Mead girls defend home court, advance to State 4A tourney; Colfax boys finish undefeated 2B district champs | District 6 roundup
Mead girls basketball coach Quantae Anderson is a fan of the saying “defense travels.” On Saturday, in the District 6 4A third-place game, defense worked pretty well at home, too.
The Panthers limited Kamiakin to eight points in the first half – and did enough on offense – to pull out a 52-36 win over the Braves to advance to the state tournament for the fifth straight season.
“That’s our thing,” Mead coach Quantae Anderson said of the defensive effort. “It was our third game in a week, and they haven’t been easy games. It’s just been super cool to see how hard we’ve worked defensively to get stops and understand that if we’re doing what we’re supposed to we’ll be in every game and can play with anybody.”
Junior Kiki Kostelecky led the Panthers with 12 points, and senior Caroline Spink had 11. Senior Reese Frederick had six points – all in the first quarter – with 10 rebounds and six assists.
The Panthers (18-5) are still without their two leading scorers, Addison Wells-Morrison (13.5 ppg) and Ellie Thornton (10.9 ppg), to injury.
The five seniors on the Mead roster have qualified for state each of their four years of high school.
“It’s kind of a standard now we have to uphold.” Frederick said. “We had a lot of girls returning who had been (to state), so we were like, ‘We have to get back there again.’ It’s just a great feeling.”
Frederick had a bit of a tough shooting night but doubled her efforts to contribute in other ways.
“You want to see those shots go in,” Frederick said. “But if I’m not a shooter, I can be a passer, I can be a rebounder. Any way to help the team is a great role to have.”
“Reese doesn’t get enough credit and love for the things that she’s doing with our team,” Anderson said. “She kept us together defensively today. Anytime (Kamiakin) made a shot, she was ‘Here’s where you’re supposed to be, this is what has to happen.’ It’s fun to see her leadership, see her grow over her four years.”
The Panthers defense forced rushed shots and turnovers all through the first quarter. Frederick scored six points, Spink added four and Mead led 16-4 after one.
Kostelecky added five points in the second, including a 3-pointer, Josie Rueckert hit a 3 at the horn and the Panthers led 26-8 at intermission.
“We were in the locker at halftime, and I was like, ‘Our offense was doing great, but defense is what wins games,” Frederick said.
The lead reached 20 early in the third as Spink scored four quick points. But Kamiakin’s Serenity Casteneda-Munoz (13 points) had 10 points in the quarter, Audrina Villegas (16 points) hit a pair of 3s and the Braves (13-12) cut their deficit to 36-24 entering the fourth.
Both teams turned to the full-court press in the fourth, and they combined for just two baskets – one 3-pointer each – in the first 4 minutes.
But Rueckert hit a 3, then Mead broke the press next time down for a Rueckert layup and the lead went back to 16 with 3 minutes left.
“Our team overall has been struggling shooting the ball the last three weeks,” Anderson said. “But they know that there’s more things to the game.”
Boys
2A
Pullman 56, West Valley 39: Cade Rogers scored 16 points, Vaughn Holstad had 15 and Gavyn Dealy added 14 as the top-seeded Greyhounds (20-3) defeated the visiting second-seeded Eagles (15-7) to win the district championship.
Pullman is ranked No. 5 in 2A by the state’s RPI system. West Valley is No. 16.
Hewson Spencer led West Valley with 18 points. Both teams advanced to state.
1A
Wapato 75, Medical Lake 62: Daunte VanPelt scored 19 points, and the visiting Wolves (15-11) eliminated the Cardinals (14-9) to win the District 5/6 1A crossover and advance to state. Grant Moffatt led Medical Lake with 22 points, and Owen Moffatt added 16.
Chelan 70, Lakeside 58: The Mountain Goats (22-4) eliminated the visiting Eagles (16-7) in a District 5/6 1A crossover and advanced to state. Details were unavailable.
2B
Colfax 66, Northwest Christian 49: Adrik Jenkin scored 22 points, Caleb Lustig added 16 and the Bulldogs (23-0) remained undefeated, winning the district title game over the Crusaders (22-2) at West Valley High School. Caleb Grant led NWC with 23 points.
Both teams, ranked Nos. 1 and 3 in the state 2B RPI, advanced to state.
Reardan 64, Freeman 57: Fred Frolov scored 25 points, Justin Vaughn added 20 and the No. 8-ranked Screaming Eagles (21-4) beat the Scotties (15-9) in the district third-place game at West Valley HS. Both teams advanced to state.
Micah Hodges led Freeman with 23 points.
1B
Sunnyside Christian 78, Inchelium 38: The Knights (19-7) eliminated the Hornets (19-6) to take fifth place in the district tournament at Reardan HS. Sunnyside Christian advanced to state.
Garfield-Palouse 74, Northport 67: The Vikings (18-7) eliminated the Mustangs (18-7) to take seventh place in the district tournament at Reardan HS. Gar-Pal advanced to state.
Almira/Coulee-Hartline 68, DeSales 68: The Warriors (22-1) defeated the Irish (20-4) to win the District 6 1B title at Reardan HS. Both teams advance to State.
Girls
2A
Deer Park 44, Clarkston 36: Ashlyn and Emma Bryant powered the offense combining for 32 points, and the visiting second-seeded Stags (21-2) defeated top-seeded Bantams (20-3) to win the district title. Both teams advanced to state.
Deer Park, ranked No. 2 in the state’s RPI, held No. 5 Clarkston to 14 points in the first half. Laney Augir led Clarkston with 17 points.
1A
Lakeside 63, Naches Valley 32: Blakleigh White scored 18 points, Sienna Weinberger added 16 and Eagles (16-5) eliminated the visiting Rangers (13-12) in the District 5/6 1A crossover game and advanced to state.
Wapato 54, Colville 40: The Wolves (20-5) eliminated the visiting Crimson Hawks (15-8) in the District 5/6 1A crossover game and advanced to state. Details were unavailable.
2B
Northwest Christian 53, Reardan 49: Macey Shamblin scored 20 points, Kaitlyn Waters added 18 and the Crusaders (22-1) defeated the Screaming Eagles (20-4) to win the district title at West Valley HS. Tenice Waters led Reardan with 25 points including four 3-pointers. Both teams advanced to state.
Davenport 59, Colfax 32: Glenna Soliday scored 19 points, Taylor LeBret added 15 points and the Gorillas (20-5) defeated the Bulldogs (15-10) in the district third-place game at West Valley HS. Allie Jenkin led Colfax with eight points. Both teams advanced to state.
1B
{span class=”print_trim”}Garfield-Palouse 65, Almira/Coulee-Hartline 28: The Vikings (22-2) defeated the Warriors (18-5) in the District 6 1B championship game at Reardan HS. Both teams advance to State.
Oakesdale 58, Inchelium 31: Autumn Roper scored 16 points, Grace Perry added 15 points and the Nighthawks (20-3) eliminated the Hornets (13-9) to take fifth place in the district tournament at Reardan HS. Marianna Agapith led Inchelium with 18 points. Oakesdale advanced to state.