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| Published March 9, 2004 :: Home |
Showdown on
Horizon?
Not that anybody else in the 16-team field wants to see it, but the Class 2A girls state tournament could have its first showdown between unbeaten teams since 1990, when schools of this size were playing in Class A. That year, Lynden Christian beat Omak in a final of previously perfects. This year, Chelan (23-0) and Blaine (22-0), the two teams that have topped the state rankings all years, conveniently find themselves on opposite sides of the bracket. Not that either coach really wants to talk about the other just yet. "If it was that easy, I don't know why we'd be playing these first three days," says Chelan coach Jeff Eller, whose team is led by a pair of sisters, senior Sarah and freshman Kristin Schramm, and a sharpshooting sophomore in Cassy Pilkinton. "It's not what you've done all year, but where you are right now and what you can deliver in four days in Yakima." Blaine coach Patrick Green was taking the same tack. "It's a whole new game," says Green, whose team has the 2A ranks' most accomplished center in 6-1 center Jessica Summers (20.6 ppg, 14.5 rpg). "Our 22 games don't mean a thing at this point, except for the confidence they give us. Now you have 16 good teams that have come through in the clutch, that have earned the right to be here." Of the two favorites, Blaine would seem to have the much tougher bracket, with four other teams -- LaCenter (22-1), Connell (20-3), Eatonville (20-3) and two-time defending champion East Valley (19-5) -- that are all capable of reaching the final. Pullman (17-6), too, could be very dangerous, having returned the bulk of the lineup that reached the 2003 finals. The load of talent in the upper bracket isn't lost on Connell coach Dwight Arlington. "You gotta beat somebody good and everybody's going to be good when you get to state, but I don't know how that happens," Arlington says. "How can you have all these good teams in this bracket, and on the other side you've got the one really good team and everybody (in the lower bracket) has 18 wins or less. "How does that work?" Blaine would appear to be the best of the bunch in the upper bracket, but then, the Borderites have not exactly crushed every opponent in their path. In fact, they very nearly lost right out of the chute. In its opening game against Burlington-Edison, Blaine fell behind on a basket with seven seconds remaining and Borderite guard Kristina Francis -- upon taking the subsequent inbounds pass -- looked over at Green to see what to do. "I was just waving her on," says Green. "If I call a play, they (the Burlington Tigers) get to go back and set up a defense. So she got to do what she can do." Francis brought the ball up to half-court, threw it over the top of a defensive trap to Summers on the wing. Summers immediately passed it inside to a wide-open Jennifer Kramer, whose shot went in at the buzzer. "That was the start to that little string of victories," Green says. "I really think that zero (losses) this year is more of an accomplishment, something to be proud of, because we went out and won games. Whereas I think last year there were times I thought there were times we were playing not to lose. Last year, I think we wiped our brew after every game and went, whew." The Borderites were unbeaten last year through 24 games, only to lose 50-43 in overtime to East Valley -- which just happens to be Blaine's opening-round opponent Wednesday. "Blaine's going to be upset about losing in the semis," says East Valley coach Robi Raab. The first-year Red Devils coach doesn't have quite the talent level or the go-to stars of the previous two years' teams -- but, Raab says, that doesn't necessarily matter. "Everything takes a back seat to heart," he says. "We've got some real tough kids defensively. Offensively, though, we don't really have one person to go to, and that's something we've been looking for all year. No one has really emerged as the person who's sort of, OK, in the fourth quarter you've got to go to this person to get it done." LaCenter has lost only to Ridgefield, a defeat the Wildcats later avenged twice by 29 and 24 points, and boast two 20-point scorers in junior guard Tanya Baker (20.4) and sophomore guard Brittney Roggenkamp (20.1). And Eatonville very nearly beat Chelan at the Goats' own tournament. But Chelan found a way to win that one 44-41, just as Blaine pulled out four victories by single-digit margins. "We played them (the Borderites) three times and never put together four quality quarters against them," says Bob McIntosh, coach of Mount Baker, which could well face Chelan in the semifinals. "Whoever is going to beat them is going to have to play four quality quarters. No question."
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