Published
March 3, 2004
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This story is part of "Tourney Titans,"
a special section profiling the top players and teams in the history of
the Class 1A state basketball tournament. Tourney Titans
Susan
Anderson Truly Blessed With Her Success
Lyncs
to History
How Would
Top Three Teams Match Up?
Mount
Baker-Foster Game Could Be Best Ever
What If
Top Two Teams Had Met?
Top 20 Players
Top 20 Teams
The Voting Panel
Panelists Comment on a Special Group of Players |
|
Tourney Titans: The Players
| Player |
Team, Year |
Why Her?
|
|
1. SUSAN
ANDERSON
196 voting points
(12 first-place votes)
More on Susan Anderson can be found
here. |
MOUNT BAKER
1983, 1984,
1985, 1986
(state
tournament
appearances)
|
 The first and greatest
true post player in the tournament, the 6-foot-2 Anderson led the
Mounties to four state trophies while putting up staggering numbers --
355 career state-tournament points (a record that stood for 17 years),
two 100-plus-point tourneys and a 12.8 career tournament rebounding
average. The Gatorade and USA Today national player of the year in 1986,
she went on to start for four years for the University of Texas
Longhorns.
|
|
2. SHERRI
JOHNSON
188 points
(8 first-place votes) |
FOSTER
1984, 1985,
1986, 1987 |
That rarest
of 6-footers, the versatile, athletic Johnson could play with her back
to the basket, bring the ball up against the press or lead the fast
break. In leading Foster to back-to-back state titles, she averaged 22.0
points and 10.7 rebounds in the 1986 tourney and upped those marks to
32.8 and 12.5 in 1987. Her single-tournament and single-game (50)
scoring records still stand. You want versatility? She also led the 1987
tournament in steals.
|
|
3. MEGAN
FRANZA
162 points
(2 first-place votes) |
CASCADE
1995, 1996,
1997 |
A state track
champion in the high jump, long jump and hurdles (and an Olympic Trials
competitor while still in high school), Franza put her prodigious
athletic ability to use on the basketball floor. Driving the lane or
popping 3-pointers, she earned one MVP honor, led all three of her
tournaments in scoring (23.5 career average) and also ranked among the
leaders in rebounds, assists and steals. She was a four-year starter at
the University of Washington.
|
|
4. JENI
BOESEL
123 points |
BREWSTER
2000, 2001,
2002, 2003 |
In leading
the Bears to three state championships in her four years, Boesel -- a
5-8 guard with serious ups and remarkable body control -- was named
tournament MVP three times and missed a fourth by a single vote. She
racked up 2,727 points over her high school career, third best in
Washington state history, and started 110 straight games. Her 400 career
tournament points shattered Susan Anderson's record, and she also owns
or shares seven other marks.
|
|
5. KELLY
BLAIR
94 points |
PROSSER
1989 |
She was only
there once, but the marvelously gifted Blair -- who went on to fame as
an Olympic heptathlete -- made her mark on state tourney history with
her dominant performance in 1989. She all but willed the Mustangs to the
title, averaging 22.8 points and 10.5 rebounds in an MVP performance. In
the semifinals against perennial power Lynden Christian, Blair scored 32
points (including a key late 3-pointer), had 15 rebounds and four
steals.
|
|
6. KIM
KINCAID
50 points |
COLFAX
1987, 1988,
1989, 1990 |
A four-year
starter at state for the Bulldogs, Kincaid -- a 6-foot center with a
plethora of post moves, -- led Colfax to three state-tournament
trophies. In her final two years in the tourney she was particularly
dominant, averaging 20.3 points and 14.0 rebounds as a junior and then
cranking the numbers up to 25.3 and 14.3 as a senior. She finished with
262 career tournament points, which at the time ranked her second in the
record book.
|
|
6.
NIKKI
FIELDS
50 points |
CLE ELUM
1992, 1993,
1995 |
How good was
Fields? As a senior, she was named tournament MVP after a monumental
21.7-point, 11.7-rebound performance ... and she wasn't even a member of
the title team. But she carried the Warriors to the title game, along
the way knocking off Franza's Cascade team and Lori Newell's loaded
Ilwaco bunch. She averaged nearly 17 points in her state-tourney career
before going on to excel in Division I basketball at Pepperdine.
|
|
8. ANGEL
PETRICH
48 points |
CLE ELUM
1981, 1982 |
Petrich
played in an era of outstanding post players -- Lisa Peterson, Cristy
Cochran and JoAnn Holden, to name just a few -- but Petrich did what the
others could not: lead her team to the promised land, not once but
twice. Petrich did so many things right so routinely that until checking
the stats you wouldn't even realize she had racked up another huge
21-point, 17-rebound game -- which, by the way, were her career
tournament averages.
|
|
9. BRITTANY
LINDHE
46 points |
GOLDENDALE
1993, 1994 |
A 5-10
forward who could run the floor, outscrap taller centers for rebounds
and score from anywhere on the floor, Lindhe's high-water mark in the
state tourney came in 1993, her junior year. She carried the
Timberwolves to fourth place and was named tournament MVP after leading
the tourney in rebounding (13.2) and scoring (86 points, 21.5 average).
