State basketball roundup: Penner’s stellar outside shooting lifts Capital to first Tacoma Dome win since 1996
How big was Capital High School’s 48-41 victory over West Seattle in the first round of the Class 3A state tournament on Wednesday night at the Tacoma Dome?
For starters, none of the Cougars players were born when their school last won a game at the state tournament site. That came in 1996, when Capital finished seventh.
“This is a huge win for our program,” said coach Brian Vandiver, who was a volunteer assistant with the 1995-96 team. “I’m not sure outside of our fans, too many people thought we could do it, but our kids believed they could.”
Senior guard Chris Penner got Capital (21-4) started with a pair of 3-pointers for a 6-0 run that didn’t last long. In the fourth quarter, Penner took over, scoring half of his game-high 26 points as the Cougars survived squandering a 10-point lead.
“A lot of people can’t shoot in the Dome. Hitting those two boosted my confidence right away,” Penner said. “I knew it was going to be a fun night.”
Grant Erickson also reached double figures for Capital with 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Nuh’Losi Roberson topped the Wildcats (17-9) with 17 points and Abdullah Mohamed added 11.
Penner had told Vandiver after the Cougars shoot-around earlier in the day that his shot felt good. After some nervous play by both teams in the first minute and a half, he hit two of his six 3-pointers on the night back-to-back from the top of the key.
“When Chris gets going, it’s magical,” Vandiver said. “He has nights where he can completely control a basketball game.”
West Seattle, the higher seed out of the storied Metro League, came back to grab the lead for the first time, 13-12, in the final minute of the first quarter on a Mohamed free throw, and stretched its edge to 17-12 early in the second by virtue of a 7-0 run.
But Penner, as so often happened on the night, had the next word, regaining the lead for Capital, 19-18, on another triple at the 1:32 mark of the second quarter.
The Cougars went into halftime leading by three, and stretched it to their largest lead of the night, 33-23, late in the third quarter.
“I still knew it was going to come down to the wire,” Penner said. “Even if we’d have been down 10, I would have thought it would come down to the wire.”
West Seattle then played its best ball of the night, striking back with a lightning 11-0 run to retake the lead on a tip-in of his own miss by Roberson, 34-33.
But Penner nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing, he drove for a layup, then closed out the game with a triple and a pair of free throws.
“I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to be done,” he said. “I kind of just felt it. I can’t explain it.”
The Cougars won’t be going home, they’ll have another 9 p.m. game in Thursday night’s quarterfinals, against No. 2 Mount Spokane (23-1).
CLASS 2A GIRLS
No. 13 Black Hills 60, No. 5 Archbishop Murphy 47: A big second half paced the Wolves (18-8) past perennial state power Archbishop Murphy (19-5) in an opening round loser-out game at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
Junior Megan River scored a team-high 19 points for Black Hills, while Central Washington signee Maisy Williams added 16, and pulled down five rebounds, and River Ridge transfer Mia Flores added 11 points.
Kiana Yesiki led all scorers with 22 for the Wildcats, while Julia Lucas added 10.
Black Hills will meet No. 3 Clarkston in Thursday’s quarterfinals at 7:15 p.m.
No. 8 W.F. West 57, No. 9 Burlington-Edison 43: The defending state champion Bearcats (17-7) surged to a 22-8 lead after the first quarter to get into position to roll past the Tigers (20-5).
Freshman Drea Brumfield had an all-around stellar game with 21 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals and 2 assists to lead W.F. West into a quarterfinals matchup with No. 7 Washougal, which blasted the Bearcats in their November season-opener, 77-48.
Brumfield’s Portland State-bound senior sister Erika was injured and lost for the season during that meeting with Washougal.
Annika Waring also reached double figures with 12 against Burlington-Edison.
W.F. West’s defense held Burlington-Edison to 28.8 percent shooting from the field and forced 16 turnovers.
CLASS 1A GIRLS
No. 5 Elma 42, No. 13 Overlake 30: The Eagles held Overlake to just a single point in the first quarter and led throughout, advancing to the quarterfinals Wednesday afternoon at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
Elma’s own tallest forward, 6-2 Jalyn Sackrider, paced the Eagles with 19 points and 12 rebounds while senior forward Molly Johnston added eight.
“Jalyn struggled with their 6-5 girl a little at first, but our guards started driving and dishing to her and she was able to finish around the rim,” Johnson said.
Sackrider made 9 of her 16 field goal attempts, but the rest of the Eagles were just 7 of 38 as Elma shot 29.6 percent from the field.
Friend’s presence inside might have altered some Elma shots — she blocked six — but the Eagles also struggled to shoot during their regional loss to Cashmere on Friday.
In addition they made just 42.1 percent of their free throws against the Owls, 8 of 19.
“We missed a lot of open, easy shots,” Johnson said.
She also pointed to Elma’s 25 turnovers against Overlake (19-5) as a problem that needs fixing before the Eagles meet No. 3 Lynden Christian (21-3) the defending state champions, Thursday at 12:15 p.m.
“It’s the state tournament,” Johnson said. “All the games will be tough all week.”
CLASS 2B GIRLS
No. 9 Brewster 53, No. 8 Rainier 48: The Mountaineers bounced back from a devastating regional round loss to Wahkiakum to lead Brewster, 43-36, heading into the fourth quarter, but couldn’t hold on.
Kaeley Schultz made 13 of her 20 field goal attempts to lead the Mountaineers with 30 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Senior forward Sandra Miles was the only other Rainier player to score more than twice, finishing her career with nine points and five rebounds.
Rainier outshot Brewster, 40.8 percent to 35, but gave up 20 turnovers and 10 offensive rebounds to give the Bears too many chances.
Sammi Emigh led Brewster with 17 points.
NO. 9 CAPITAL | 12 | 9 | 12 | 15 | — | 48 |
NO. 8 WEST SEATTLE | 15 | 3 | 12 | 11 | — | 41 |
TEAM STATISTICS
C – Shooting: 16 of 38 (42.1 percent). Free throws: 10 of 12 (83.3). Turnovers: 6.
WS – Shooting: 15 of 46 (32.6 percent). Free throws: 7 of 13 (53.8). Turnovers: 7.
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
C – Gabe Landers 8, Chris Penner 26, Brandin Riedel 2, Grant Erickson 10, Jake Brandsma 2, Duncan McDermott 1.
WS – Sage Nelson 2, Roman Barnet 6, Nuh’Kosi Roberson 17, Abdullah Mohamed 6, Maar Rambang 2, Vladimer Salaridze 3.