There they go again: Black Hills and Tumwater meet in both boys and girls District 4 semi-finals
In one game, the old adage “it’s hard to beat a good team three times in a season” was in play, the other will be the rubber match of a thrilling series.
For the umpteenth time, both featured Black Hills High School and Tumwater meeting in a high stakes basketball game.
On Monday night, the girls teams played 80 miles south of their shared hometown, in Woodland, for a guaranteed berth to the Class 2A state regionals and the chance to play the winner of a game between W.F. West and Washougal for the district championship.
Natalie Sumrok scored 14 points and Aubrey Amendala added 12 as the Thunderbirds (20-1 and ranked fourth in the WIAA Ratings Power Index) advanced to the semis with a 48-28 victory over R.A. Long (10-11) last week. It was only the third time the Lumberjills had been held to less than 50 points.
No. 11 Black Hills (16-5) held off a furious rally by No. 14 Columbia River (16-5) to advance, 61-56. Sophomore post Addie Ainsworth let the Wolves with 25 points while senior guards Mia Flores and Megan River added 14 and 11 respectively.
Tumwater won both meetings with Black Hills on its way to the 2A Evergreen Conference championship.
Meanwhile, led by sophomore Drea Brumfield’s 13 points and senior Annika Waring’s 11, No. 8 W.F. West (16-5) made it three EvCo teams in the semis by downing Woodland (13-8), 48-34.
On the boys side, No. 12 Tumwater (17-4) and No. 9 Black Hills (16-5) will play at 6 p.m. Tuesday night a little closer to home, at Olympia High School, in another of those district games originally scheduled for further down I-5 that got moved when two teams close to each other meet.
Originally scheduled for Ridgefield, the game was switched to Rochester and later Chickey Rockey Gym at Oly. As in the girls game, the winner is guaranteed a spot in the 2A regionals and a chance to play for the district title.
Tumwater advanced by holding off R.A. Long (12-9), 42-40, in the final seconds Saturday, while Black Hills breezed past visiting Hockinson (7-14), 80-56.
Little more than a week ago, Tumwater handed the Wolves their only loss of a 2A Evergreen Conference championship season for the second season in a row.
“I’m not shocked we’re going to see them again,” said Black Hills coach Jeff Gallagher. “We’re looking forward to it. Tuesday’s going to be a lot of fun.”
After missing a shot at the buzzer that could have tied a three-point loss to T-Birds on Friday, February 7, the Wolves had eight days without a game to prepare for Hockinson.
“Some people don’t like that, but I kind of do,” said Gallagher. “It gives us a lot of time to get kids healthy and get prepared for who we’re going to play, a lot of time to work on little things we sometimes don’t have time to work on.”
Saturday, Black Hills grabbed the lead 15 seconds into the game on a fallaway jumper by 6-foot-6 junior Justin Hicks and never trailed or was so much as tied the rest of the way.
Hicks posted a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double while senior guard Avery Armin broke loose during the second half to lead the game with 23 points. Weston Ainsworth added 14. As a team Black Hills was deadly from the free throw line, making 15-of-17, including its first nine and final six.
Hicks, who played only junior varsity last season, has looked increasingly comfortable scoring from inside and out, using his long arms to create turnovers.
“It’s been a growing process all year long. I’m just glad I’m on the team and helping us win like this,” Hicks said. “I’m definitely more comfortable. I’m developing as time goes on.”\u0009
The game ended while the final seconds of Tumwater’s victory were still playing out in Longview. When the T-Birds win was complete, the Wolves’ thoughts turned to Tuesday’s rematch of airtight games earlier in the season.
Black Hills won 59-56 at home, the T-Birds triumphed 54-51 at their place. The Wolves didn’t spend a great deal of time during Monday’s practice on a scouting report.
“We know everything they do. They know everything we do,” said Gallagher.
The players’ perspective is a little more emotional.
“We want to come out and beat them,” Hicks said. “We’re angry.”
Again mirroring the girls tournament, No. 13 W.F. West (16-5) became the third EvCo team to reach the semi-finals, beating Washougal (12-9), 59-48. Carter McCoy led the Bearcats with 21 points, while Tyler Speck added 15 and Cade Haller 13.
W.F. West meets Woodland (10-11) on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Ridgefield.
4A BOYS: OLYMPIA LOSES OPENER, FACED PUYALLUP FOR THIRD TIME
Another local team hoping it was possible to defeat a good team thrice in a single season was the Olympia boys.
Having thrashed 4A South Puget Sound League champion Puyallup twice during the regular season – 87-61 at home and, later, 71-41, at Puyallup – the No. 13 Bears (17-5) played the No. 16 Vikings (16-6) for a third time on Monday night at Mount Tahoma High School.
The winner was scheduled to play either South Kitsap (9-13) or No. 8 Auburn (21-4) on Wednesday at Wilson High School while the loser was eliminated.
The Bears dropped into the losers’ bracket after falling, 70-57, to top-ranked and undefeated Union (22-0), which was led by 21 points from 6-foot-5 senior guard Tanner Toolson, among the top Division I prospects in the state still unsigned.
