Category Archives: Basketball
Tonight (2/17): Hawks for district title, Blazers play for state, Bears and Navigators play for their season
The River Ridge boys play for the 2A District IV title tonight against Mark Morris at Saint Martin’s Marcus Pavilion. The Monarchs are the #1 seed out of the 2A Greater St. Helens League and have already knocked off Black Hills and North Thurston to get to the title game. The Hawks were the #1 seed out of the 2A EvCo and beat Tumwater and W.F. West in the playoffs. Tip-off is at 8:oo PM after the girl’s title game between Mark Morris and W.F. West at 6:oo PM.
That’s the only game in town but the playoffs roll along just a short drive away…
The Olympia boys travel to Auburn to take on Evergreen (Vancouver). Evergreen is the #2 seed out out of the 4A Greater St. Helens League and are coming off a 74-71 win over Kent Meridian. Tip-off is at 6:00 PM at Auburn High School.
With a win tonight over Kennedy Catholic, the Timberline girls will advance to state. Kennedy Catholic is coming off a 51-24 win over Auburn Mountainview in the first round. Kennedy is coached by former Evergreen State College men’s head coach John Barbee. Tip-off is at 8:00 PM at Clover Park High School.
The Olympia girls play a loser-out game against Spanaway Lake at Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma. The Sentinels are coming off a 67-55 loss to Mt. Rainier. Tip-off is at 6:00 PM.
And in a loser-out 2B District IV playoff game, the Northwest Christian girls plays Toutle Lake in Rochester at 6:3o PM. Toutle Lake beat South Bend, lost to Napavine and beat Willapa Valley in the playoffs so far.
Also going on as we speak are Mat Classic XXIV at the Tacoma Dome, gymnastics state championships at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall and state swimming championships at King County Aquatic Center. All three tournaments feature Olympia area athletes. For more info, go to Meg Wochnick’s blog over at The Olympian.
Thursday scoreboard: Saints get blasted, Carras ends career in style
Women’s basketball
Alaska-Anchorage 74, Saint Martin’s 42 – More from SMUSaints.com
One player can only do so much. Saint Martin’s Chelsea Haskey had 20 points but no other Saint had more than four points and #11 Alaska-Anchorage easily won to clinch a share of the GNAC title. The Saints were only down by one point halfway through the second half but a 21-5 run by the Seawolves sealed their fate and dropped the Saints to 2-13 in conference this season. The Saints did hold Haley Holmstead to just four points but Hanna Johansson led the Seawolves with 17 points and Kaylie Robison chipped in 14.
Men’s basketball
Alaska-Anchorage 81, Saint Martin’s 59 – More from GoSeawolves.com
Saint Martin’s led at the half, 39-38, but were outscored by 23 points in the second half and moved to 1-16 all-time against the Seawolves in Anchorage. Jeremy Green and Ryan Votaw each scored 13 points for the Saints and Alaska-Anchorage was led by Travis Thompson’s 21 points and Taylor Rohde’s 17. The Saints drop to 4-13 in the GNAC. By the way, Alaska-Anchorage has a player named Boomer Blossom. Easily my favorite name I’ve seen this season.
Boy’s basketball
Raymond 62, Northwest Christian 58
Northwest Christian’s season comes to an end with the loss to Raymond, but Zach Carras gave a masterful performance to finish his career scoring 39 points. But again, only one player can do so much. No other Navigator scored more than five points on the night. Raymond was led by sophomore Darol Ratsavongsy’s (also another great name) 27 points.
Carras wins Pacific MVP
Northwest Christian senior Zach Carras was named the MVP of the 2B Pacific league on Wednesday. Carras is averaging 21.7 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game for the Navigators. Senior Nick Mailhot was given an honorable mention on the all-Pacific squad. Carras and Mailhot are still alive in the 2B District IV playoffs and play Raymond tonight at 8:00 PM in Rochester.
For the Navigator girls, senior Kami Bates was named to the all-Pacific 2B first team. She is the first girl in program history to score 1,000 points in her career. Allison Sowers was also given an honorable mention. The Navigators play Toutle Lake in the 2B District IV playoffs on Saturday at 6:30 PM in Rochester.
Tonight (2/16): Lady Saints face Anchorage
The Saint Martin’s women will get a stiff test tonight when #11 ranked Alaska-Anchorage comes to town.
The Seawolves are in first place in the GNAC with a 13-2 conference record and are 22-4 overall with two of those losses coming to Division I opponents in the Great Alaskan Shootout. Junior Haley Holmstead is sixth in the GNAC in scoring averaging 15.5 points per game and senior Hanna Johansson is third in rebounding pulling down 9.3 boards per game.
