Boy’s basketball
Capital 75, Timberline 59
Olympia 56, Central Kitsap 34
River Ridge 67, Black Hills 58
North Thurston 86, Tumwater 69
Landon Rushton scored 38 points for North Thurston in their 86-69 victory over Tumwater. The win moves the Rams into sole possession of first place in the EvCo. The packed house in Lacey witnessed a wonderful performance by Rushton, a hard fought game by both teams and a symphony of whistles as over 45 fouls (I estimated closer to 50) were called on the two teams, and yet you could say that the referees showed tremendous restraint in a very rough and tumble kind of game.
Girl’s basketball
Northwest Christian 35, Ocosta 25
Central Kitsap 50, Olympia 42
Timberline 53, Capital 38
Tumwater 58, Centralia 34
W.F. West 59, North Thurston 42
However, down in Chehalis, the lady Rams couldn’t secure first place in the EvCo falling to W.F. West 59-42. W.F. West jumped out to a commanding 30-16 halftime lead and were never seriously threatened again.
Men’s basketball
College of Idaho 73, Evergreen 44 – Game recap from the Geoducks
Women’s basketball
College of Idaho 62, Evergreen 47 – More from Geoducks athletics
First place in the 2A EvCo is on the line tonight in Lacey when the North Thurston boys play host to Tumwater at 7:30 PM. Both teams come into the game at 5-2 in conference. The Rams are coming off a surprising loss to head coach Tim Brown’s dad Ron Brown and his Centralia Tigers while Tumwater has won three straight. Olysports.com will be on hand and will bring you updates and pictures on our Twitter account @OlySportsBlog.
In other action around town, River Ridge goes to Black Hills and will move into sole possession of second place if they can knock off the Wolves. Meanwhile, back in Lacey, Timberline hosts Capital.
And since I have a hungry one year-old yelling at me and crawling up my leg (I’m a professional!), here is the preview-free version of the girl’s basketball schedule…
Central Kitsap at Olympia
Capital at Timberline
Men’s basketball
Seattle Pacific 66, Saints Martin’s 54
The Saints closed an 11 point halftime margin to just five halfway through the second half but the Falcons then went on an 11-2 run and never looked back. The Saints were led by Jeremy Green’s 14 points and 10 rebounds and Roger O’Neill’s 10 points. The loss drops the Saints to 4-6 in GNAC play. They travel to MSU-Billings on Saturday. For more info, read the game recap from SPUFalcons.com
Women’s basketball
Seattle Pacific 78, Saint Martin’s 62
Same story for the Lady Saints. After cutting the Seattle Pacific lead to just six points in the second half, the Falcons went on a 9-0 run and the Saints were never in the game again. Chelsea Haskey led the Saints with 12 points. The Saints are now 2-8 in the GNAC and host MSU-Billings on Saturday at 2:00 PM. For more read the recap from SMUSaints.com
Girl’s basketball
North Thurston 51, Tumwater 32
Northwest Christian 46, Naselle 38
Black Hills at River Ridge (no score found yet)
North Thurston keeps on rolling thanks to 14 points from Elyssa Quichocho and 13 points from Ciara Williams. Tumwater kept the game close trailing by only six at halftime but the Rams scored 24 points in the third quarter to blow the game wide open. North Thurston travels to Chehalis tomorrow night to take on W.F. West with first place in the Evergreen Conference on the line.
From the Saint Martin’s University Facebook page…
“Congratulations to Saints baseball players Stephen Mahnken and Casey Thorpe on being selected to join the Athletes in Action International Baseball team this summer! Stephen and Casey will travel to the Dominican Republic to play baseball and share their Christian faith. #GoSaints”
Mahnken is a freshman outfielder from Puyallup and Thorpe is a freshman catcher from Olympia High School.
The Saints Martin’s Saints women (7-12 overall, 2-7 GNAC) host second place Seattle Pacific (12-5 overall, 6-3 GNAC) tonight at Marcus Pavilion. Seattle Pacific sophomore forward Katie Benson is fifth in the GNAC in scoring with 16.1 points per game and senior guard Nyesha Sims is third in rebounding pulling down 9.1 rebounds per game despite standing only 5’8″. The Falcons handled the Saints in Seattle 70-39 just before the new year. Now that I’ve really sold you on the game, let me add that tip-off is set for 7:00 PM.
