Eagles, Greyhounds advance

TACOMA – Lorin Carlin’s assessment of the game when he stepped off the court wasn’t really directed at anyone, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t true.

“That was a thing of beauty,” the West Valley (Spokane) girls basketball coach said, a smirking grin present on his face signifying that even the ugliest of wins at this time of the year will always trump the prettiest of defeats.

That’s exactly what the Eagles got.

Playing in its first state playoff game in 11 years, West Valley overcame some ice-cold shooting and a foul-filled game from Great Northern League player of the year Melissa Mauro to defeat Eatonville 36-31 in the first round of the State 2A girls basketball tournament Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome.

The Eagles (18-5) advance to meet Elma, the fourth-place team out of the Evergreen Conference, at 7 p.m. today in an all-Eagles quarterfinal matchup. Elma (17-7) upset Sehome 68-67 in the opening round.

Also advancing to the quarterfinals was Great Northern champion Pullman (22-1), a 57-51 winner over Anacortes. Pullman plays Prosser, a 59-49 winner over Clarkston, at 3:30 p.m. today.

With Mauro’s time on the court limited because of early fouls, Hannah Love came off the bench and stepped up huge for the Eagles, scoring a game-high 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.

Love was about the only player to find success shooting from the field, finishing 5 for 10. The rest of her teammates combined to miss 22 of 27 shots as West Valley finished 10 for 37 (27 percent).

The Cruisers (16-7) had a harder time putting the ball in the bucket, missing 29 of 38 shots (24 percent), including 1 for 20 from 3-point range and 0 for 7 in the third quarter where they managed just a free throw.

“You try to simulate it at practice, but this is a tough building to shoot in, especially if you haven’t been here before, which we haven’t,” Carlin said. “We never want Melissa on the bench, so with her going out early it made what Hannah did even that much bigger for us. She’s really played exceptional these last few games.”

Love drained a 3-pointer from NBA range at the end of the third quarter, giving the Eagles a comfortable 31-17 lead.

Eatonville, however, stormed back, using a 12-0 run to pull within two points at 31-29 with 2:54 to play. The Cruisers managed one field goal the rest of the way.

“I think once we got that big lead everyone was so excited and just stopped playing,” Love said. “Then in no time they get back into the game. We just had to regroup and start playing defense again.”

Pullman 57, Anacortes 51

Kirsi Voshell’s near triple-double helped the Greyhounds advance to the quarterfinals for the fifth time in the last eight years.

The senior post finished with game highs in points (18), rebounds (10) and assists (six).

Pullman (22-1) shot 43 percent (19 of 44) from the field and held a 46-37 rebounding edge, including 20 on the offensive end.

The Greyhounds turned a 28-22 halftime lead into a 43-32 advantage with 2:33 remaining in the third quarter before the Seahawks (21-4) closed the gap to 43-38 in the fourth quarter.

Pullman put the game away with an 8-1 run over the next minute, getting two field goals each from Shelby Cheslek and Jordan Levenseller.

Prosser 59, Clarkston 49

The Bantams kept pace with the Mustangs and led by 10 points in the first half until falling victim to a late 18-0 run.

Leading 37-35 with 2 minutes, 52 seconds left in the third quarter, Clarkston (12-12) went scoreless over the next 7 minutes and found itself trailing 53-37 with 4 minutes to play. A 10-2 run by the Bantams cut the deficit to 55-47, but Prosser held on.

Kellie McCann-Smith led all scorers with 20 points, going 5 for 17 from the field and 8 for 8 from the free-throw line. Teammate Jaimie Berhammer chipped in 13 points, while Amanda Laney added nine points and six rebounds in the loss.

Lacie French finished with a team-high 17 points for Prosser (18-6).