Falcons lead way

YAKIMA – If anyone recognizes that actions speak louder than words, it’s Sprague-Harrington’s Natalie Deking.

Deaf since she was born, Deking illustrated that point Wednesday night.

Deking poured in four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 13 points to lead the Falcons to a 42-31 victory over Entiat in the first round of the State 1B girls tournament at the SunDome.

S-H improved to 22-4, but more important advanced to the state quarterfinals. The Falcons will play Mary Knight at 9 tonight.

“It’s kind of like when people (have deteriorating eyesight) and everything gets blurry,” said Deking, who wears a hearing aid behind each ear. “My hearing is kind of blurry. It doesn’t affect my game, though. I do a good job looking at my coach for the play.”

Deking (pronounced DAY-king) opened the game with a 3-pointer, and that set a tone for the rest of her night. On a night when leading scorer Roni Jo Mielke uncustomarily didn’t light up the scoreboard, it was Deking who contributed with timely buckets.

Mielke averaged 25 points during four district tournament games, but she scored only two points in the first half as the Falcons limped ahead 15-12 at halftime. Deking and Mielke hit consecutive 3-pointers early in the third quarter to push the S-H lead to 22-12, however, and the Falcons led comfortably the rest of the way.

“Obviously, I can’t expect to have a great game every night,” said Mielke, who finished with 12 points. “That’s why I have the greatest teammates in the world. They always pick me up.”

Mielke is headed to Saint Martin’s University on a basketball scholarship. Deking is an aspiring barrel racer – she said she owns “a paint and a couple of quarterhorses” – and plans to pursue a radiology career beginning with a stint at Spokane Community College.

“We all know we’re going off to college to do successful things – we all are,” Deking said. “That’s what being a senior is all about, and that’s what makes it special.”

The Falcons lost their first-round game last year and wound up with a fifth-place trophy. S-H coach Ed Shields said he hopes “a hurdle’s been passed because it means we’ll play better” tonight.

Curlew 76, Lake Quinault 20: The Cougars appear primed for a second consecutive deep run into the tournament after blasting Lake Quinault in the first round.

Last year’s state tournament runner-up, Curlew led 18-4 after the first quarter and 42-6 at halftime. The Cougars held Lake Quinault to 23.5 percent shooting from the floor and outrebounded the Elks 42-21.

Nichole Miller scored 20 points, and Larissa Miller added 18 on 8-for-9 shooting for Curlew. Kady Kirkendall made 6 of 8 shots and finished with 13 points for the Cougars (23-1).

Curlew plays Tekoa-Oakesdale today in the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m.

Inchelium 80, Taholah 40: Inchelium buried Taholah with a fearsome balanced offense as five players scored in double figures to lead the Hornets’ rout.

Serena Condon and Chelsi Pakootas scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, for Inchelium. Pakootas also added nine steals and six rebounds.

The Hornets (18-5) outscored Taholah 26-10 in the first quarter and was never threatened.

The state’s third-ranked team at the end of the regular season, Inchelium figures to get tested today in the quarterfinals against No. 4 Sunnyside Christian at 4 p.m.

Colton 63, Cusick 41: The extended Druffel family led the Wildcats to their first state tournament win.

Rochelle Druffel fired in five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 17 points, sister Courtney tallied 12 points and 12 rebounds, and cousin Sammie chipped in with 13 points to power Colton, which made its state tourney debut.

Alisa Moehrle added 11 points for Colton, which scored nine of the game’s first 10 points and never trailed.

Colton (21-5) plays Pateros (16-7) in a quarterfinal matchup at 5:30 p.m. Cusick (11-14) will meet Neah Bay (12-3) in a loser-out game at 10:30 a.m.

Tekoa-Oakesdale 66, North Sound Christian 24: Kristine Faunce scored 13 points, and every Tekoa-Oakesdale player scored at least two points in the Nighthawks’ easy victory.

Faunce made 5 of 11 shots from the field and also collected six rebounds for Tekoa-Oakesdale (18-7).

The Nighthawks led 26-11 at halftime and outscored North Sound Christian 24-10 in the third quarter to emphatically end any doubt about the game’s outcome.

Sunnyside Christian 34, Garfield-Palouse 32: Garfield-Palouse came as close as it could to stealing away a victory from the favored Knights, but Andrea Schutt’s field goal with 13 seconds left lifted Sunnyside Christian to the first-round win.

Gar-Pal’s Tianna Woltering missed a 3-pointer at the final horn.

The Vikings rebounded after watching its first-quarter lead evaporate. Courtney Shoemaker tied the game at 30-all with a layup with 3:29 left in the game, and Elisha Lopez’s jumper tied it at 32 with 1:11 remaining.

Courtney Shoemaker paced Gar-Pal (14-10) with 14 points. Melania Van Wingerden posted 12 points and 12 rebounds to lead Sunnyside Christian (20-3).