Brandell Evans (5) and Donaven Dorsey (33)

This weekend saw a handful of high school hoops jamborees and the Capital/Olympia opener on Saturday, but today marks the start of the high school basketball season in earnest with five games on the docket here in town including a girls and boys doubleheader between Timberline and River Ridge starting at 6:00.

Girls basketball
Timberline @ River Ridge – River Ridge HS – 6:00 PM
Capital vs. Shelton – Capital HS – 7:00 PM
Olympia vs. WF West – Olympia HS – 7:00 PM

The River Ridge girls open their season with crosstown rival Timberline tonight. They return the core from their 5th place finish last season in Jazzlynn Brewster and Rebecca Stevenson and should contend again this year.

Olympia returns sophomore Jenna Randich and junior Sarah Snodgrass but they will have a tough test in their opener against WF West, the 2A second place finisher last season, who lost Jamika Parker to graduation but gained Washington State signee Nike McClure, who was relegated to their junior varsity squad last year after she transferred from Tenino.

Boys basketball
Black Hills vs. Klahowya – Black Hills HS – 7:00 PM
Timberline @ River Ridge – River Ridge HS – 8:00 PM

The Timberline boys game marks your first opportunity to take a look at University of Washington signee senior Donaven Dorsey and the Blazers as they look to improve on their 7th place finish at state last year. The Blazers have a senior led team with Dorsey, Tyler Gartner and Chase Ryan and it will be interesting to see the progress of junior point guard Brandell Evans, who had an excellent sophomore season.