Anchorage won the first meeting in January, 83-48. Holmstead had 23 points for the Seawolves and freshman Jordyn Richardson came off the bench to score 18 points for the Saints.
Tip-off is at 7:00 PM at Marcus Pavilion.
Wednesday scoreboard: Hawks to play for district title
Boy’s basketball
Mark Morris 70, North Thurston 58
River Ridge 59, W.F. West 56
Tumwater 63, Hockinson 47
Washougal 66, Black Hills 62
River Ridge advanced to the 2A District IV title game behind 26 points from Brad Wallace. They will face Mark Morris who knocked off North Thurston. It will be the fourth meeting in the title game for the Hawks and Monarchs in the last five years. The title game is on Saturday night at 8:00 PM at St. Martin’s.
In the consolation bracket, Washougal ended Black Hills season and Tumwater beat Hockinson and will play North Thurston in a loser-out game on Saturday at 7:30 PM at River Ridge.
Girl’s basketball
Timberline 53, Mountain View 39
Skyview 81, Olympia 51
Northwest Christian 36, Raymond 35
Timberline got 17 points from Sasha Weber and 12 points from Becky Clayton to advance in the 3A playoffs. Northwest Christian eked by Raymond behind Kami Bates 11 points and ten points from Allison Sowers. They move on to play Toutle Lake in Rochester on Friday night.
Women’s basketball
SPSCC 69, Tacoma 57
South Puget Sound got their second win of the conference season thanks to 16 points from Renee Willey and 14 points from Monteaka Norwood.
Men’s basketball
Tacoma 110, SPSCC 78
Anye Turner had 20 points and 12 rebounds for SPSCC but Tacoma had three players score more than 20 points in their big victory. NWAACC scoring leader Mark McLaughlin had 28 points.
Tonight (2/15): Rams and Hawks in Tumwater, SPSCC hosts Tacoma
For the second night in a row, Tumwater High School is the place to be. The boy’s 2A District semifinals take place there tonight with a matchup between North Thurston and Mark Morris and 6:00 PM followed by River Ridge and W.F. West at 7:45.
Mark Morris was undefeated in the 3A Greater St. Helens League and is 15-4 overall but one of those losses came to North Thurston early in the season. In that game, Landon Ruston had 30 points and Ben Broeker added 13 for the Rams in their 67-64 victory while Tanner Brill scored 26 but was the only Monarch in double digits. In the other game at Tumwater, W.F. West and River Ridge meet for the third time this season. The Hawks took it to the Bearcats in both meetings, 62-42 in the first meeting in Chehalis and 72-55 in Lacey.
In the consolation bracket, Black Hills and Tumwater travel to Chehalis to take on Washougal and Hockinson respectively.
In girl’s playoff action, all games are being played out-of-town. the 4A playoffs get underway when Olympia travels to Vancouver to take on Skyview. Skyview was 10-0 in the 4A Greater St. Helens League and are 18-2 overall and are ranked #4 in the state. Tip-off is at 7:00 PM.
In the 3A playoffs, Timberline takes on Mountain View at 6:00 PM at Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma. Mountain View is the #4 seed out of the 3A Greater St. Helens league and has a 10-13 record overall.
And in the 2B playoffs, Northwest Christian plays a loser-out game against Raymond at 6:30 PM in Centralia. The Navigators won both of the games the two teams played during the regular season.
The South Puget Sound men and women take on Tacoma Community College starting at 6:00 PM with the women and the men to follow. The Titan women are 9-12 overall and 6-6 in the NWAACC and beat the Clippers 66-56 on January 18th. The Tacoma men are 19-4 overall and 11-1 in conference and beat the Clippers by 12 in their first meeting. Tacoma features the NWAACC’s leading scorer at 27.91 points per game, Mark McLaughlin. McLaughlin committed to Washington State, signed with Nevada, moved to Baylor and then to Seattle University before landing at Tacoma.
Olympia Reign break radio silence
The Olympia Reign, Olympia’s professional basketball team, made a couple of announcements on their Facebook page today…
“The Little Creek Casino, Kamilche Trading Post, The Landing, and Island Enterprises have acquired a brand new basketball floor and equipment so the Olympia Reign can play all their home games at the Skookum Creek Event Center located next to the Little Creek Casino Resort. It is an amazing venue and we would like to thank them for providing such a nice home court to protect!”
