T O U R N E Y T O W N  ARCHIVES

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By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

To see her hobbling onto the SunDome on Friday afternoon, each step ventured gingerly and accompanied with either the hint of a wince or a full-blown grimace, would be to surmise that Sarah Schramm was destined for a short stay on the court.

Wrong.

The Chelan junior center was in for a long stay and a very long Friday on a very, very sore ankle. Regulation ... overtime ... a second overtime. Painful crashes to the floor followed by only about two seconds of self-pity and harsh pain before rolling over, getting up and heading down the floor for more.

She played nearly 37 minutes — the equivalent of an entire game, no rest breaks, and then another five minutes — while scoring 10 points, grabbing 16 rebounds and making four steals in the Goats’ 57-54 victory over Tenino.

With red eyes, on the verge of tears, the entire time.

“I was trying not to limp, trying to jump with both feet and not just the (right) one,” Schramm said. “But every single step of the game, every single time I’d put any pressure on it, my eyes would start to water.”

Her reward? The Goats would play again on Saturday ... and she would get to put her ankle through another 90 minutes of misery.

She had come down on another girl’s leg on a fast break during Chelan’s Thursday game, and her left ankle — the good ankle, not the one that has given her problems since her freshman year — had collapsed underneath her. She had lain still for minutes, hoping the pain would go away. Instead, it kept getting worse. She was treated in the medical tent, but the ankle throbbed all Thursday night ... and she knew playing on it Friday would hurt even worse. But she knew she’d play.

“I was just hoping she could play today ... at all. Period,” said Chelan coach Mike Haerling. “That would give us a chance, to give us an inside game. And her presence on defense makes the (opposing) guards think twice on
dribble penetration.”

State tournament trainer Jeremy Scott (who works at Westside Physical Therapy and is the trainer at Selah High School) worked on Schramm’s ankle during and after the Thursday game. Getting tape on it quickly and minimizing the swelling early made a big difference, he said, but even so he was surprised by her marathon performance Friday.

“I was figuring, let’s get a few minutes here and a few minutes there,” he said. “I didn’t expect her to play the whole game. I didn’t think she’d be able to.”

Tenino coach Jennifer Oakerman was certainly impressed. “That’s a first-class athlete all the way, because you could tell she was really hurting,” she said of Schramm. “She sacrificed herself for the team.”

And the team was there for her. While Coco Poirier (30 points) was lifting the team, the rest of the Goats were lifting Schramm’s spirits — a little “Hang in there” here, a “You’re doing great” there. It made a difference.

“It helps so much, especially when you’re in pain,” Schramm said. “That’s what I needed — that reassurance that you’re helping, not hurting.”

Oh, she was hurting all right, but Schramm was definitely not hurting the team. On Saturday, in the Goats’ game with Nooksack Valley for fourth and seventh places, she looked at times as if she wanted to simply go down to the
floor and crawl, to take the weight off the ankle. It was painful even to watch her; imagine what it must have been like to be her.

Yet she kept hobbling from one end of the floor to the other, once even bringing the ball up against the press. She pulled down 14 rebounds — wincing on nearly each one — and there was still there at the end of the game. In the final minute, she sank two free throws for a three-point lead, made a two-handed stuff block at the other end and grabbed a loose ball in a scrum under the basket to clinch the Goats’ 45-42 victory.

And she gets to rest that ankle for, oh, a day or two.

“Tennis starts next,” she said. “That’s a lot more laid back than basketball. I take it seriously, but I’m not good at it, so ...”

But she can put up with it.

After all, Sarah Schramm can put up with a lot.

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Tourney Bracket
:: Girls tournament
  
Other Games
Saturday
:: Lakeside 39, Ephrata 23
:: Chelan 45, Nooksack Valley 42
:: Blaine 51, Connell 33
:: East Valley 44, Pullman 31
Friday
:: Ephrata 48, Riverside 41
:: Lakeside 52, Hoquiam 39
:: Nooksack Valley 67, La Center 52
:: Chelan 57, Tenino 54, 2OT
:: Pullman 48, Connell 40
::  East Valley 50, Blaine 43, OT
Thursday
:: Ephrata 55, Woodland 38
:: Riverside 54, Eatonville 45
:: Lakeside 43, Granite Falls 36
:: Hoquiam 42, Port Townsend 40
:: Pullman 38, La Center 30
:: Connell 54. Nooksack Valley 44
:: East Valley 34, Tenino 31
:: Blaine 48, Chelan 41
Wednesday
:: La Center 69, Ephrata 37
:: Pullman 41, Woodland 33
:: Connell 54, Eatonville 33
:: Nooksack Valley 42, Riverside 35
:: Tenino 55, Granite Falls 45
:: East Valley 50, Lakeside 47
:: Blaine 44, Hoquiam 43
:: Chelan 59, Port Townsend 38
 
Latest Statistics
:: Girls tournament
 
Team Capsules
:: Girls tournament

Record Books
:: Girls records
:: Girls champions
:: Girls all-time scoring leaders
 
District Results
:: Girls tournament
 
Boys Tourney
:: Boys tournament