By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

To be the queens of the 2A court in 2006, you've got to go through King's. Period.

Yes, East Valley has a perfect record and last weekend slapped down the Class 2A ranks' only other remaining unbeaten team, Chelan.

Yes, Woodland has that glittery 22-1 record, the only blemish being a close loss to a very good 4A team. Yes, Pullman has its Great Northern pedigree, the seal-of-good-basketball approval that comes from surviving a league that has sent six teams into the championship game in eight years.

And, yes, Curt De Haan has another powerhouse up at Lynden Christian with more of the usual-suspect names, yet another talented Berendsen (Kristin) and yet another gifted De Boer (Kenzie).

All of those are very, very good teams. Nor can one ignore 21-win Naches Valley, La Center and its 20-point scoring machine, Brittney Roggenkamp. Or Lakeside, the other Great Northern qualifier.

They're all out there for title consideration.

But until something happens to upset the heirarchy, they're all just hyenas and jackals barking from the tall grass while the King's of this jungle feast upon and defend the prize the Knights captured in the SunDome last March.

The Knights actually had Chief Sealth on the ropes -- yes, unbeaten, Class 3A state-champion, USA Today-13th-ranked Chief Sealth. They have the best player in the 2A ranks in University of Washington-bound guard Sara Mosiman. Their arsenal of full-court presses can frazzle even the best ballhandlers. They can put four players in double figures every game.

In short, they're scary good -- even though their coach, Eric Rasmussen, isn't ready to concede that they're as strong as last year's title team.

"I'm not convinced," said Rasmussen, whose 2005 club had five seniors. "I've told our kids I'm not sure we're as good. You lose those five seniors and you lose that depth and experience and authority -- every one of those (graduated) kids, that was their third state-tournament experience, and that goes a long way."

But the Knights (22-2) have gone a long way with a stellar four-player nucleus led by Mosiman, for whom a typical game this year has been 19 points, seven rebounds, four steals and four assists. With Danielle Clauson (13.0 ppg), Sarah Strand (11.3) and Caitlyn Faidley (10.6) all scoring in double figures, the question becomes: Who do you try to shut down? And ... can you?

Well, in this loaded field, just maybe.

"The field," Rasmussen said, "may be stronger."

"I think this is a great field," said Pullman coach Mike Davis, whose Greyhounds reached the championship game in 2003 and 2004. "It's one of the better ones that I've seen in a few years."

"And there were no real upsets at district, so it's spread out pretty even," added Woodland coach Glen Flanagan.

"Usually there's an upset or two at district, so you get four of the top teams all in one bracket. This year it's spread out pretty even. There's eight teams with good records not playing each other.

"I just wish we didn't have to play Lakeside in the first game."

Well, everybody's got to play somebody on opening day, and every possible opponent had to be talented enough to get here -- some, of course, some more talented than others. Consider Ephrata: The Tigers open with the team nobody wants to have to play until the title game:

King's.