Saturday scoreboard: Pios drop home opener; Saints sweep; Hawks win non-leaguer
Premier Arena Soccer League
Marysville Ruckus 11, Tumwater Pioneers 9 – Recap from TumwaterPioneers.com
The Tumwater Pioneers took an 8-2 lead early in the third quarter but a furious rally the rest of the way for the Marysville Ruckus spoiled the Pioneers home opener as the Pios dropped an 11-9 heartbreaker in front of a packed house at Tumwater Indoor Sports on Saturday night. Kevin Flavin scored five goals for the Pioneers while Victor Navarro scored three times for the Ruckus including the eventual game winner with less than four minutes to play.
Women’s basketball
Saint Martin’s 70, Seattle Pacific 66 – Recap from SMUSaints.com
Warner Pacific 54, Evergreen 51 – Recap from Evergreen athletics
Men’s basketball
Saint Martin’s 71, Western Oregon 59 – Recap from SMUSaints.com
Warner Pacific 74, Evergreen 40 – Recap from Evergreen athletics
Boy’s basketball
Raymond 57, Northwest Christian 18
Girl’s basketball
River Ridge 52, Olympic 35
Centralia 64, Tumwater 41
American Basketball Association
Calgary Crush 137, Olympia Rise 100
Tonight (1/5): Pioneers, Saints, Geoducks, Navs and Hawks
Busy night of sports on tap in the South Sound tonight with two college basketball doubleheaders, an arena soccer home opener and a couple high school basketball games.
The Tumwater Pioneers arena soccer team makes their home debut tonight when they take on the Marysville Ruckus at Tumwater Indoor Sports. The Pioneers struggled on the road dropping two decisions to the Kitsap Pumas and Oregon Blacktails in December. But the Pios play four straight games in Tumwater starting tonight and face a Ruckus squad that is just three points ahead of them in the standings with a record of 1-2.
Tumwater will have their two leading scorers, Chris Pugh and Kevin Flavin, and goalkeeper Matt Stalnik back in the lineup tonight against Marysville, who features the goalWA.net week one PASL Northwest Division player of the week Josh Rudnick.
First kick is scheduled for 7:00 PM. Tickets are just $5 for adults and $3 for children and seniors. There will be a beer garden for fans 21-and-over, concessions provided by a taco wagon and games and prizes for all-ages. Dress warmly and bring a blanket if you want.
For more information, visit www.tumwaterpioneers.com
The Saint Martin’s basketball teams host a doubleheader at Marcus Pavilion tipping off with the women at 5:15 PM and following with the men at 7:30.
The women come into the game at 0-3 in the GNAC having faces all three of the GNAC’s best teams in their first three games. And the road doesn’t get any easier, Seattle Pacific is 3-0 in conference and 9-2 overall and is coming off a 72-65 win over Western Oregon on Thursday.
The men make their return to the Pavilion court for the first time in over a month. The Saints dropped a pair of GNAC games in late November/early December and sit at 0-2 in conference play. 2-0 Western Oregon comes into town tonight featuring the GNAC’s second leading scorer, Andy Avgi, who is scoring 20.4 points per game.
And across town, the Evergreen basketball teams wrap up their homestand against Warner Pacific. The women tip at 5:30 and the men follow at 7:30.
The Lady Geoducks are 3-3 in the CCC after a 58-52 win over Concordia last night. Danielle Swain had an outstanding night scoring 21 points and pulling down 13 rebounds. Warner Pacific sits a game ahead of the Geoducks at 4-2.
The men fell to 1-5 after their loss to Concordia last night and face a Knights team that upset #21 Northwest University last night to move to 5-1 in the CCC.
And finally, in high school basketball action…
Boy’s basketball
Northwest Christian vs. Raymond – Northwest Christian HS – 7:00 PM
Girl’s basketball
River Ridge vs. Olympic – River Ridge HS – 7:30 PM
Friday scoreboard: Geoducks women knock off Concordia; Blazers, Bears girls win easy; Blazers, Hawks boys cruise
Women’s basketball
Evergreen 58, Concordia 52 – Recap from Evergreen athletics
Girl’s basketball
Timberline 55, Shelton 22
Olympia 58, Stadium 32
Raymond 71, Northwest Christian 41
Mountain View 64, Capital 42
Wilson 84, North Thurston 28
Top scorers (No Northwest Christian stats available): Sarah Snodgrass (Olympia).......19 Azaria Hernandez (Timberline)...12 Sarah McKee (Timberline)........11 Kiera Allen (Timberline)........10 Drew Rothengrass (Capital)......10
Men’s basketball
Concordia 84, Evergreen 65 – Recap from Evergreen athletics
Boy’s basketball
Timberline 68, Shelton 42
River Ridge 64, Aberdeen 45
Wilson 60, North Thurston 36
Stadium 53, Olympia 37
Centralia 80, Tumwater 77
WF West 76, Black Hills 34
Top scorers (no Tumwater or Black Hills stats available): Brad Wallace (River Ridge).......30 Tyler Gartner (Timberline).......23 Michael Naipo (Olympia)..........16 Elijah Sanders (Timberline)......15 Jonathan Roberts (River Ridge)...11
Tonight (1/4): Better late than never
I spent the day unable to put up the “Tonight” post, but there is still time…
Women’s basketball
Evergreen vs. Concordia – CRC Gymnasium – 5:30 PM
Girl’s basketball
Olympia vs. Stadium – Olympia HS – 7:00 PM
Capital vs. Auburn-Mountainview – Capital HS – 7:00 PM
Men’s basketball
Evergreen vs. Concordia – CRC Gymnasium – 7:30 PM
Boy’s basketball
North Thurston vs. Wilson – North Thurston HS – 7:00 PM
Timberline vs. Shelton – Timberline HS – 7:00 PM
Tumwater vs. Centralia – Tumwater HS- 7:30 PM
River Ridge vs. Aberdeen – River Ridge HS – 7:30 PM
Thursday scoreboard: Hawks top Bobcats
Women’s basketball
MSU-Billings 67, Saint Martin’s 49 – Recap from SMUSaints.com
Girls basketball
River Ridge 57, Aberdeen 44
WF West 58, Black Hills 33
Tonight (1/3): Saints continue GNAC play; Wolves get test from WF West
The Saint Martin’s women’s basketball team looks for their first conference win tonight when they play host to Montana State-Billings at Marcus Pavilion. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.
