Titans, Tigers advance to final

It was a good night Thursday for the Lewis and Clark Tigers and the University Titans.

Both teams rolled to semifinal victories and secured home-court advantage at the regional tournament Tuesday in the District 8 4A tournament at Central Valley High School.

In the early game, Angie Bjorklund finished with 33 points and eight rebounds and the Titans, who meet LC tonight in the district championship game, exploded in the fourth quarter, defeating the Mead Panthers 65-48.

In the second semifinal, seniors Katelan Redmon and Lyndi Seidensticker led a balanced scoring attack and combined for 43 points as LC crushed Shadle Park 64-36.

LC coach Jim Redmon and U-Hi coach Mark Stinson agreed that the home-court advantage at regional will be beneficial to their teams.

“Any time you can stay home one more day it’s a good thing,” Redmon said. “You never know where you are going to have to travel, so it’s definitely a good thing.”

“Over the past few years we’ve done both travel and (stay home),” Stinson said. “Traveling to the (Tri-Cities) is real tough on a school night.”

In tonight’s games to determine seeding into the regional tournament, Mead and Shadle meet at 5:45 p.m. at CV and the championship game is set to begin at 7:45.

University 65, Mead 48: The Titans (19-2) outscored Mead 19-4 in the fourth quarter for the victory.

The Panthers (16-5) gave up an early lead, but kept the game close, trailing by only two points at the half.

Mead tied the game at 33-all when freshman guard Jazmine Redmon opened up second-half scoring with a bucket just inside the arc. Seconds later, starting guard Kami Clark was called for her fourth foul and didn’t return until the fourth quarter.

Bjorklund, who had 17 of her 33 points in the first half, scored six unanswered points to give the Titans a 46-38 lead late in the third quarter. Respective 3-pointers from Redmon and Alysha Green pulled the Panthers within two points at the end of the third.

It was all U-Hi in the fourth quarter. Bjorklund led the attack with eight points and Dara Zack, who finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, notched five.

Redmon led the way for Mead, finishing with 15 points. Green added 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Kelli Valentine chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds.

Lewis and Clark 64, Shadle Park 36: The Highlanders (15-7), the only team to defeat the Tigers (20-1) this season, trailed 17-7 after the first quarter.

Things seemed to be turning around when Shadle went on a 12-2 scoring run to open the second quarter and tied the game at 19-all.

But junior Brittany Kennedy scored six points and Seidensticker broke away for an easy layin to give the Tigers the lead for good. Kennedy had eight of her 12 points in the second quarter and three of her four steals.

In the fourth quarter, the Tigers held the Highlanders scoreless for 6 minutes. Sophomore Bianca Pope was 1 for 2 from the line to give Shadle its first points of the quarter.

Lexie Pettersen led the way for Shadle, finishing with 12 points. Senior guard Lexi Bishop was held to five points on 1-for-9 shooting from the field.

Redmon finished with 22 points on 11-of-17 shooting to lead the Tigers. Seidensticker hit three 3-pointers and finished with 21 points.