Kennewick boys, Hermiston girls advance in 3A state basketball tournament
Kennewick’s boys and Hermiston’s girls advanced in the WIAA 3A state basketball tournaments on Tuesday night, while the Kennewick girls saw their season end.
The Kennewick boys, seeded 15th in the 20-team 3A tournament, rode their hot outside shooting to victory in an 80-62 win over 18 seed Ferndale.
Daniel Dickinson, a senior who is headed to Ottawa University in Arizona next year to play baseball, led the Lions with 27 points.
The sharpshooter sank four first-quarter 3-point field goals to get Kennewick out ahead of the Golden Eagles early for a 25-15 lead headed into the second quarter.
And despite the fact Ferndale would come back to tie the game at 29-29 in the next quarter, the Lions went into halftime with a 41-37 lead.
As the second half began, Dickinson keyed an 8-2 Lions run that essentially proved the difference and the victory, scoring 5 points in the run. Kennewick was never threatened again.
In all, the Lions were an astounding 55 percent (16 for 29) from the 3-point line Tuesday night. Dickinson was 7 of 11, while Jonah Gebers was 5 for 10 and had 17 points.
Kennewick coach Bradyn Leyde says the 3-point line is something his team works around, looking for that shot.
“The guys have started doing a good job of finding the open guy, and finding the guy with the hot hand,” said Leyde.
Kennewick (16-8) has won seven of its last eight games, and the Lions seem to be doing it by having a different guy step into the spotlight on a different night. On Tuesday night, it was Dickinson’s turn.
“At the Spokane Arena (last Friday in the district title win over Ferris), I had zero points,” said Dickinson. “But that night, Charlie (Tipke-Henry) carried us. He had 19 points.”
Now Kennewick heads to Bellevue College on Friday to play No. 10-seeded Lake Washington in what becomes another loser-out game to determine who gets to move on to the Tacoma Dome starting next Wednesday. Tip-off on Friday is 6 p.m.
“I told the guys afterwards that we get more time together,” said Leyde. “We get to play again Friday.”
Mark Schlichting led the Golden Eagles (12-11) with 17 points. It was Ferndale’s first state tournament game since 1996. This season, the team started out 1-7.
For the Lions, this is the fourth time in the past 11 years they’ve made the state tournament lineup. They also did it in 2012, 2014, and 2015.
▪ Katelyn Heideman scored 22 points, Bailey Young added 18, and Izzy Simmons 10, as the host Hermiston girls beat Peninsula 74-61 to advance in the 3A girls state tournament.
The Bulldogs, the 14th seed entering the 20-team tournament, improves to 15-10 on the season. Hermiston sprinted out of the gate, leading 21-7 after the first quarter, and never looked back.
Hermiston will now travel to play No. 11 seed Everett at 2 p.m. Saturday at Everett Community College. The winner advances to the Tacoma Dome next week, while the loser has its season end.
▪ Daron Santo’s young Kennewick girls team saw its season end Tuesday, as the visiting Lions lost to Gig Harbor 63-51.
Kennewick had qualified for the state tournament by winning the third-place game last weekend at the district tournament in Spokane. The Lions had won three of their last four games entering Tuesday night’s contest. They were the 20th-ranked team in the 20-team tournament, and end their season with an 11-13 record.
Kennewick will return nine of their 11 varsity roster players next season.
Boys swimming
Hanford’s boys swim team had a strong performance at the WIAA boys swimming and diving championships last weekend in Federal Way.
Led by junior Andy Gelston, the Falcons finished fifth out of 31 teams in the standings with 144 points.
Curtis took the team title with 292 points.
Gelston was part of four of the Falcons five top placing entries.
He finished second in the boys 100-meter backstroke, crossing the finish line in 51.08 seconds.
Only Olympia’s Tony Ponomarev finished ahead of him in the event with a time of 50.27 seconds.
Gelston’s teammate, junior Andrew Jones, earned a fourth-place finish in the boys 100 breaststroke final, finishing in 57.98 seconds.
Gelston added a fifth-place finish in the boys 200 IM final with a time of 1:56.27.
Gelston and Jones also helped Hanford’s relay teams in the 200 Medley and the 400 free to place high in the finals.
The Falcons were fifth in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:15.19. Jones led off the race, then sophomore Maddox Pool, followed by sophomore Easton Wright, and anchored by Gelston.
Hanford’s 200 Medley relay team placed sixth with a time of 1:37.51. Gelston led that foursome off, followed by Jones, then freshman Luke Nielson, and then anchored by Wright.
Sports notes
▪ Former Tri-City American Parker Wotherspoon is a 24-year-old defenseman for the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders.
Through Jan. 31, Wotherspoon has played in 34 games, and has 2 goals, 8 assists, and a plus-10 rating in the plus-minus category. The Islanders have a 15-18-4-4 record and sit in last place of the 8-team Atlantic Division.
Wotherspoon played four full seasons for the Americans.
▪ Junior midfielder Blake Danna (Hanford/WWCC) and junior defender Estefania Cossio (Hanford/WWCC) played for the 4-13 Bushnell women’s soccer team last fall. Danna had one goal and 5 shots on goal, while Cossio had an assist and 4 shots on goal.
▪ Through games of Feb. 6, redshirt senior transfer Scott Blakney (Prosser) is coming off of the bench for the University of Montana men’s basketball team (15-8).
Blakney, a 6-foot-9 forward who played at the University of Idaho the past few seasons, has played in 17 games for the Grizzlies, averaging 4.5 points and 1.9 rebounds.
He’s also shooting well, 64 percent from the floor, making 29 shots in 45 attempts.
▪ Redshirt freshman linebacker Trent Durfey (Umatilla) had 33 tackles (17 solo) for the 6-4 Carroll College football team last fall.
Durfey had 4.5 tackles for loss, 1 quarterback sack, and 3 QB hurries for the Saints.
▪ Garrett Grillo and Brenden Lane — both freshman midfielders from Kamiakin — played men’s soccer for North Idaho College this past fall. Grillo started in 15 games for the 11-5-1 Cardinals, scoring two goals. Lane came off of the bench and scored one goal.
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 5:00 AM.