In girl’s basketball action, it’s a Tumwater/Lacey showdown as River Ridge (10-6, overall, 6-2 Evergreen) hosts Black Hills (10-4 overall, 3-3 Evergreen) and North Thurston (12-2 overall, 6-1 Evergreen) hosts Tumwater (8-7 overall, 3-4 Evergreen) in makeup games from last week’s snowstorm. The Rams beat Tumwater by just five on January 6th and have to be wary of a letdown against the T-Birds the day before they take on first place W.F. West on Friday night. River Ridge beat Black Hills 72-62 in their first meeting earlier this season.
The Evergreen State College Geoducks head out on the east CCC roadtrip this weekend taking on The College of Idaho on Friday in Caldwell and Eastern Oregon on Saturday in LaGrande. Here is the weekly release previewing the match-ups for the men and for the women.
Note: in the men’s release it is mentioned that they will welcome more available players to the squad. According to head coach Arvin Mosley Jr. on Twitter, these will be returning Geoducks and not new players. Evergreen has been playing with only six or seven players for the last couple weeks.
PHOTO CREDIT: ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Congratulations to Olympia native and North Thurston alum Kasey Keller on being named the Professional Sports Star of the Year at the 77th Seattle Sports Star of the Year banquet at Benaroya Hall on Wednesday night. Keller retired after last season following a 20 year career that took him to Europe’s top leagues and included the last three seasons with Seattle Sounders FC. He will join the Sounders broadcast booth for the 2012 season.
Read more about the awards on The Seattle Times and SportsPress Northwest which has some choice quotes from Keller’s speech including his plea to bring back the Sonics.
Boy’s basketball
Olympia 56, Bellarmine Prep 53
Foss 61, Timberline 37
Wilson 74, Capital 58
North Thurston 60, W.F. West 53
It was a game of ups-and-downs in Olympia. The Bears took a 15 point lead at halftime but were outscored by Bellarmine 25-9 in the third quarter and found themselves down 44-43. But Olympia took the final period 13-9 to score the upset of the state’s #1 ranked team. Senior guard Trevor Houser led the way for Olympia with 17 points while Dominick Franks and Brendan Leonard each added 12 points.
Girl’s basketball
Bellarmine Prep 65, Olympia 47
Wilson 71, Capital 17
Timberline 49, Foss 29
Women’s basketball
Highline 60, SPSCC 45
Men’s basketball
According to Twitter, Highline blew out the Clippers though I can’t find a score anywhere. Highline 80, SPSCC 51.
P.S…I know that I’m missing some makeup games around town that were not listed on any schedules or calendars. The only one I found was the North Thurston/W.F. West boy’s basketball score.
Missed in yesterday’s preview and recap were Northwest Christian’s non-league basketball games against Evergreen Lutheran. Both teams picked up wins with the boys beating the Eagles 73-66 and the girls scoring an easy 48-16 victory.
Big boy’s basketball game in the 4A Narrows League tonight when Olympia (10-3 overall, 6-1 Narrows) plays host to #1 ranked Bellarmine Prep (12-1 overall, 8-0 Narrows). on December 16th, the Bears nearly pulled off the upset losing 51-49 at Bellarmine. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM at Chick Rockey Gym.
In other boy’s basketball action, Timberline (5-8 overall, 0-4 Narrows) hosts Foss (10-2 overall, 2-1 Narrows) and Capital (5-5 overall, 2-1 Narrows) hosts #6 ranked Wilson (12-2 overall, 4-0 Narrows).
The South Puget Sound Clippers host Highline tonight. The doubleheader tips off at 6:00 with the women and continues at 8:00 with the men.
After forfeiting a good portion of their games last year when they couldn’t field a team, the Clippers women (3-11 overall, 0-5 NWAACC West) are again down to only seven players. Three players do most of the work for the Clippers as Alychia Colon, Monteaka Norwood and Aisha Jones all average just over 13 points per game.
The men’s team (5-10 overall, 1-4 NWAACC West) is lead by Black Hill’s Anye Turner and Georgia native Scotty Ewing, who are each scoring 15 points per game. They’ll have to stop Highline’s (4-12 overall, 3-4 NWAACC West) 6’10” freshman forward, Nikosi Ali (another Georgia native) and his 16.8 points per game.
Oly Sports 