Defense helps Freeman claw its way to tournament

Freeman’s boys basketball team is participating in its eighth straight State 1A tournament, with the second round played today in Yakima.

But of all the Scotties state qualifiers, this season’s team is likely the most improbable.

The season reads like a soap opera. Inexperience, injuries and a major defection taxed coach Mike Thacker.

“One word, ‘bizarre,’ ” said Thacker of his year. “It’s been a trying year in a lot of respects. That’s about the nicest words I can come up with.”

Yet somehow, when push came to shove, the restructured Scotties (14-10) find themselves making their appointed Sun Dome date.

Andrew Wilkerson, the returnee with substantial varsity experience, could not play after the year’s fourth game because of a football-related back injury.

DeAngelo Casto, a 6-foot-7 sophomore prodigy who was averaging 17.6 points per game, was removed from the team by his mother and subsequently transferred to Ferris midway through the season.

“We run a lot of offenses that pound it inside,” said Thacker. “Anytime you rip 17 points away, it’s tough.”

The Scotties carried on by committee and defense, finishing 11-9 for the season and third out of the fourth-team Northeast A League. Then they were beaten 46-37 by Kettle Falls in the first round of the district tournament, one game away from elimination.

Three straight wins later – 42-39 over Newport, 44-43 in overtime over Kettle and 44-40 over Lake Roosevelt – and Freeman was back in state.

“It’s our defense,” said Thacker. “I believe that is what saved us at the end. At times we struggled to put the ball through the hole during the season.”

Without a player who averages eight points a game this season, different players took turns leading the way. Luke Heinen became the go-to guy late in the season and averaged 12 points in Freeman’s four postseason games.

Undersized post Michael Wittwer was another key guy offensively. Andrew Dresback had six double figures games in Freeman’s last 13.

Mark Sanders and Scott Ferguson, who was slowed by an ankle sprain, were defensive stoppers.

“We’ve done a great job of defense, rebounding and free throw shooting, hitting 72 percent in our last five or six games,” said Thacker.

If it hadn’t been too expensive, he was going to have state T-shirts made up depicting a claw tearing through the back of the shirt.

“It would have said, ‘We clawed our way here,’ ” said Thacker. “That’s what we’ve done.”

“Freeman girls: Last year’s state runner-up had an easier time in their bid to make a return to the state finals.

The Scotties (19-3) bounced back after losing twice to Colfax and finishing second in the NEA to beat the Bulldogs 55-44 for the district title. They then stopped Brewster 60-44.

The amazingly consistent Jessie DePell averaged 18.1 points per game during regular season with highs of 32 and 31 and 17 in three playoff games.

Claire Moberg averaged 11.5 for the regular season, Kelsey Raines is a 9.0 scorer, and Jennesa Miller averaged nearly 10 points per game in the playoffs.

From fourth to first

When Central Valley’s boys basketball team lost three of six games down the stretch of the Greater Spokane League basketball season, coach Rick Sloan managed to keep things in perspective.

“We’d been playing pretty good defense all year. We were the league’s top ranked team,” Sloan said.

But his Bears would shoot well under 40 percent from the field and sometimes in the 20 percent range.

“If we ever got our offense going we were going to be a team to reckon with,” he said. “We got it going.”

The results were three straight victories and the District 8 4A championship by a team that tied for fifth during the regular season and was seeded fourth for 4A playoff purposes.

The Bears kept rolling Tuesday, rallying from a 13-point deficit to defeat visiting Davis of Yakima 70-64 in the first round of the ConAgra Foods/LambWeston 4A Regional.

The eight-team double-elimination tournament continues Friday and Saturday in Kennewick and qualifies three teams to state.

“We pretty much turned things upside down,” Sloan said.

The Bears and sixth-seeded Mt. Spokane played for the district title and forced GSL co-champions Gonzaga Prep and Ferris on the road Tuesday for regional games. All four GSL teams won Tuesday and square off for two state berths Friday in Kennewick. CV meets Gonzaga at 7 p.m. followed by Mt. Spokane-Ferris at 9.

CV opened district with a 57-51 win over Mead in a loser-out game, stunned the Saxons 58-55 in overtime and outscored Mt. Spokane 44-21 in the second half of a 66-49 title romp.

Four players scored in double figures for the district tourney, Luke Clift at 13.3 per game, Nick Ambrose at 11.3, while Kevin Cameron and Brad Johnson each averaged 10 points per game.

“It was one of those things where I told the kids we were an eight-cylinder vehicle hitting on six cylinders and getting by,” Sloan said.

At the end of regular season CV lost to West Valley because the offense wasn’t clicking, but then denied North Central a GSL title share because it finally did.

“Against NC we started hitting buckets,” said Sloan. “From then on they started to believe and we’ve been on a roll ever since.”

Clift and Cameron were offensive constants early in the season. Ambrose and Johnson had a run of success in the middle when the others cooled off.

Last week in district all four clicked and CV (19-5) got continued support from Brad Dieter and Matt Morgan off the bench.

“If we continue to play the way we are,” said Sloan. “We can compete with anybody.”

Patience is a virtue

University’s girls basketball team has something going for it that a lot of women’s teams don’t – a willingness to take their time.

That controlled style of play, rare in an era of full-court pressure and up-tempo blast led to last week’s District 8 championship, something last year’s regular-season unbeaten team didn’t accomplish.

The Titans (20-3) beat Lewis and Clark for the second time in eight days by a nearly identical score. Their 55-46 win was a product of a 32-20 second half advantage, much of it coming during an early 11-2 third-quarter run.

In their previous meeting, a 57-49 U-Hi win, and again during their 67-41 district opening win over Central Valley, the Titans took their time.

They milked the 30-second clock and benefited from superb passing by Angie Bjorklund and Tonya Schnibbe to shred opposition defenses.

It didn’t hurt that Bjorklund scored 24 points in each win, nearly 40 percent of U-Hi’s offense. And it certainly didn’t hurt that Dara Zack, the undersized but never overmatched post, and inside compatriot Janna Erickson continued their offensive success in the paint.

Like the boys, three teams qualify for state from an eight-team double-elimination event.

Central Valley (14-10), making its record 17th regional appearance, fell behind by 31 points at halftime as unbeaten Eisenhower rolled to a 76-36 win in Tuesday’s regional opener. The Bears play Walla Walla at 4 p.m. in a loser-out game Friday.

The Bears went 1-2 in district. Heidi Heintz averaged 14.7 points per game and Justine Bowman averaged 13.0.

“3A: East Valley’s girls season ended with two tough-luck regional losses.

EV (9-15) was beaten 65-52 by eventual champion Hanford and 56-50 by Ellensburg.

In both games the Knights had their foes where they wanted them after three quarters. They led Hanford 40-36 and trailed Ellensburg by just a point, 43-42.

But turnovers, including 24 against Ellensburg, hurt a team that was outscored 42-20 combined in the final period.

EV had six double figures efforts in the two regional losses. Kylee Williamson averaged 12.0 per game with two of them. Miranda Rippee, Eleaya Schuerch, Kelsey Hentges and Ashley Grater had the others.

Eight players return next year, including Williamson, Schuerch and Grater.