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| Published March 11, 2004 :: Home |
Last-Second Heroics Shouldn't Be a Surprise From Merkley YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC Considering she made 13 of her team’s 17 field goals, Cassie Merkley didn’t surprise anyone when she hit the game winner in Cascade’s 42-40 thriller over Ridgefield on the girls court. Merkley, a 5-foot-9 junior wing, scored a driving layup with 1:19 left to put her team up 41-40. “We tried to setup the offense for something right down the middle and that’s what we got,” she said. Merkley hit 13 of 18 shots, grabbed 13 rebounds and had four steals. Her 29 points was the tournament high for opening day. An all-around game like that should also not be surprising from the Cascade standout. Last spring as a sophomore, Merkley won 2A state
track titles in the 100 hurdles, 300 hurdles and javelin, leading the
Kodiaks to a one-point win over Mount Baker for the team title. A week after
later she won the state high school heptathlon with a seven-event score that
ranked ninth in the nation. “Gave the kids the day off,” Deaton said. “I just told ’em to go out and hit some balls on their own.” One of the Rangers’ matches this season will be
against La Salle and its new coach, Eisenhower basketball coach Pat Fitterer. And helping the boys statistical crew was Grandview’s Scott Parrish, who coached the Greyhounds to the 2002 Class 2A state title. Grandview will be back in the Class 2A ranks next
season after competing for two years in the Class 3A Mid-Valley League. Lakeside coach Ron Cox loaded up his schedule with tough nonleague opponents, including several from Idaho, and started out the season 0-5. The early bruises paid off, and over the last two weeks the Eagles — with a lineup including seven sophomores, four juniors and one lone senior — have beaten Chewelah (twice), Riverside and towering Medical Lake, all of whom finished above them in the Great Northern League race. “It’s been kind of a wild ride the last two weeks for sure,” Cox said. “You’re in the middle of it and you’re telling kids all year long, ‘You need to believe and we’re getting better,’ and when it happens it’s a little bit unbelievable. It’s been a fun two weeks.” Like Lakeside, Meridian’s girls are also young, with only three seniors in the lineup. Since a four-game losing stretch in mid-season in the always tough North Cascades Conference, the Trojans have won six of 10. One of the losses was a 43-39 thriller against unbeaten Blaine, and junior point guard Karla Johnson made a believer out of Borderites coach Patrick Green. “She’s a great shooter,” Green said. “You leave this girl open and she’s not going to miss.”
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