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Tourneytown.com archives and is no longer updated.
|
This page is part of the
Tourneytown.com archives and is no longer updated. |
Published Friday, March 14, 2003
| :: Home |
District's State Success Is Cyclical YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC The Eatonville girls’ recent woes are a good indication of how the talent level rises and falls in certain areas. Some years (or decades) a district or a league is up. Sometimes it’s the other end of the spectrum, in which the area’s best team can come to state with a glittering record only to find that it can’t compete with anybody but its own league opponents. Eatonville has been a good example of the latter. Last year the Cruisers came into state with a 21-1 record; this year they came in 24-2. The result? Back-to-back two-and-outs by Eatonville, four losses by an average score of 55-43, an indication that the girls’ competition level in the Nisqually and West Central region is down. In the CWAC, though, which had both boys and girls champions last year and has teams in both semifinals this year, the talent is definitely at high tide. In taking each district’s won-lost records for the 2001, 2002 and 2003 (through the upper bracket of Thursday’s second round), here’s the current balance of power, from top to bottom: 1. CWAC — Boys, 27-15 (64.2 winning percentage); Girls, 26-15, 63.4); Total, 53-30, 63.8. 2. Northeast — Boys, 11-6 (64.7); Girls, 9-7 (56.2); Total, 20-13 (60.6). 3. Northwest — Boys, 12-13 (48.0); Girls, 12-14 (46.2); Total, 24-27 (47.0). 4. Southwest — Boys, 8-17 (32.0); Girls, 13-18 (41.9); Total, 21-35 (37.5). 5. West Central — Boys, 4-11 (26.7); Girls, 2-8 (20.0); Total, 6-19 (24.0). PULLMAN NOT PULLING OUT: High-scoring, high-flying Fred Peete will be off playing college next year and whether talented 6-7 sophomore Tavarius Payne will be back is no sure thing, but don’t automatically assume that Pullman’s boys will not be a team to be reckoned with next year and the year after that. Pullman’s freshman class is already seven-to-eight deep with kids who might well make the jump to varsity over the next two years — including, says Greyhounds coach Ken Swanger, a 6-foot-4 post who’s still growing and may be outstanding before he’s through, a 6-3 post who’s already very good and a gifted point guard. That freshman team went 16-0 this year. Pullman’s eighth-grade team was also undefeated at 10-0, and the junior varsity won 17 of 20 games. NO. 2 IN THE STATE, NO. 2 IN HER HEART: Chelan’s girls have been at or near the top of the Class 2A rankings in the Associated Press all of this season, and came into the tournament as the No.2 team in the final rankings (released prior to the district tournaments). The Goats, who played Thursday’s late quarterfinal game against No. 1 Blaine, have plenty of firepower, including stellar junior center Sarah Schramm. But there are few better basketball athletes in the state than 5-8 guard Coco Poirier, who last year was all-tournament here and the second-leading vote-getter for MVP (behind East Valley’s Elyse Mengarelli) and this winter was the CWAC North MVP. And basketball’s not even her No. 1 sport. “It’s always been volleyball. Volleyball is my love,” says Poirier, who earlier this year accepted an athletic scholarship to play v-ball at Eastern Washington. “I enjoy basketball, too, but volleyball is it for me, so that’s what I wanted to do in college.” Poirier is hoping to go into physical therapy. FAST BREAKING: Cashmere guard Evan Whitehall has been known to get up into the air — and not only in basketball, in which he’s a 6-1 wing for the Bulldogs. Last spring he won the pole vault at the 2A state track meet, knocking off teammate (and now University of Washington competitor) Sam Roberts with a meet-record and personal-best 15-4 vault. ... Lynden Christian’s boys had Meridian’s number this year, but be assured that it was usually a small one. The Lyncs won all four meetings between the teams this year, including Thursday’s 58-55 come-from-behind win in a loser-out game. But the last three of those four victories were by three, two (in OT) and three points. With its victory over Lakeside on Wednesday, East Valley remained the winningest girls team in 2A history. The Red Devils began the tourney with 15 wins, one ahead of Lakeside. ... Ephrata girls coach Missy Beierman has brought some outstanding 3-point shooters to the state tournament, and this may be a reason: She used to be a great one herself. For several years, Beierman held the 1A record for single-tournament 3-pointers with 14, a mark broken by one last year by Toledo’s tournament MVP, Beth Layton. He’s out in two, but La Center center Josh Williamson made an impression. He made 20 of his 24 field goal attempts (83.3 percent) over two games, averaged 10.5 rebounds and 24.5 points, and on Thursday his six blocked shots were one short of the tournament record. ... Regardless of what happens with his Eagles this year, Lakeside boys coach Ron Cox has plenty of poignant state-tournament memories of his own. As a star player for Coulee City in 1972, he led his team to the championship game, only to see his team lose 54-52 on a 30-foot heave at the buzzer. ... Othello’s Matt Coffman will play football next year at Central Washington University. ©
2003 All photos, content and design are
properties of the Yakima Herald-Republic. |
Tourney Bracket |