5 Washington high school regional basketball games you should not have missed (2/24/2024)
The Wapato High School girls basketball team has been close to breaking through for the school’s second Class 1A title in the sport the last couple of seasons.
Could this finally be the year?
The fifth-seeded Wolves, behind a nice shooting touch and poise under pressure, closed out 63-58 victory over fourth-seeded King’s in regional-round action Saturday at Shorewood High School.
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“Definitively pleased,” Wapato girls coach Joe Blodgett said. “You’re going to face quality teams with quality players and that’s exactly what we ran into. We know we’ve got to play a complete game. (King’s) hit some big shots and put us on our heels for a bit.
“But I’m proud of the way our girls responded.”
The Knights cut what was a nine-point Wapato lead to 54-51 on Gwin Sier’s 2-pointer from the left side with 3:45 remaining. The Wolves quickly hiked the lead back up to 62-53 with 1:17 to go, thanks to an 8-2 run.
The Wolves (22-2) move into Thursday’s 1A quarterfinals at 3:45 p.m. in the Yakima Valley SunDome and three wins away from the school’s first state crown since winning 4A in 1974.
Wapato finished third place in 1A last season, beating the same King’s program 65-53 in the third-fifth place contest. The Wolves were fourth in 1A in 2022.
“We just keep building from game to game,” Blodgett said. “We’ve seen so much growth in this team. It gives you a positive feeling when you go to games that you always have a chance. We’ve believe we can go out and compete with any school we are going out there with.”
Wapato is a guard-driven team with limited size, but the Wolves stretch other teams apart. They made 11 3-pointers Saturday.
Combo guard Trinity Wheeler, a 5-foot-3 junior, was a force with 20 points and three 3-pointers. Freshman point guard Deets Parrish added 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Senior guard Jordan Espinoza, a shooting guard, supplied 12 points, making four 3-pointers and grabbing eight rebounds.
Sophomore point guard Kaleo Anderson led the Knights with a game-high 25 points and sank four 2-pointers. Teammate Kaitlin Cramer added 16 points.
King’s (16-10) plays Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. in a loser-out, round-of-12 game against No. 13 seed Eatonville in the SunDome.
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4A BOYS REGIONALS: Mount Si 83, Kentwood 62
Photo by Vince Miller
It took until after halftime to get in gear, but the top-seeded 4A team showed why it’s considered the favorite to nail down another WIAA title.
The Wildcats (24-2), who have won 18 consecutive games and not lost to an in-state school, put some separation on the eighth-seeded Conquerors (19-7) with an offensive burst that started midway through the third quarter.
“It was a game we kind of expected would go like that, Kentwood’s good,” said Mount Si coach Jason Griffith. “Every time we’d go on a run, they’d chip back a little bit. I thought Kentwood defended well and took us out of some of our stuff.
“Then, we did a good job in the second half of making adjustments.”
Mount Si flashed its depth in the fourth quarter and the offense never throttled off. Weber State-bound Trevor Hennig scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and added eight rebounds and five assists.
Sophomore forward Latt Ford contributed 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists before Griffith sat him in the fourth quarter after Ford drew a technical for a little extra rim work on a monstrous toss-to-himself-off-the-glass jam late in the third quarter.
“He had one of the most phenomenal plays I’ve seen a high-school kid make,” Griffith said the technical-inducing dunk. “He threw it down and it wasn’t real bad, but he did a little snap on the rim and the ref didn’t like it and gave him a T.”
Point guard Blake Forrest chimed in with 14 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
“For us, the key was getting stops,” Griffith said. “We’re dynamic in transition, so when we get stops our guys understand how to push the ball. They know how to fill the lanes and they are super unselfish.”
The Wildcats move on to Thursday’s 4A state quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. in the Tacoma Dome, seeking the school’s first state title since 2020. The program is going for its fourth consecutive semifinal berth, having reached the title game three of the past four seasons.
Kentwood faces a loser-out contest on Wednesday at 9 p.m. in the round-of-12 of state in the Tacoma Dome.
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2A BOYS REGIONALS: Renton 73, Anacortes 66
Photo by Todd Milles
The Red Hawks did everything they could to get a first-round bye, even if that meant throwing the kitchen sink at Seahawks' standout Davis Fogle.
Fogle, the 6-foot-7 junior, led all scorers with 25 points, but Renton made him earn it, sending constant double teams at him to throw him off his rhythm.
"It was our goal to try and slow him down, wear him down," Renton boys coach Rashaad Powell said.
The Red Hawks had to sink shots, too - and junior Dennis Johnson III did, scoring a team-high 23 points. His 3-pointer with 2:07 to go gave Renton a 66-61 lead.
Fogle scored five consecutive points to tie the game at 66-66 at the 1:04 mark. But Johnson made 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch.
"I was impressed by the resilience they showed in weathering the storms as they made their runs," Powell said.
"It is playoff time, and (my players) have to understand the difference in level (of play)."
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4A GIRLS REGIONALS: Kamiakin 60, Bothell 48
Photo by Ken Nowaczyk
The third-seeded Braves’ all-around size and athleticism made things very difficult on the visiting sixth-seeded Cougars, limiting them to almost 12 points under their scoring average.
Kamiakin (24-1) stamped itself as title contender with the stifling effort on defense and was led by the 23 points of Nicole Wertenberger.
The Braves appear poised to build off last season’s fifth-place showing at 4A state and possibly their first crown since grabbing the school’s first and only one in 1985 in 4A.
Emaunni Smith added 14 points and 11 rebounds for Kamiakin, which advanced to Thursday’s 4A state quarterfinals at 12:15 p.m. in the Tacoma Dome.
Charlotte Lipkin led Bothell with 13 points and seven rebounds. McKylee Hawkins turned a 12-point, 18-rebound performance but made just 4 of 18 shots from the field for the Cougars (20-6).
Bothell plays again in Wednesday's 4A loser-out, round-of-12 state game in Tacoma.
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2A GIRLS REGIONALS: Prosser 49, Clarkston 43
Photo by Todd Milles
Sophomore Deidre Phillips supplied 17 points and 18 rebounds and freshman Herbie Wright added 18 points and six rebounds as the fourth-seeded Mustangs (20-5) downed fifth-seeded and previously unbeaten Clarkston (23-1).
Both teams shot poorly, but Prosser made more plays in the end and outrebounded the Bantams, 57-41. The Mustangs put themselves just one win away from making their third consecutive appearance in the 2A state semifinals.
Prosser moved into the 2A state quarterfinals on Thursday at 9 a.m. in the Yakima Valley SunDome.
Clarkston, which was led by the 13 points of Kendall Wallace and 12 of Eloise Teasley, was ranked as the No. 3 team in 2A in the final SBLive.com rankings with Prosser checking in fifth. The Bantams now face a loser-out, round-of-12 game on Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. in the SunDome.
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