She went on to play Division I ball at the University of San Francisco.
|
|
10. SHANNON
DYKSTRA
27 points |
LYNDEN
CHRISTIAN
1993, 1994,
1995, 1996 |
A four-year
starter at the state tourney whose teams never failed to reach the
semifinals, Dykstra had a total understanding of the game and how to
control it. Playing any position at which she was needed, she had an
uncanny talent for driving and dishing off, exceptional ball-handling
skills and a ferocious defensive tenacity. After the Lyncs lost a
semifinal heartbreaker in her junior year, Dykstra led them to an
undefeated season as a senior.
|
|
11. LYNN
DeBOER
26 points |
LYNDEN
CHRISTIAN
1978, 1979,
1980 |
In her senior
year, the versatile DeBoer -- an exceptional athlete at 5-10, a
multisport star who could outleap almost any opponent -- led the
tournament in scoring (16.8) as a senior and led the Lyncs to their
first two titles.
|
|
12. HEATHER
REICHMANN
24 points
|
KING'S
1995, 1996,
1997, 1998 |
A two-time
tourney MVP, Reichmann -- a powerful 6-1 post -- averaged 17.0 points
and 13.0 rebounds as a junior at the tournament, when she led the
Knights to the title, and 18.8 points and 12.5 boards as a senior.
|
|
13. TANYA
SMITH
21 points |
OMAK
1987, 1988,
1989, 1990 |
She finished
her career as the tourney's third all-time leading scorer (257 points)
and, as a senior, averaged 21.0 points over the Pioneers' four-day drive
to the championship game, which ended in a thrilling 55-49 loss.
|
|
14. KERRI
BROWITT
19 points |
CLE ELUM
1983, 1984,
1985, 1986 |
Slender and
only 5-9, Browitt used her sprinter quickness to dominate larger players
and was one of the tourney's best scorers, rebounders and defenders
during her four-year run, which included two state titles.
|
|
15. JENNIFER
SHARP
17 points |
EAST VALLEY
1992, 1993,
1994, 1995 |
She's one of
the best point guards in tournament history and also hit one of its
biggest shots: a buzzer-beating three-pointer that lifted her '95 team
over Foster in the semifinals. She scored 14 in the next day's
title-game win.
|
|
15. MARY BETH
NELSON
17 points |
EPHRATA
1983, 1984,
1985, 1986 |
A long-armed
6-3 post, Nelson ended her career as the tournament's career rebounding
leader and third-leading scorer. More importantly, she also led the
Tigers to four state trophies, including a second-place finish in 1986.
|
|
17. CRISTY
COCHRAN
14 points |
CASTLE ROCK
1982 |
She made her
one year at the tourney a memorable one, averaging 21.2 points and 20.2
rebounds to lead her team to the title game. Both agile and physical at
6-1, she scored nearly half her team's points in the tournament.
|
|
17. BETH
LAYTON
14 points |
TOLEDO
2000, 2001,
2002 |
A
sharpshooting guard who put up huge scoring numbers (27.5 average in the
2002 tourney, in which she was named MVP), she could also pass: She was
among the tournament assist leaders in each of her three years.
|
|
19. LISA
PETERSON
13 points |
FOSTER
1982 |
A 5-11 center
who came into the tourney averaging 25 points, she set tournament
single-game (38) and tournament (124) scoring records in leading Foster
to a fourth-place finish, the loss coming to eventual champ Cle Elum.
|
|
20. JILL
PIMLEY
9 points |
GOLDENDALE
1996, 1997 |
A tremendous
athlete, Pimley averaged 13.0 points, 3.8 assists and 3.0 steals in
leading the T-wolves to the championship game, where they lost to
King's. She went on to play at the University of Washington.
|
|
OTHERS FOR CONSIDERATION |
CHERYL HOLDEN, Zillah (7 voting points),
averaged nearly 24 points in the tourney as a sophomore until an ankle
injury finally took its toll in the 1976 finals, then led the Leopards
to two more trophies. ... SUE HOWELL, Nooksack Valley (7 points),
a diminutive sharpshooter who could score from anywhere on the floor,
averaged 15.4 points in her last two tourneys (1979-1980). ... LISA
BERENDSEN, Lynden Christian (6 points), was unstoppable in the lane
for the Lyncs' peerless 1996 team. ... TESSA DEBOER, Lynden
Christian (6 points), was an all-tournament performer both years in the
Lyncs' 1998-1999 title run. ... Cle Elum's three-year title run in the
early 1980s was fueled by the versatility of KRISTEN BROWITT (5
points), who was already a major factor as a freshman and only got
better. ... DIANE KRETSCHMAN, Cle Elum (4 points), another
multiyear standout for the Warriors, really came into her own as a
senior in 1983, when she averaged 14.0 points in the tourney. ...
JENNIFER SAUNDERS, Cascade (4 points), averaged 16.0 and 17.0 in
back-to-back tournaments. ... CIM HANSON, Nooksack Valley (3
points), led the Pioneers to three state trophies in the mid-'80s ... LYNN BROWN, Liberty Bell (3
points), was as good a point guard as the tournament has seen. ...
CHRIS CERNA, Connell (3 points), carried her team to the 1983
finals. ... JULIE WYNSTRA, Lynden Christian (3 points), was a
standout scorer and rebounder and two-time all-tournament performer. ...
High-scoring guard JODI GREENFIELD, Goldendale (2 points), led
the T-wolves to the 1981 title game. ... JENNY FRANK, East Valley
(2 points), was the unstoppable inside force for the Red Devils' 1995
title team. ... We know: It's a shame to have to omit great ones like
Foster's JULIE ORTH, Omak's JENNY KERR, Liberty Bell's
JENNIFER PALUCK and East Valley's CALLIE AADLAND ... and
others.
|
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