T O U R N E Y T O W N  ARCHIVES

This page is part of the Tourneytown.com archives and is no longer updated.

Published Thursday, March 6, 2003

:: Home
   Records and Rankings Don't Mean
Anything in Girls Tournament

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

You can say this about the 2003 1A state tournament: Fancy records and “favorite” status don’t mean you’re in for an easy ride — especially on the girls’ court.

Brewster’s girls led unsung Coupeville by just one point in the fourth quarter before pulling away for a 52-44 victory. Archbishop Murphy, with a glittery 21-2 record, was tripped up 44-41 by Onalaska, which came in 17-7 with the third and last berth out of the Southwest District. Colfax’s girls were up by just one with less than four minutes remaining before winning 43-33.

“Maybe some of these other teams get overlooked in the rankings a little bit,” Colfax coach Corey Baerlocher said after his team’s hard-earned victory. Winlock would have been a tough team for anybody to beat today.

“This is their first time at state, right? Well, they didn’t play that way.”

THING OF BEAUTY: When Brewster’s boys team is cooking, , the Bears are simply pretty to watch. On one 3-on-2 fast break during their 83-54 first-round victory over North Beach, guard Ryne Phillips passed to forward Andy Hill, whose one-handed touch pass hit David Pendergraft in stride for an easy layup.

Forty seconds later, Phillips hit Hill in transition again, and this time the 6-foot-2 senior finished the break with a dunk as Brewster raced out to a 23-8 lead. And all of this was happening in the 9 a.m. game, when teams often come out ragged.

“With this team, that (early tipoff) doesn’t concern me as much,” Brewster coach Tim Taylor said. “I was actually happy with the early start, to get it over with.”

WHAT THE HECK, HAVE SOME FUN: The 29-point margin in Brewster’s victory over North Beach was deceiving. The Hyaks were within eight points late in the third period and trailed by only a dozen going into the fourth, when the Bears’ superiority finally kicked in.

The Hyaks played most of the game with what might best be called a what-the-heck abandon, since they were a 14-10 bunch facing one of the best 1A teams in recent memory.

“We had nothing to lose,” said senior guard Thad Vinson, who led the Hyaks with 16 points. “So we just tried to play good ‘D’ and get back on defense, because they like to run.”

And how did it feel playing head-to-head with the No. 1 team for three quarters? Vinson smiled. “It was fun.”

CAN’T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN: One minute and 23 seconds into his team’s opening tournament game Wednesday afternoon, King’s senior guard Ben Pawlak —
believed to be done for the year 4 1/2 weeks ago when he broke a bone in his left forearm — entered the contest.

Almost immediately, it was easy to see why Knights coach Marv Morris has called Pawlak “the heart of our team.” Ten seconds after he stepped onto the court, Pawlak dived on the floor for a loose ball to slap it to a teammate.

As he hurried to his feet, he turned briefly towards the bench — where Morris and an assistant were on their feet, nervous about the welfare of Pawlak’s still-tender arm. Pawlak gave them a little smile and a gesture as if to say,
“It’s OK, guys. Relax.”

Five minutes later he drew a charge, slammed hard to the floor and didn’t get the call, instead getting called for the block. Again, he just smiled.

FAST BREAKING: John Baranowski’s 13-point game in Bellevue Christian’s 42-41 loss to Zillah, well under his 19.4 season average, left him two points shy of 1,500 for his career. ... What’s a Hyak? It’s a term derived from an American Indian word meaning “fleet of foot,” which explains why North Beach’s mascot is a foot with wings. ... From the Don’t-Just-Stand-There Dept.: In Goldendale’s 62-31 whipping of Orcas Island, when a teammate’s pass sailed far over Mike Villamar’s head into the backcourt, Villamar watched it with a disgusted expression but didn’t give chase, assuming the ball would bound out of bounds. Orcas guard Jordan Gage assumed nothing, ran it down and scored a layup. ... Best warm-up T-shirts of the day: “We Do It Better in Yakima,” worn by the Forest Ridge girls.

© 2003 All photos, content and design are properties of the Yakima Herald-Republic.

For questions or additional information about this site,
e-mail us at: