Falcons soar to State 1B title
YAKIMA – A one-horse show this was not.
Sprague-Harrington proved it didn’t need to rely solely on the exploits of star player Roni Jo Mielke. The Falcons’ starting five combined for all of the team’s points Saturday night to power S-H to a 67-48 victory over Sunnyside Christian in the championship game of the State 1B girls basketball tournament at the SunDome.
Mielke poured in a game-high 22 points – and was named the tournament’s most valuable player – but she wasn’t the only S-H player who set out to dominate the Knights from the opening tip. Maria Rustemeyer controlled the paint with 16 points and 14 rebounds, and Jamie Larmer and Jackie Lowman added 10 points apiece.
“Last year we were undefeated the whole season and lost our first game to this team,” Rustemeyer said, referring to the Falcons’ 58-54 loss to Sunnyside Christian in the first round of last year’s state tournament. “We definitely wanted revenge this year. When you lose, you learn. We’ve built off of our losses.
“Everyone gave it their all, and definitely for each one of us this was our best game.”
S-H instantly was immortalized with the victory. The Falcons won their first state championship in girls basketball and is the first Class 1B state champion after the classification was divided into two.
The Falcons clearly were the superior team during the last three quarters. They outscored Sunnyside Christian 53-32 over the game’s final 24 minutes and seemingly scored at will both inside and from the perimeter.
The Knights turned most of their defensive focus on Mielke and shooting guard Natalie Deking. Rustemeyer, Larmer and Lowman deserve credit for attacking the basket when those opportunities were presented.
“I know my role,” Larmer said. “I’m not a big scorer. I get rebounds, hustle and play good defense.”
Sunnyside Christian wasn’t prepared to face five players looking to score.
“We didn’t expect them to have the inside game that they did,” said Knights senior Brittany den Hoed, who led Sunnyside Christian with 13 points.
Deking finished with nine points on three 3-pointers and also handed out six assists. She learned after the game she joined Mielke on the all-tournament first team. She cried when she thought about her late father, Dick, whom she said played on the junior varsity team when Harrington’s boys basketball team won the state title in 1965.
“I know he’s really proud of me and all of us,” she said. “I’m just proud of the history there. When I come back with my kids, they can say, ‘She was on the team.’ “
Mielke terrorized the Knights on both ends of the floor. Her tremendous on-the-ball pressure flustered Sunnyside Christian’s guards. Tori Van Wingerden, who averaged 16 points a game during the regular season, finished with 11 points on 3-for-14 shooting. Van Wingerden had Mielke and Deking in her face for four quarters.
Melanie Van Wingerden and Andrea Schutt also scored 11 points for Sunnyside Christian.
Colton 45, Tekoa-Oakesdale 42: Colton first flirted with blowing the game open. Then the Wildcats flirted with giving it away.
Eventually they settled somewhere between.
Colton’s Ashley Nygreen made two crucial free throws with 9 seconds left, and Tekoa-Oakesdale missed two open 3-point looks in the final 10 seconds to allow Colton to escape with a victory and a third-place trophy.
The Wildcats (23-6) led 26-7 after Courtney Druffel’s 3-pointer with 7 minutes left in the second quarter. Tekoa-Oakesdale roared back into contention with 17 consecutive points and closed within 26-24 on Shelby Puckett’s 15-foot jumper 3 minutes into the third quarter.
Colton never surrendered the lead, however, and eventually secured the win when it weathered missed 3-point attempts by T-O’s Kristine Faunce and Laura Varney in the game’s waning seconds.
“We played them four times before, and we knew they’d make a run,” Colton coach Clark Vining said. “I told our girls we had to withstand the run and then go from there. (The Nighthawks) are a quality team and a good squad.”
Rochelle Druffel made 4 of 9 3-pointers and finished with 12 points. Alisa Moehrle and Courtney Druffel added 10 points apiece.
“We started off amazing, and that’s been our goal in every game at state,” Rochelle Druffel said.
Courtney Druffel, a sophomore and Rochelle’s younger sister, is Colton’s best defender but had to look for more opportunities on offense against T-O. She was aggressive getting to the basket and scored five of her points from the line after drawing fouls.
“I’m not a great outside shooter,” she said. “Coach Vining wants me to drive and get fouled. Today, after the first quarter when we were hitting our outside shots, they started overplaying. Coach told everyone to attack and drive and get the foul. That’s what we did.
“Coach is always right.”
Puckett paced the sixth-place Nighthawks (19-9) with 14 points and seven rebounds. Kelsi Graffis added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Inchelium 51, Curlew 36: The Pakootas era is over in Inchelium, and there’s a fourth-place state trophy to show for it.
Chelsi Pakootas fired in a game-high 18 points to secure fourth place for the Hornets, but the contest was bittersweet for her and freshman sister Chenise.
A senior playing her final game in a Hornet uniform, Chelsi may have suffered a broken hand in the inconsequential final minute of the game and was taken to a local hospital for X-rays. Inchelium coach Rod Hergesheimer said Chelsi’s fingers were bent backward awkwardly in a scrum for a loose ball.
The elder of the Pakootas sisters was sensational before the injury. She made 6 of 11 shots – including 3 of 4 3-point tries – and recorded six assists and three steals. The Hornets point guard also finished the game without a turnover.
“Chelsi is a leader and the girl I look up to,” said sophomore Serena Condon, who made several big shots and finished with 14 points. “She’s a big part of this program.”
The Hornets grinded for 32 minutes to stave off Curlew, an opponent Inchelium faced five times this year. Inchelium won the first matchup by 25 points, but lost the next three.
The Hornets held Curlew’s two stars, Nichole Miller and Amanda Grumbach, to a combined 5-for-27 shooting performance and 15 points. The Hornets also scored 19 points off Curlew’s 22 turnovers, compared to the Cougars’ six points off 14 Inchelium turnovers.
Inchelium finished the season 20-6 but will move on without either Pakootas sister next year. Chenise said she’s moving to Spokane and will play at University.
“It will be really hard,” she said, noting she’ll play club ball with the Spokane Stars this summer. “I’ve lived in Inchelium my whole life. It’ll be a big difference, I guess. … I’ve got to work really hard.”
The state’s top-ranked team entering the tournament, Curlew finished 24-3 and placed seventh.
Entiat 29, Garfield-Palouse 24: Entiat’s Kami Yucinich posted a game-high 11 points, and Gar-Pal couldn’t overcome a shaky shooting performance and 26 turnovers in the matchup for fifth and eighth places.
Elisha Lopez scored eight points for Gar-Pal, but no other Vikings players tallied more than five. The Vikings made only 8 of 38 shots (21 percent).
The teams were tied at 16 at halftime and combined for six points in the third quarter. Entiat led 20-18 entering the final quarter.