Panthers prevail
Mead girls basketball coach Regan Drew wrote down a succinct message on her clipboard Tuesday before her team’s District 8 4A tournament game at Central Valley.
It said: “Defense starts it all.”
She might as well have scribbled down its twin sister: “Shooting finishes it all.”
Mead started hot and finished hot and in between played some sticky defense as the fourth-seeded Panthers knocked off top seed and Greater Spokane League champion Central Valley 65-48 to earn a berth to the Eastern Regional.
The Panthers (17-5) will visit No. 2 Lewis and Clark (14-7) Thursday to decide the district championship and the top two seeds to regional. LC also punched its advancement ticket, stopping third-seeded Gonzaga Prep 60-48.
G-Prep (15-6) will go to CV (16-5) Thursday to decide the third and final seed to regional. Both games begin at 5:30 p.m.
Mead 65, Central Valley 48: The Panthers made 25 of 52 shots from the field and 9 of 18 3-pointers.
“It’s tough to beat anybody when they shoot that well,” CV coach Freddie Rehkow said. “I give them credit. They deserved it tonight. They outplayed us.”
Mead broke open what had been a taut first half with a 12-0 run in the third quarter. The Bears never recovered.
Then the Panthers finished the game by making their final five shots, including two 3-pointers.
“A lot of that comes from energy,” Drew said about her team’s shooting. “We did some good things defensively and we rebounded well. For us, that’s what gets those things going. And when you have some players knock down a couple (shots), it (the basket) becomes bigger for everybody.”
Leading the shooting barrage, especially from 3-point range, was junior guard Taylor Ingebritsen. She made her first three 3-pointers and 4 of 6 overall to finish with a game-high 18 points. Teammate Jazmine Redmon had 17 points and nine rebounds and Chenise Pakootas added 15 points and seven rebounds.
“That was the difference maker – our shots went down,” said Pakootas, who noted that Mead shot about 15 percent when CV clinched the league title in a 45-36 win over the Panthers last Thursday.
Rehkow wasn’t displeased.
“Effortwise, I thought we hustled and played hard,” Rehkow said. “They just executed better and played defense better than us.”
Drew thought the fact her team had to win a loser-out game Monday to get into the double-elimination portion of district was an advantage.
“As much as we didn’t like the outcome last Thursday, we liked the fact that we were playing (Monday) because you’re going to have to play back to back in regionals,” she said. “It’s a mindset. If you worry about the fact they might be fresh and we might be tired, then mentally you’re not in the right frame of mind.”
Loree Hill led CV with 15 points.
Rehkow challenged his team to bounce back Thursday.
“It’s win or stay home,” he said. “That’s what it boils down to. That’s what we talked about in the locker room.”
Lewis and Clark 60, Gonzaga Prep 48: A big third quarter allowed the Tigers to build a comfortable cushion.
LC outscored the Bullpups 21-10 in the third.
The Tigers benefited from balanced scoring. Devyn Galland led four players in double figures with 15 points. Nakia Arquette and Hayley Hendricksen each had 13 and Daisy Burke added 11.
Tia Presley led G-Prep with 24 points and Lindsay Stockton had 11.
G-Prep finished with four 3-pointers while LC had three.
Boys
Gonzaga Prep 69, University 50: Saddled with foul trouble for most of the game, Ryan Nicholas erupted for 14 points in the fourth quarter to help the Bulldogs (20-1) put the finishing touches on a win over the Titans (10-12) at G-Prep.
With Nicholas on the bench, Parker Kelly picked up most of the scoring, hitting five 3-pointers and finishing with 21 points.
Mead 65, Ferris 59: The Saxons (10-11) shot 69 percent from the floor in the half, but a 3-pointer by Brendon Myers just before halftime gave the host Panthers (16-5) a lead they didn’t relinquish.
The Panthers went on an 11-0 run to start the second half and held off a similar run by the Saxons, sealing the game with a jumper by Garret Swanson with 31 seconds left.
Myers scored 17 points to lead Mead, while Jordan Tonani’s 18 led Ferris.
Mead advances to the tournament title game to play at G-Prep at 7:15 p.m. Thursday. Both teams have clinched regional berths.
Ferris hosts U-Hi at 7:15 Thursday for the third and final regional berth.