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.
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
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.
The 2A District IV boy’s playoffs begin tonight with two games here in town.
River Ridge, the #1 seed from the EvCo, gets another game with Tumwater, the EvCo’s #5 seed, but it shouldn’t be an easy first round game for the Hawks. The two teams split their two conference games this season. The T-Birds won the first meeting in double overtime, 92-90 and River Ridge took the second game 80-68. In both games, River Ridge’s Brad Wallace scored over 30 points (32 in the loss and 37 in the win). Tip-off is at 7:00 PM.
North Thurston hosts Washougal, the #3 seed out of the Greater St. Helens League, at 7:00 PM. Washougal was 4-4 in conference and 11-6 overall but won just two of their last seven games.
Black Hills travels to Longview to take on Mark Morris, the #1 seed out of the Greater St. Helens, who went undefeated in conference and has won nine straight en route to a 14-4 overall record.
In 2B boy’s playoff action, Northwest Christian takes on Toutle Lake in Rochester on Saturday night. Toutle Lake was 12-2 in conference and 17-3 overall.
The Western Oregon Wolves comes to town on Saturday night to take on Saint Martin’s. The Wolves are fourth in the GNAC at 8-5 in conference with a 15-7 overall record. One of those losses was to the Saints on January 14th in Monmouth. Jeremy Green had 18 points and Brok Pendleton and Will Bond added 15for the Saints in their biggest win of the season against the then first place Wolves. Since that loss, Western Oregon has gone just 2-4. Tip-off is at 7:00 PM at Marcus Pavilion.
Girl’s basketball
River Ridge 53, Hockinson 30
Mark Morris 64, Tumwater 41
North Thurston 59, Woodland 56 – 2OT
W.F. West 58, Black Hills 38
No surprises on the girl’s side of the 2A District IV playoff bracket on Friday night. River Ridge got an easy win over Hockinson behind Necy Wade’s 13 points and Kyahri Adams’ 14 points, Mark Morris three pointed Tumwater to death, Woodland took North Thurston to double overtime before the Rams prevailed thanks to Catie Mets’ 23 points and W.F. West beat Black Hills for the third time this season.
Next up: River Ridge plays Mark Morris on Tuesday in Tumwater at 6:00 PM and the North Thurston/W.F. West game follows at 7:45. On the loser’s side of the bracket, Tumwater plays Hockinson at 6:00 PM and Black Hills takes on Woodland at 7:45 at W.F. West in Chehalis.
Boy’s basketball
Bellarmine 68, Olympia 51
Dominick Francks scored 22 points but was the only Olympia player to crack double digits, a rarity for the usually balanced offensive attack of the Bears, and Bellarmine ran right past them in the second half to secure the #1 seed out of the 4A Narrows. Oly led at halftime, 30-24, but Bellarmine outscored them in the second half 44-21. The Bears will next host either Kentlake or Rogers on Tuesday night.
Women’s basketball
Oregon Tech 61, Evergreen 45 – More from the Geoducks
Despite the loss, Evergreen remains only a half game out of a CCC playoff spot. They are chasing Concordia, who lost to Corban tonight.
Men’s basketball
Oregon Tech 90, Evergreen 62 – More from the Geoducks
College softball
Cal State Dominguez Hills 2, Saint Martin’s 1
Cal State Dominguez Hills 5, Saint Martin’s 1 – More from SMUSaints.com
College baseball
Chico State 7, Saint Martin’s 2 – More from SMUSaints.com
Just one game in town tonight but plenty of playoff action just a short drive away.
The lone game in town tonight is a 2A District IV girl’s playoff game between River Ridge, the #1 seed out of the EvCo and Hockinson, the #3 team out of the Greater St. Helens League. Hockinson beat R.A. Long on Wednesday night, 47-46, in a tiebreaker game to make the playoffs. They are led by their 5’10” senior guard Jenna Haagen, who scored 11.7 points per game. They also feature 6’1″ post Katelyn McGuire, who averaged 9.5 points and 10 rebounds per game in just her sophomore year. The Olympian has a story today about River Ridge’s head coach, Jackie Robinson and his relationship with George Karl. Tip-off between the Hawks and the Hawks is set for 7:00 PM in Lacey.
Meanwhile, the #3 seed out of the EvCo, North Thurston, travels to Woodland tonight for their playoff game. Woodland is the #2 seed out of the Greater St. Helens and is 14-6 overall and 6-3 in conference. The Beavers and Rams had two common opponents this season, Tumwater and W.F. West. Woodland lost to both in December (43-31 to W.F. West and 43-40 to Tumwater).
