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| Published March 5, 2004 :: Home |
Just to
Be on the Safe Side ...
Zillah parents root for their
daughter's team and their
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC That’s because Calhoun’s daughter, Carrie, is a senior standout for the Leopards, and Calhoun is a team host for Cedar Park Christian. Calhoun is part-owner of Major’s Restaurant, and last year — when Zillah didn’t qualify for the state tournament — Calhoun signed up to be a team host. The Calhouns drew Cedar Park Christian’s girls, and had such a good time with the Eagles that a month ago they notified the tournament committee that if the team qualified again, they’d like to host them again. The Eagles qualified ... and so did the Leopards. And they ended up in the same quarter-bracket. When both teams lost on opening day, they found themselves going head-to-head in a loser-out game. “We all kind of laughed about it,” Calhoun said. “With this many teams in the tournament, and the host team ends up playing my daughter.” It turned out to be a much happier day for the Calhouns’ family than their guests, with Carrie racking up 23 points and nine rebounds as Zillah won 64-47. SIZE ISN’T EVERYTHING: Height is a pretty major factor in basketball, but it isn’t absolutely necessary. Just ask Zillah’s boys and Warden’s girls, both of which are the hoops equivalent of munchkins. Zillah, playing with just one guy taller than 6-2, knocked off Winlock, which at times had a lineup that went 6-5, 6-5, 6-4. “They’re big and physical. A good team,” 6-2 Zillah center Justin Ross said after the Leopards’ 47-36 victory. “Pretty much every team in the state is going to be taller than we are. But we’ve got speed, toughness and heart.” Warden’s tallest player is 5-10, but the Cougars knocked off Zillah (with a high-low post combo that goes 6-2 and 6-0) in the district finals and today will play another team with a 6-foot center. “Almost every team we’ve played has been bigger than we are,” said Warden coach Tiffany Darling, whose team ran its winning streak to 10 games with its first-round victory over Forest Ridge. “And having that experience against Zillah, knowing that you can play well and defeat a team with that kind of size, makes a big difference. And when you play with a lot of heart and a lot of fire, those other things are kind of thrown out the window.” SMALL WONDER: When Cedar Park Christian was called for a charging foul midway through the fourth quarter of its 52-38 loss to Onalaska, two of the Eagles complained about the call, saying the defender had moved in while the player was in the air. No, he had been stationary there; Spud Stanley was just too small for them to notice. Stanley may be the most unlikely looking essential basketball player in the 2004 boys 1A tournament. He’s 5-foot-6, most of which is torso, leaving not much room for legs. He’s also a little hefty, though he weighs considerably less — more than 40 pounds’ worth — than the 230 he weighed last year. Says Loggers coach Dennis Bower, “He just started watching what he ate.” Stanley almost never leaves the floor for the Loggers — he and teammate Kyle Halpin each played all 32 minutes on Thursday — and he dished out six assists against CPC. Just as importantly, he committed only two turnovers, despite controlling the ball virtually the entire game. “He’s always been a basketballaholic,” Bower says. “He’s the kid who makes us go. He’s a much better player than he looks. You look at him and say, ‘No way.’ He’d be the last guy picked in open gym. But he’s really smart and just really understands the game.” KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY: A young red-haired woman approached the scorers’ table after Archbishop Murphy’s 84-79 loss to Winlock on Wednesday night and asked how many points Lisa Coate had scored. When told that the ATM sophomore had scored 44 points, the questioner blurted, “Holy cow. She broke my record.” The young woman was Lisa Coate’s older sister, Lauren, who had held the school’s single-game record (36) and still has the career record, with more than 1,600 points.
AROUND THE RIM:
Onalaska boys coach Dennis Bower, one of the truly classy coaches around,
perennially has one of the smallest teams in the tournament, and he
maintains a sense of humor about it. After losing a first-round to towering
University Prep, Bower recalled with a laugh, somebody said to him, “Did you
know you could have brought your varsity?” ... Talk about never-say-die:
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