Kamiakin boys, Chiawana and Kennewick girls ready for state regional play
Everyone on the Kamiakin boys basketball team remembers that dark weekend in early January.
The one where the high-flying Braves were brought down twice: first 79-49 at Chiawana on Jan. 3, and then 63-53 at Walla Walla the next night.
“We needed to get smacked,” said Kamiakin head coach Brian Meneely. “We were getting a little too comfortable. But I thought maybe getting smacked would be losing by 6 to 8 points. It was not very fun.”
But it may have been the best thing to happen to the Braves, who have gone on to win 12 of 13 games, including beating Mt. Spokane 55-52 last Friday night in the District 8 boys basketball championship game in the Toyota Center.
Because of that, Kamiakin (19-3) moved up to No. 6 in the Class 3A boys state RPI rankings, sending the Braves to Jackson High School in Everett for a 2 p.m. Saturday state regional game against No. 3 Marysville-Pilchuck (21-2).
It also means Kamiakin is guaranteed at least one game next week at the Class 3A state tournament in the Tacoma Dome.
Meneely said after those two early January losses, the players knew they had to work on improving, and they did.
“The kids came back,” he said. “I thought our January practices were really good. We were trying to accomplish a lot of things in practice, rather than just try to get through it.”
He said seniors Kyson Rose and Jeremiah Kennell stepped up even more into leadership roles, as did junior Messiah Jones.
“I think Messiah has stepped forward as a leader,” Meneely said. “He’s always talking in the huddle.”
Jones, a 6-foot-6 forward, has improved rapidly on the court too.
In the Braves’ big win last Friday over Mt. Spokane, Jones scored a game-high 21 points and added 15 rebounds.
But it was his defensive work on Wildcats’ star Tyson Degenhart that had everyone talking. The Mt. Spokane senior, who will play at Boise State next year, was held to 6-for-17 shooting and 14 points in the game.
“Messiah held him to just 2 points in the first half,” said Meneely. “I mean, we had to give Messiah some help too. But all of our kids executed on defense.”
Now the Braves play a hot-shooting Marysville-Pilchuck team that returns four starters and eight seniors from last year’s fourth-place state team.
“They do a nice job of passing and playing together,” said Meneely. “Now for us, it’s just a matter of keep improving this week.”
• Saturday tipoff: Class 3A boys, Game 3, Kamiakin vs. Marysville-Pilchuck, 2 p.m., Jackson High, Everett.
Winner: advances to Game 15, 12:15 p.m., Thursday, March 5, Tacoma Dome, opponent TBA.
Loser: advances to Game 9, 9 a.m. (Loser out), Wednesday, March 4, Tacoma Dome, versus Saturday’s Central Kitsap-Shorecrest winner.
Class 4A girls
Mike Brown’s Chiawana girls pulled off a pretty impressive feat by winning four consecutive games after losing their opener in the District 8 tournament.
The Riverhawks’ 65-50 victory last Saturday over Mead in the Toyota Center gave them the district’s second berth to state regionals.
It redeemed Brown’s team, which lost to Mead in the tournament opener by a 50-44 verdict.
“The last couple of games in the Toyota Center were great for us, especially after the route we took,” said Brown, whose team is now 22-3. “It was against some good competition.”
With the win, Chiawana earned a No. 4 ranking in the final state RPI rankings.
That means a game close to home, Richland’s Art Dawald Gymnasium, with a 6 p.m. Saturday start against No. 5-seed Kentridge (22-5).
The beauty of this game is that both teams are guaranteed at least one game next week in the Tacoma Dome: the winner advances to the second round of the state tournament on Thursday, March 5; the loser plays a first-round, loser-out contest on Wednesday, March 4.
“That’s a good problem to have,” said Brown. “But we always say that the most important game is the next game.”
Brown said he’s watched five of Kentridge’s games on film.
“They’re good. They’re scary,” he said. “They’re fast in transition, with a lot of double-teaming on defense.”