The Saints are 7-5 overall this season but 0-2 in GNAC play after struggling on the road against two highly ranked teams in Simon Fraser and Western Washington in December. But the Saints are 5-0 at Marcus Pavilion this season and have played stout defense allowing just 58.8 points per game (3rd in the GNAC) and have 10.8 steals per game (4th in conference).
But the road doesn’t get any easier in the Yellowjackets. MSUB is 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the GNAC and are coming off of a 57-54 black line upset of Divison I Montana State and are led by the GNAC’s leading scorer, junior Bobbi Knudsen, who is putting up 18.6 points per game.
If you can’t make it to the game, you can watch live video and hear me, Brandon Sparks, with the call of the game by clicking here.
The Black Hills girl’s basketball team will get a tough test tonight when it faces off with W.F. West at Black Hills High School. The Wolves come into the game at 8-3 overall but 2-2 in the 2A EvCo while the Bearcats sit on top of the EvCo at 3-0 and are 7-3 overall and are ranked #6 in the state by The News-Tribune and #1 in state by the ScoreCzar computers.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM.
Wednesday scoreboard: T-Birds boys edge Blazers, Blazers girls drop T-Birds
Men’s basketball
Clark 73, SPSCC 64 – Box score
South Puget Sound’s big three – Jamey Smith, AJ Fuller and Scotty Ewing – shot a combined 9-of-38 (23%) in the Clippers’ 73-64 loss to Clark in their NWAACC West opener. Smith, Fuller and Ewing combine for 47 points per game this season but were held to 29 by the Penguins. Kole Podowicz picked up the slack and scored 25 points but after taking a 32-31 lead into the locker room, SPSCC went cold in the second half shooting just 29.7% from the field and were outscored by Clark 42-32.
Boy’s basketball
Tumwater 64, Timberline 63
Stadium 65, Black Hills 51
Clover Park 86, Capital 52
Top scorers (no stats available for Tumwater/Timberline): Jake Burgess (Black Hills)...17 Keenan Williams (Capital)....11
Women’s basketball
Clark 115, SPSCC 18 – Box score
Renee Willey hit three field goals and Sarah Houchen hit a pair of baskets but those were the only shots that the South Puget Sound women hit from the field in their 115-18 loss to Clark in Vancouver. The Clippers turned the ball over 35 times and managed just forty shots compared to 73 shots taken by the Penguins. Clark shot a scorching 63% from the floor including a ridiculous 15-for-27 (56.1%) from the three point line.
Girl’s basketball
Timberline 43, Tumwater 35
North Thurston 44, Capital 28
Top scorers: Kajana Fernandus (North Thurston)....18 Lacye Groening (Tumwater)............12 Niamyah Warner-Tannis (Timberline)...12
Tonight (1/2): Happy New Year!
2013 is here and we get back on track with a handful of non-conference basketball games around town:
Boy’s basketball
Capital vs. Clover Park – Capital HS – 7:00 PM
Tumwater @ Timberline – Timberline HS – 7:00 PM
Black Hills vs. Stadium – Black Hills HS – 7:30 PM
Girl’s basketball
Capital @ North Thurston – North Thurston HS – 7:00 PM
Timberline @ Tumwater – Tumwater HS – 7:30 PM
2012 Oly Sports moment of the year: Sounder U-23s in Tumwater
Sounders U-23’s Jamael Cox hits a shot that proved to be the game winner.
1,400 soccer fans packed Tumwater Stadium on June 2nd to see the Sounders U-23s take on the Portland Timbers U23s. After a scoreless 90 minutes of play, Jamael Cox’s goal in stoppage time of the second half gave the Sounders the dramatic 1-0 win in the junior version of the Cascadia Cup. It may not sound like much, a mid-season Premier Development League game in front of a solid crowd, but it was enough to earn the Oly Sports moment of the year.
In their first season after years playing in near anonymity as the Tacoma Tides, the Sounders U-23s split their home games between Tacoma’s Franklin Pierce High School and Cheney Stadium and Tumwater Stadium. Changing their name and teaming with the Seattle Sounders was meant to both improve the quality of play and capitalize on the marketing power of the Sounders name. And while the Sounders U-23s attendance figures improved over previous Tides seasons, they didn’t exactly blow anybody away, except for the game in Tumwater. Olympia provided the Sounders with their highest attended game of the season and showed that this area has the ability to support a high level soccer team.
Can a big crowd at a one off event be translated to a team that doesn’t have the Sounders name remains to be seen. But this was a watershed moment in the history of minor league sports in the Olympia area. No other team has ever drawn that well and then delivered the goods.
Sadly, 2013 won’t be the year that Olympia gets the chance to show that it is a soccer town with a permanent PDL or other semi-pro league team. But hopefully the Sounders U-23s will come back this summer and can draw like they did in 2012.
Oly Sports 