And finally, Black Hills, the EvCo #5 gets a rematch with the EvCo #2, W.F. West in Chehalis. The two teams have met twice already this season in conference with W.F. West winning easily both times, 62-48 in December and 50-29 on Wednesday night.
On the boy’s side, Olympia and Bellarmine play for the third time this season for the #1 seed out of the 4A Narrows at Foss High School in Tacoma. The two teams were tied at 13-1 in conference with their only losses coming to each other on the road. Either way, Oly will have a home playoff game on Tuesday night. Tip-off for the rematch tonight is at 7:00 PM.
A couple quick links to articles over at ThurstonTalk.com including an extremely detailed account of a bowling tournament by Gail Wood…
Julie Hansen- An Ace On The Tennis Courts And In The Classroom At Black Hills High School
LeHew Beats Parkhurst Twice In Finals To Win Olympia Match Game tournament
Girl’s basketball
Capital 43, Foss 33
Olympia 43, Shelton 33
Timberline 66, Yelm 52
W.F. West 50, Black Hills 29
Timberline clinched the #2 seed out of the 3A Narrows with their win over Yelm. Black Hills’ loss to W.F. West drops them to the #5 seed out of the EvCo.
Boy’s basketball
Northwest Christian 72, Napavine 58
Olympia 56, Shelton 35
Foss 64, Capital 45
Timberline 57, Yelm 54
Black Hills 63, W.F. West 58
Tumwater 70, Centralia 47
Zach Carras had 27 points in Northwest Christian’s win over Napavine in the 2B District IV playoffs. Austin Koukal and Kevin Suaviso each added ten for the Navigators and they move on to play Toutle Lake on Saturday.
Capital falls to Foss and their season comes to an end at 10-11. And with wins by both Black Hills and Tumwater, the #4 seed goes to Black Hills and the #5 seed goes to Tumwater.
Men’s basketball
SPSCC 67, Green River 66 – OT
Women’s basketball
SPSCC 69, Green River 67 – OT
Seeding on the line in a couple of girl’s games tonight. Yelm and Timberline play with second place on the line in the 3A Narrows. The Blazers are 7-2 in conference and in second behind Wilson while the Tornados are 6-3 in conference and in third. Timberline won the first meeting on January 30th, 59-49 in Yelm.
Across town in Tumwater, Black Hills takes on W.F. West with the fourth seed in the EvCo on the line for the Wolves. Conversely, on the line for the Bearcats is the #1 seed. The two teams met on December 15th and W.F. West won easily, 62-48.
Here is the full girl’s schedule in Olympia tonight….
Foss at Capital – 7:00 PM
Shelton at Olympia – 7:00 PM
Yelm at Timberline – 7:00 PM
W.F. West at Black Hills – 7:00 PM
Only one game in town on the boy’s side. Tumwater hosts Centralia at 7:30 PM. Tumwater can get the fourth seed out of the EvCo with a win and a Black Hills loss in Chehalis. The T-Birds beat the Tigers by 25 on December 16th.
There are a couple of important out-of-town games to keep an eye on for the boy’s: Northwest Christian takes on Napavine at 6:30 PM in Montesano in the first round of the 2B District IV tournament, Capital plays Foss in Tacoma in a winner makes the playoffs, loser goes home game, and Olympia goes to winless Shelton with first place in the 4A Narrows on the line.
In college basketball action, the SPSCC men and women host Green River with the women’s game tipping at 6:00 PM and the men at 8:00 PM. The Lady Clippers are still looking for their first win in the NWAACC West and could easily get one against the 4-14 Gators who only won their first meeting by four, 54-50 in Auburn in early January. The men, meanwhile, could jump up to fifth place in the NWAACC West with a win. They also lost a close game to the Gators earlier this season, 85-82.
Girl’s basketball
Olympia 44, Stadium 29
Capital 55, Lincoln 33
Tumwater 60, W.F. West 55
Carly McIsaac scores 32 for Tumwater and the T-Birds pull off the upset of the previously 17-1 and #2 ranked W.F. West Bearcats. The win moves the T-Birds to 6-6 in the EvCo while W.F. West drops into a tie with River Ridge at 9-2.
Boy’s basketball
Olympia 70, Stadium 62
W.F. West 70, Tumwater 58
Northwest Christian 65, Naselle 62
Black Hills 69, Centralia 65
Olympia gets another win and has now won 10 straight games. They continue to do it with balanced scoring. Brenden Leonard and Dominick Franks each had 15 points, Alex Johnson added another 13 and Trevor Houser and Michael Naipo each had eight points. The Bears close out the regular season on Wednesday night against 1-15 Shelton in Shelton.
Oly Sports 