Head coach Brad McDowell’s Chargers had to change their game from a halfcourt-set type of offense to an uptempo type when senior post player Jordyn Jenkins – already signed to play next season at USC – was lost for the season on Dec. 28 with a torn ACL.
Senior Daylani Ballena leads Kentridge in scoring at 13.6 points a game.
Meanwhile, Brown and his staff — heck, everybody — expects Kentridge to try something to slow down junior Talia von Oelhoffen, who was named the Mid-Columbia Conference Player of the Year by the conference’s coaches on Tuesday. She led the MCC in scoring during the regular season at 25.8 points per game.
The Riverhawks have been without No. 2 scorer Delaney Pink. The junior guard has been sidelined with an injured toe the past few weeks.
Von Oelhoffen has been working on getting her teammates more involved in the offense.
“Talia has accepted that role,” said Brown. “She’s been trying to get everyone involved early in the game. Sometimes she won’t even put up a shot until the fourth to sixth time down the court.
“When you’re a player, and you see that the top player on the team has enough confidence in you to get you the ball to take the shot, the confidence level for everyone goes up.”
• Saturday tipoff: Class 4A girls, Game 4, Chiawana vs. Kentridge, 6 p.m., Richland High.
Winner: advances to Game 13, 9 a.m., Thursday, March 5, Tacoma Dome, opponent TBA.
Loser: advances to Game 11, 12:15 p.m. (loser out), Wednesday, March 4, Tacoma Dome, versus Saturday’s Kentwood-Issaquah winner.
• No. 15-seeded Sunnyside (14-7) will take on No. 10 Bellarmine Prep (19-5) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Rogers High in Puyallup.
The game is a loser-out contest, with the winner playing next Wednesday in the first round of the state tournament in Tacoma.
The Grizzlies lost to Moses Lake 54-44 last Friday in the Big Nine district championship game. However, Sunnyside bounced back the next night, beating West Valley of Yakima 46-39 for the second berth to state regionals.
Class 3A girls
Kennewick girls coach Daron Santo said he kept a close eye on the WIAA’s RPI rankings Saturday night.
His Lions had just beaten Kamiakin 68-36 that afternoon to clinch the District 8’s second state regional playoff berth.
That was one night after losing 73-54 to Mt. Spokane in the Class 3A championship game in the Toyota Center.
“We were actually sixth in the RPI going into that Mt. Spokane game,” said Santo. “When we lost, we dropped to ninth. I’m not an expert in the RPI, but after we beat Kamiakin on Saturday, we were still ninth.”
But later that night, No. 8 Garfield lost to top-ranked Eastside Catholic. By losing, Garfield fell to ninth, and Kennewick jumped up into eighth — by mere percentage points.
And because they have the No. 8 seed, the Lions (18-4) are guaranteed at least one game in the Tacoma Dome next week.
On Saturday, though, they’re only worried about playing top-ranked Eastside Catholic (24-1) in the state regionals, which tips off at noon at Sammamish High School.
“They’re a very fast team,” said Santo. “They’re very young too, all freshmen and sophomores. They make a living on points off of turnovers. They do it by full-court pressing, and trapping in the backcourt.”
Santo said he felt confident after summer ball that this team would make it to the state tournament.
“We really came together over this past summer,” he said.
The Lions do it all with a six-player rotation.
Junior Madeline Gebers leads Kennewick in scoring at 13.8 points. But senior MeiLani McBee — who will play at Division-1 Hawaii next season – is right behind at 13.7. And senior Aislin Fiander is right there at 13.5 points.
• Saturday tipoff: Class 3A girls, Game 1, Kennewick vs. Eastside Catholic, 12 p.m., Sammamish High.
Winner: advances to Game 14, 5:30 p.m., Thursday, March 5, Tacoma Dome, opponent TBA.
Loser: advances to Game 12, 9 p.m. (loser out), Wednesday, March 4, Tacoma Dome, versus Saturday’s Prairie-Garfield winner.
Friday’s paper: A look at the region’s smaller classification schools, all-MCC teams, and state brackets.