Hawks' option tough to beat

By SCOTT SPRUILL
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

This target was moving and quick and well-disguised -- difficult to isolate and, ultimately, too tough to beat on this night.

Prosser's girls, so good this week at breaking down boulders, couldn't place the chisel long enough to crack top-ranked River Ridge in Saturday's Class 2A state championship game.

Having broken down one scoring star after another to power their way into the title game, the upstart Mustangs encountered a Hawks' crew with no stars and that made a big difference in the 57-46 outcome.

Tournament MVP Jennifer Cole had 16 points in the finale, but the four other starters had eight points or more.

"That's been such a big help all season long and especially here," Cole said. "Everybody put in their points and that makes us hard to defend."

River Ridge coach Tom Kelly insisted that balance wasn't just a key, it was the whole lock, stock and barrel.

"Look at the individual tournament stats -- we weren't in the top five in anything," he said. "Teams just can't key on one or two players and that's what our whole season was about."

The Hawks were fortunate to have that balance because otherwise the Mustangs could well have snared the big prize. Locking in and shutting down an opponent's main weapon was perhaps Prosser's main weapon this week.

And the list of victims grew daily.

On opening day it was Kingston's Sophia Baetz, a 20-points-a-game guard who went 1-for-12 for two points. The next night she had 23.

In the quarterfinals, it was Elma's four-year standout and Western Washington recruit Katie Colard, who was near her average with 13 points but got there with 3-for-19 shooting.

Then came the big showdown against West Valley in the semifinals. Eager for some payback for a trophy loss to the Eagles last year, the 'Stangs got that payback in large part because of the defensive job on Hannah Love, an 18-point forward who made 2 of 12 shots and finished with five points.

That's 56 points of scoring punch held to nearly a third of that.

But the trouble that River Ridge presented was that the trouble came from all directions.

When the Hawks jumped out to a 10-2 lead, the five field goals came from each of the five starters.

"We got better with each game here, but River Ridge shot a little better than we expected," said Prosser coach Mark Little, who never takes credit for Prosser's successes and always takes the blame for the Mustangs' rare stumbles. "This stings, but what a phenomenal team. They grew so much together."

The other key to Prosser's march through the state bracket was its rebounding, an advantage the hard-working Mustangs earned and won every night -- 40-32 vs. Kingston, 41-30 vs. Elma, 43-33 vs. West Valley and 42-39 vs. River Ridge.

And first-team all-tournament pick Tamara Jones averaged 19 points this week, bringing her three-year state total to 220 points. Should the Mustangs return next year -- and with only two seniors that appears highly possible -- Jones would certainly overtake the tournament record of 235 career points set by Blaine's Jessica Summers in 2004.

But on this day it was River Ridge, which secures the program's third state title in four years -- and under three different coaches to boot. With two starters held over from the '08 team that clipped Ellensburg 43-42 in the state final, the Hawks are in the full throws of a juggernaut run.

"We could tell Prosser was going to be tough," Cole said. "We had a great start and they came back hard. But we've got a lot of experience and that balance. That was the difference."