christianson 2, Perrault 16, Chronister 0, Schepter 4, Strait 0, Eldridge 0, Weber 0, Hilton 3, Durall 6, O’Connor 0, Rostvold 11.

West Valley (21-2) - Kopp 10, Sly 0, McIntyre 4, Pecht 13, Hamilton 0, Gordon 8, Harris 0, Focht 10, Hollifield 0, Allen 0, French 7, Bullock 0.

Ellensburg 63, Eastmont 51

In an earlier game, Ellensburg outscored Eastmont by 10 points in the middle two quarters to stay alive, getting double figures scoring from four players to earn a rematch against WV-Yakima.

Ellensburg 8 17 13 25 - 63

Eastmont 10 10 10 21 - 51

Ellensburg (18-8) - Gibb 10, Potter 0, Thong 3, Standish 7, Fuqua 13, Sorenson 13, Brown 13, Graham 0, Malde 0, Majsterek 5, Scott 9.

Eastmont (16-9) - Spies 15, Brandt 0, Stevens 0, Bryant 0, Sellers 3, Babst 10, Thomas 9, Hannah 0, Coon 0, Peterson 0, Weller 2, Wattling 12.

Girls

Colville 46, Sunnyside 37

The Indians, who got 14 points from Ellen Shaw and 12 from Alyssa Meinhold kept the pressure on Sunnyside from the outset.

They took a 15-11 lead and outscored the visitors in every quarter to improve to 16-7 overall and earn a date with WV-Yakima.

Sunnyside 11 9 6 11 - 37

Colville 15 10 8 13 - 46

Sunnyside (13-13) - Sabedra 2 5-6 9, Syverson 5 0-0 11, Gadley 0 1-2 1, Hernandez 1 0-0 3, Merques 2, Startup 1 3-6 5, Campbell 1 0-0 2, Dahlstrom 4. Totals 12 9-16 37.

Colville (16-7) - Shaw 2 9-10-14, Meinhold 5 2-2 12, McConnell 2 2-3 6, Fondell 1 2-4 4, Kroiss 1 1-2 3, Sinn 0 0-0 0, Doolin 0 3-4 3, Pein 1 0-0 2, McGrane 2. Totals 13 19-25 46.

3-point goals - Shaw, Syverson, Hernandez. Total fouls - Colville 17, Sunnyside 12. Fouled out - Syverson. Technicals - None.

Eastmont 55, WV-Yakima 48

The Wildcats handed the Rams just their third loss of the season to qualify for state.

A 32-19 advantage during the middle quarters proved to be the ticket. Tami Summers ended the game with 21 points and Stacey Brownlee added 11. They offset the 19-point effort of 6-foot-2 junior Teresa Borton. Dacia Murillo added 13 for WV.

W. Valley-Yakima 13 9 10 16 - 48

Eastmont 11 16 16 12 - 55

West Valley-Yakima (21-3) - Thompson-Miller 0, Hinckley 0, Schaffer 8, DeCoto 0, Heinzen 0, Davis 6, Murillo 13, Pehlke 0, Dinsmore 2, Borton 19.

Eastmont (22-3) - Evenhus 2, Such 0, Boughton 0, Spies 0, Reinbolt 0, Summers 21, Brownlee 11, Johnson 4, Tomko 9, Bromiley 6, Duncan 2, Throneberry 0.