2A, 1A basketball: Lakeside girls power past Seattle Christian in opener

YAKIMA – Lakeside’s coaching staff was concerned enough about defensive preparation coming into Wednesday’s first-round State 1A girls tournament matchup with Seattle Christian that they pop-quizzed the team not once but twice in the hours before the game.

After the real test – the opening-round 63-43 throttling of the Warriors in the SunDome – let’s call that three exams aced for the Eagles.

Lakeside (18-7) advances to play top-ranked, unbeaten Lynden Christian in the quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Lakeside coach Jeff Pietz said his staff was concerned about the Warriors’ propensity for shooting 3-pointers – as many as 40 in a game he said – and the Eagles put a lot of focus on that. That – among many things on defense – worked as Seattle Christian made just five 3-pointers in 16 attempts.

After a back-and-forth third period in which the Eagles couldn’t shake Seattle Christian after consistently extending their lead to 12 or 13 points, Pietz went for a refresher course on points of emphasis rather than change defenses.

“We had game-planned a lot about what we were gonna do with them and we kinda went away from that,” Pietz said. “We just told them to refocus on what we want to do rather than switch the defense.”

Hallie Jensen had 20 points and 11 rebounds while Sienna Swannack added 14 and Kendra Gay 12 for Lakeside.

La Center 51, Freeman 32: A 24-4 third-period effort by the Wildcats was too much for the Scotties to handle in the loser-out game.

Freeman (15-10) trailed by 19-17 at halftime, but La Center shot 61 percent from the field in the second half to advance. Freeman shot just 22 percent from the floor in the contest, hitting 15 of 55 attempts.

Isabelle Miller led Freeman with eight points.

Boys

Renton 46, Pullman 38: The Indians outscored the Greyhounds 12-4 in the final 6:47 in a 2A loser-out contest.

After a layup by Cole Hawes gave Pullman a 34-31 lead early in the final period, Renton’s Vershan Jackson hit a 3-pointer and layup for a 38-34 lead that Renton never lost.

Jake Wells led Pullman (19-4) with 13 points.

King’s 59, Newport 47: The Grizzlies cut a 16-point halftime deficit to six in the fourth period but couldn’t get any closer and were eliminated by the Knights in a first-round game.

Tug Smith hit a 3-pointer – his only points of the contest – from deep in the left corner with 5:46 remaining in the game to reduce the Newport deficit to 51-45. The Grizzlies (17-8) had three chances to cut into the Knights’ lead more but couldn’t convert. King’s scored eight straight points to close out the contest.

Koa Pancho was the only Grizzly in double figures with 12 points.