History and state hardware on CWAC girls teams' side

By SCOTT SPRUILL
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

When applying bracketology principals to the Class 2A state girls basketball tournament this week, there's one thing the past three years strongly suggests.

All three teams from the CWAC will trophy.

That, of course, is good news for Prosser, East Valley and Ellensburg, which open play Wednesday in the SunDome in a quest to keep that conference tradition alive.

All three have enjoyed impressive streaks, sometimes at each other's expense. Prosser is currently on an 11-game run, East Valley reeled off 16 straight wins in midseason and Ellensburg started 8-0 -- and all three are ranked in the top 10, a sign of the respect the CWAC is accorded.

For the second year in a row, Prosser (19-3) is the district champion coming in full steam. That's not a shocker since the Mustangs had only one senior starter -- albeit a very good one in Lacie French -- on last year's 23-3 squad that placed sixth.

That team was 19-0 before its first loss, and coach Mark Little thinks that was a steadily increasing weight that he's relieved this team won't carry.

"It's hard in one respect because I think you become a little complacent, and that makes it harder to concentrate on some important things," he said. "With Lacie gone, this team had some hard work to do and we lost a couple early games. But they've kept working hard and gotten a lot better."

Tamara Jones, the CWAC's MVP and a 1,000-point career scorer already as a junior, will be the Mustangs' mainstay for a third straight state tournament. Kelli Wilson, Tayshia Hunt and Helen Petersen are also returning state starters, and Rachel Anderson has been the team's most improved player.

"I've couldn't be happier with how this team has grown together," Little said. "We've got a nice run going, and we had a tough (overtime) win over East Valley on Saturday -- just the kind of game you want heading into state."

Prosser's state draw is much the same as last year. The Mustangs are in the same time slot Wednesday -- 5:30 p.m. -- with a possible quarterfinal rematch with Elma.

For East Valley (18-4), the main goal this season was getting back to state. After 10 straight years of qualifying, the Red Devils narrowly missed out in 2008 and '09.

With Central-signee Annie Martinez anchoring the inside and all-league guards Kaylah Gonzales and Mary Orthmann scoring and defending, Robi Raab's crew got the job done.

"Absolutely, getting to state is a big deal for us," Raab said. "Looking at what other teams had back, and with us losing a very good player (Kaitlyn Walker) early to injury, I'm very proud of what this team has done."

Almost immediately, East Valley found its identity on defense, which keyed the 16-game win streak after a season-opening loss to Granger.

"When we held a good West Valley team to 25 points (in the third game), the kids said, 'OK, we can be a good defensive team,'" the coach added. "It gave our offense time to come around, and we're still averaging 37 points on defense. I like our defense heading into state."

The Red Devils have a formidable opener Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. against Pullman, which placed eighth last year and have Gonzaga-commit Shelby Cheslek, 6-foot-5 junior.

Ellensburg (18-6) finished third in conference and held that position in district play for the final state berth, winning two loser-out games over Ephrata and Wapato.

These Bulldogs have carried on the strong survivors' instinct so ingrained in Craig Faire's program, which has now produced eight consecutive state-qualifying teams. Several of those teams went to state with the No. 3 seed and made all kinds of trouble at state, like last year when Ellensburg knocked off Black Hills, one of the tournament favorites, in the first round.

"One of the things that helps us is we've been here before, and the kids know how to battle. I can't say enough about that," Faire said. "When we started this run these kids were in what, fourth grade? They expect it and have the confidence and experience to get it done."

Two-year CWAC first-teamer Deaira Gordon is the scoring anchor with more than 1,000 career points, and all-league sisters Andrea and Shannon Bland combined for 59 points in the two loser-out district games.

The Bulldogs once again drew a tough opener, facing '09 state runner-up Archbishop Murphy on Wednesday night at 9.

"With our seed we knew it would be a tough draw," Faire said. "We've got work to do. But with what we've done at state, we won't be taken lightly."