Bears Wind Up Sixth Overachieving CV Bows To Snohomish
State 4A girls
It wasn’t exactly the finish Central Valley was looking for, but it wasn’t bad.
The Bears were certainly uninspired Saturday afternoon, giving away a 41-37 game to Snohomish in the battle for third place in the girls State 4A high school basketball tournament.
“You always want more,” CV coach Dale Poffenroth said. “At the start of the season, we were picked fifth in the league and we finished sixth at state.”
And it was the only trophy for the four Greater Spokane League teams that made it to the Tacoma Dome.
It could have been third, but the team that led the tournament in free-throw shooting wasn’t sharp at the line and was even more dismal taking care of the ball, throwing it away 25 times. The Bears, who held their own against bigger teams in previous games, were whipped 35-24 in rebounding, including allowing the Panthers 17 offensive boards. The Panthers scored 37 of their 41 points after offensive rebounds or CV turnovers. “We didn’t run our offense very well,” Poffenroth said. “I don’t know how well they ran theirs.”
That’s what makes the finish disappointing. CV held Snohomish to 18 percent shooting in the first half but only led 19-15.
“It was a gritty performance,” Panthers coach Mark Albertine said. “I told the kids we were shooting 18 percent and we were only down four. We knew we would shoot better than that.”
The star was Karla Hulse, who scored the last five points of the game. Raeanna Jewell fed Felice Moore to put CV up 37-36 with 1:10 to play, but just 8 seconds later, Hulse hit a 12-footer from the left baseline. Then CV made its last turnover, and Hulse hit 1 of 2 free throws with 30 seconds left.
Jewell missed a shot from the lane at 15 seconds before Hulse iced it with two free throws with 6.9 seconds remaining.
“(Hulse) is a tremendous competitor,” Albertine said of the 5-foot-8 senior co-captain who averaged three points a game. “We needed someone to step up, and she stepped up. And she guarded Jewell.”
If there was an omen, it came early. The Bears looked sharp, scoring the first eight points of the game on their first four shots, but then Jewell was called for a phantom foul. From there, things snowballed. The Panthers got five straight points from the foul line to stay in the game and ended up hitting 17 of 22 free throws.
CV gave away a basket to close the first half after leading by as many as seven points. Midway through the third quarter, Hulse, who finished with 10, scored three points on the same trip down court - the Bears gave up an offensive rebound after Hulse missed the second of two free throws - for the Panthers’ first lead at 26-25. Kirsten Brockman, a 6-1 junior who had 14 points, scored after the game was tied at 26 to start a 6-0 surge that give the Panthers their biggest lead, 32-26.
Jayme Heinen hit two free throws and Jewell made a steal and tough layup to get CV back in it late in the quarter.
The win gave Snohomish its highest finish since losing to CV in the 1993 title game. CV’s Bears improved on last year’s eighth-place finish with just three seniors, only one a starter.
“It’s sad, but it’s been fun,” two-year starter Kendra Ferguson said of her third trip to state. “We all stepped up. Nobody thought we’d get here. This was the funnest team. We love each other.”
Jewell was named to the second team all-tournament team.
Snohomish 41, CV 37
Central Valley 12 7 11 7 - 37
Snohomish 7 8 17 9 - 41
Central Valley (21-10) - Heinen 1 3-4 5, Rodgers 5 0-1 10, Ferguson 1 0-0 2, Wing 1 1-2 4, Jewell 3 3-597, Wagner 0 0-0 0, Moore 2 3-4 7. Totals 13 10-16 37.
Snohomish (21-5) - Barstow 0 0-0 0, Staley 0 0-0 0, Smith 1 1-2 3, Hulse 2 6-8 10, Markey 2 0-0 4, Brockman 4 6-8 14, Mock 1 2-2 4, Bailey 1 0-0 2, Speer 1 2-2 4. Totals 12 17-22 41. 3-point goals - Wing. Total fouls - Central Valley 16, Snohomish 17. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - none.