Central Valley girls stay undefeated, earn GSL 4A/3A title with 56-40 win over Ridgeline; CV boys claim second 3A seed to districts
Some games don’t need hype. But we do it anyway, especially when the story lines are so clearly defined.
The Central Valley girls team has been one of the more successful and celebrated in the history of the Greater Spokane League. CV’s new school district rival, Ridgeline, is in its fourth year of existence trying to prove it belongs at the level.
Both entered Friday’s last regular-season game of the season undefeated in league.
Ridgeline coach Freddie Rehkow led the Bears to state and national titles during his tenure at CV before moving to Ridgeline when the school opened, first with the boys program before taking over the girls this season.
CV’s Brynn McGaughy, the top girls prospect in the state who transferred to the school for her senior year, and Ridgeline senior point guard Emma Myers came into Friday’s game 1-2 in the league in scoring – separated by four-tenths of a point. CV guard Eden Sander and Ridgeline forward Madi Crowley are both all-league seniors.
It had all the making of an instant classic, with repercussions for both district and state seeding, as CV entered No. 1 in the 3A RPI and Ridgeline No. 5.
A fast start by the hosts turned out to be the difference, as the Bears (20-0, 9-0) raced to a 15-4 lead and rarely looked back, beating the Falcons (17-3, 8-1) 56-40 in the de facto GSL 4A/3A title game in front of a packed gym at CV.
CV sophomore Drae Domebo came off the bench for 17 points, while McGaughy and Sander added 14 apiece. Myers scored 25 points for Ridgeline.
Sander grew up watching the Central Valley girls teams win league, district and state titles as a kid.
“I’ve been waiting for this even before I got to high school,” Sander said. “This is such a great moment for me. It feels great to carry on the legacy, for sure.”
Central Valley coach Jason Wilson said the game plan was simple – stop Myers. It worked early, as Myers and Crowley combined to hit 1 of 6 from the field in the first quarter.
“She’s had such an amazing year. You could say she was MVP of the league,” Wilson said. “We felt like if we could just make it difficult for her and slow her down a little bit, the rest we could take care of.”
Myers ended up with the scoring title with 18.2 points per game, playing under the weather, according to her coach.
“We didn’t know if we were going to have her tonight,” Rehkow said. “For her to step up and just kind of help carry the team, you know, we’ll take that.”
After a scoreless three minutes to start the game, McGaughy and Sander hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Bears the early advantage. Domebo hit a floater and a 3-pointer and CV took an 11-0 lead. McGaughy added a turnaround jumper before Myers made a pair at the line to stop the run. The Bears led by 11 after one quarter.
“We just missed too many (layups) early and got ourselves in that hole,” Rehkow said. “Defensively, I thought we were doing fine. It was just missing easy bunnies, and part of that was their pressure, part of it just us not getting ourselves in a position to finish.”
Myers went on a 6-0 run to get the Falcons within eight midway through the second. The scoring slowed for both teams, but Aspen Henry hit a 3-pointer for CV with 20 seconds left and the Bears led 30-18 at halftime.
Ridgeline came out of halftime with a 7-2 run to get the deficit to single digits, but Sander drove the lane on consecutive possessions, then Olivia Patshkowski hit a 3-pointer to make it 44-25 entering the fourth quarter.
Ridgeline started the fourth quarter with a 10-3 run, with eight from Myers, but Domebo and McGaughy answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back to 16. McGaughy’s short jumper with 1:30 left made it a 20-point game.
“We told them coming into this week that every game from here on out matters,” Wilson said. “We have a week off to get ready for (districts). We’re GSL champs, now we’re trying to be district champs and play in the state tournament.”
The teams seem destined to meet again in district play.
“Nobody else has beat them,” Rehkow said. “We came in and we were playing with house money. I’m proud of the girls. (CV) just found a way to get it done. It’s like (Wilson) said to me after the game, ‘We’ll see you in two weeks.’ ”
Boys
Central Valley 69, Ridgeline 57: Sophomore center Emerson Lippoldt scored 21 points and the Bears (10-10, 5-4) beat the visiting Falcons (7-13, 3-6) . Cameron Walls scored 19 points and Orland Axton added 14 for CV, which earned the second 3A seed to districts. Ridgeline will face Shadle Park in the district play-in game Tuesday.