Central Valley girls knocks off Gonzaga Prep to claim 4A regional title

Right off, Central Valley coach Freddie Rehkow could tell that it probably wasn’t going to be one of those nights when his defending state champion Bears lit up the scoreboard with a blistering offense.

“We missed three wide-open layups!” he lamented, his head tilted back and his eyes rolling upwards. “We did some things that were out of character for us. The halftime speech was pretty basic.”

And still, CV knocked off Gonzaga Prep, 69-38 to claim the girls 4A subregional championship Friday night on their home court.

It wasn’t a thing of beauty, Rehkow said. But in the end, the Bears held yet another opponent under 40 points and, with help from a deep bench, posted a 31-point margin of victory.

Gonzaga Prep came out fired up on defense and displayed a knack for cutting off the Bears passing lanes – especially when Central Valley looked for long, cross-court passes on its fast break.

“Well, it’s not like we weren’t telegraphing or anything,” the coach said. “I don’t know how many times we were caught just staring at the person we were going to pass it to. But I don’t want to take anything away from Gonzaga Prep. They did come out and play good defense.”

Lexie Hull got the Bears on the scoreboard almost two minutes into the game after the team had missed three wide-open layup opportunities and launched a couple of air balls from the baseline.

What kick-started the offense were a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers from Camryn Skaife, who came out looking to spearhead the team’s defense – and suddenly found herself open beyond the arc.

“When I’m open like that, I do like to shoot,” she said. “And when I can hit a few shots like that, it helps with our offense. Teams can’t pack it in against us.”

Skaife hit four 3-pointers in the game and Katie Crouch knocked down two more as the perimeter game found openings. In all, CV hit eight 3-pointers.

Central Valley refocused on defense to open the second half and held the Bullpups without a point for almost four full minutes to start the period.

“That’s why we concentrate on defense,” Rehkow said. “You’re going to have games like this where you have trouble scoring.”

Lexie Hull finished with 17 points to lead the offense, but her sister, Lacie was held to just six. Skaife finished with 14 points.

Central Valley wasn’t immediately sure who it would play next, but the odds-on favorite is a rematch with Moses Lake, which was in attendance to scout the game. Central Valley beat Moses Lake 51-39 earlier this season.

“I wish we could have shown them something they haven’t already seen,” Rehkow laughed.

Meanwhile, G-Prep will travel to Chiawana for a play-in game to regionals on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Chiawana 66, Lewis and Clark 59: Kenedy Cartwright scored 21 points and the Riverhawks (19-6) eliminated the visiting Tigers (14-11) in a 4A subregional matchup.

Kenzie Cordray scored 18 points – all on 3-pointers – while Clare Eubanks added 15 points with eight rebounds for Chiawana, which advances to face Gonzaga Prep on Saturday in a play-in game to regionals.

Jacinta Buckley led Lewis and Clark with 18 points and eight rebounds. Peyton Howard and Dominique Arquette added 15 points apiece.