I knew that the plan was to play at Little Creek but I was skeptical that it would ever happen so I’m glad to see things progressing. I think it’s a good plan and could be a good place to play. I just hope that the proper marketing is done to get butts in the seats and they put on a good show. I have my doubts.
And the Reign also announced open runs and tryout times…
“Olympia Reign will start open runs on Thursday March 1st from 7 to 9 pm at South Puget Sound CC. They will continue every Tuesday and Thursday at the same time until tryouts. On March 17th and 18th from 9am to 3 pm the Olympia Reign will be hosting tryouts at South Puget Sound CC. The fee for tryouts is $50. Call Coach Smothers at 360-250-9881 or Owner Mark Felton at 360-790-5165 with any questions.”
So if you think you have the goods to play in the IBL, get your butt out to SPSCC.
Tuesday scoreboard: Bears, Navigators go to OT, rough night for girls and silent films
Valentine’s date went long so just a quick scoreboard tonight…
Boy’s basketball
Olympia 69, Kentlake 66 – OT
Northwest Christian 66, Naselle 64 – OT
Girl’s basketball
Mark Morris 62, River Ridge 39
W.F. West 51, North Thurston 33
Woodland 61, Black Hills 46
Tumwater 52, Hockinson 38
Best picture nominees
“The Artist” – Highly overrated
All-Narrows League teams announced
Olympia’s Luke Salme was named boy’s Coach of the Year and Dominick Franks was named the MVP of the 4A Narrows League when the All-Narrows League teams were announced today. Timberline’s Donaven Dorsey was named to the 3A boy’s first team and Sasha Weber was named to the 3A girl’s first team.
Here’s the list of Olympia area athletes that were honored today, by school. The Olympian has the full list…
Olympia boys: Luke Salme (Coach of the Year), Dominick Franks (MVP), Brenden Leonard and Trevor Houser (second team), Michael Naipo (honorable mention)
Olympia girls: Alex Bassett (second team), Sarah Snodgrass, Molly Spiller and Jona Spiller (honorable mention)
Timberline boys: Donaven Dorsey (first team), Cooper Podowicz, Theron Nystrom (honorable mention)
Timberline girls: Sasha Weber (first team), Kiera Allen (second team), Cierra Martin (honorable mention)
Capital boys: Jared Eidenmuller and Keenan Williams (second team),
Capital girls: Kendal Wilkerson (second team), Cierra Pettit and Hollianne Wiedland (honorable mention)
Tonight (2/14): Valentine’s Day playoffs
It’s Valentine’s Day so why not take your special someone to a playoff basketball game (I say as I plan to go to dinner and “The Artist” tonight)?
On the girl’s 2A side, the place to be tonight is Tumwater High School. At 6:00 PM, River Ridge takes on Mark Morris in a matchup between the #1 seed out of the EvCo and the #1 seed out of the Greater St. Helens League. Mark Morris is 18-4 overall and was 9-0 in the GSHL and are coming off a 64-41 dismantling of Tumwater in the first round.
Following the River Ridge/Mark Morris game, North Thurston takes on W.F. West for the third time this season and the Rams are looking for some revenge. The Bearcats handily knocked off the Rams twice, 60-47 on December 13th and 59-42 on January 27th. Tip-off is tentatively set for 7:45.
In the consolation bracket of the 2A District IV tournament, Tumwater and Black Hills travel to Chehalis to take on Hockinson and Woodland, respectively.
In the 3A girl’s playoffs, Timberline takes on Mountain View at 6:00 PM at Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma. Mountain View is the #4 seed out of the 3A Greater St. Helens league and has a 10-13 record overall. This game is on Wednesday, not Tuesday.
Two other girl’s game in town tonight, though they don’t involve Olympia area teams (since I’m focused on only Olympia, Tumwater and Lacey). Forks plays Castle Rock at 6:00 PM and Tenino takes on Hoquiam at 8:oo PM at Black Hills High School. You should go and see Tenino’s dominant sophomore Nike McClure because you will hear a lot about her over the next couple years.
On the boy’s side, the 4A playoffs get underway when Olympia hosts Kentlake at 7:00 PM. The Falcons were 9-8 in the SPSL and are 11-12 overall. Kentlake has won two straight playoff games to get to this point, beating Tahoma on February 8th, 35-22, and Rogers on Saturday, 61-58.
Also in action tonight is Northwest Christian who head to Rochester to take on Naselle at 6:30 PM in the consolation bracket of the 2B District IV playoffs. The Navigators beat Naselle twice during the regular season.
Oly Sports 