Olympia had problems beyond a Union offense that dropped nine 3-point baskets on the night. The Titans’ defense.
Union spent the entire game in a full-court press, forcing 16 Olympia turnovers — seven of which came in the first quarter, when Union jumped out to a 25-9 lead.
“I thought we shot ourselves in the foot early in those situations against the press,” Olympia coach John Kiley said. “Getting down 25-9 didn’t sit well with me. They were athletic, they’re long, they’re quick. But I think we could’ve done a better job cleaning some of that stuff up.”
The Bears 6-foot-10 junior Jackson Grant scored 17 points, but may have been underutilized. The University of Washington commit didn’t consistently start getting touches in the post until the second quarter, when Olympia was trying to crawl out of a hole.
Kiley knows the Bears need to get him more involved from the tip. But he also acknowledged Union’s defensive gameplan on containing Grant and denying easy entry to the post.
“It’s challenging to play high like that,” Kiley said. “He has to pin, you have to skip some passes — they helped really hard, we’ve seen it all year. We have to do a better job of making sure he gets those touches. Tonight, I thought they did a better job than we did in terms of that matchup.”
Senior guard Kai Johnson finished with a team-high 18 points for the Bears and senior Ethan Gahm added 15.
4A GIRLS: OLYMPIA GIRLS ALSO FACE LOSER-OUT CONTEST
After a 55-48 second round loss to Kentridge in bi-districts, Olympia’s girls stayed alive in the loser’s bracket with a 49-45 victory over Curtis.
The Bears (13-11) will meet Kentwood (17-6) at Foss Tuesday night. The winner continues against the winner of a game between Camas (14-9) and No. 14 Skyview (15-6). The loser is out.
3A GIRLS: CAPITAL, YELM STILL ALIVE IN LOSER’S BRACKET
South Sound Conference champion Capital and runner-up Yelm continue to play in the West Central Southwest Bi-District losers’ bracket after quarterfinal losses.
The No. 13 Tornados (16-7) were clobbered, 81-37, at Prairie on Friday despite 11 points from Bayleigh Harder and 10 from My’Kel Jones. They meet Bonney Lake (7-12) on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Rogers of Puyallup.
No. 12 Capital (16-5) was beaten at home, 51-43, by an athletic and aggressive No. 15 Hudson’s Bay (18-6) despite cutting the margin to as few as three points late in the game.
Capital meets Spanaway Lake (10-11) at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday at Rogers of Puyallup, following the Yelm-Bonney Lake contest. The winners of those two games meet Thursday at Clover Park at 7:45 p.m., the losers are out.
“I feel pretty confident, I like the matchup,” Twiddy said of a Sentinels team her staff has scouted recently. “They didn’t perform very well against Gig Harbor in their first district game. But, bottom line, we’ve got to come out and play or we’re not going to get it.”
Senior guard Raegan Henry led Capital with 13 points – and nine stitches – against Hudson’s Bay, suffering a long deep cut over her left eye going for a steal in the final minute. She tweeted a picture of her repairs from the hospital later and says she will play on Tuesday.
Twiddy didn’t see the loss as without positives.
“They were a great team and I’m proud of how we fought against them,” she said. “There were many moments where we could have given up, but we didn’t.”
3A BOYS: CAPITAL, TIMBERLINE FACE LOSER-OUT MATCH-UPS
After a quarter-final loss to top-ranked Wilson, Capital’s boys meet Kelso at Foss on Wednesday night at 7:45 p.m. in a loser-out game.
Capital is 15-7, Kelso 11-10. The winner will play either Prairie (14-8) or Central Kitsap (15-7) on Friday night at Foss.
Timberline, which just did get into the tournament with a fifth-place finish in the SSC and a play-in game triumph over Stadium, lost its first round game to Prairie and thus faces Peninsula (8-14) on Tuesday night.
The Blazers split with the Seahawks during the regular-season, with each team winning at home. The winner of their game will play either SSC champion Gig Harbor, ranked 11th with a 17-4 record, or Spanaway Lake (10-11) at Foss on Friday.
SMALL SCHOOLS: RAINIER GIRLS ADVANCE TO DISTRICT 4 SEMI-FINALS
Sophomore Kaeley Schultz scored 23 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and played strong defense on Pacific League MVP Kyra Garder to lead Rainier into the District 4 2B girls semi-finals with a 59-46 win over Raymond.
The win gained the No. 9 Mountaineers (16-4) a semi-final matchup with No. 12 Mossyrock (19-4) on Tuesday at Kelso at 6 p.m. During the regular season, Rainier thrashed the Vikings in Mossyrock, 66-39.
In 2B boys, No. 13 Northwest Christian (17-6), which had earlier beaten Wahkiakum and Winlock, met Adna in a loser-out District 4 game Monday afternoon in Rochester.
In 1A boys, Elma will (10-11) will play rival Montesano (15-6) on the Bulldogs home floor Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in a loser-out game.
Girls 1A sees No. 14 Elma (15-6) meeting La Center (13-7) for the District 4 championship Wednesday night at Rochester at 7:30 p.m. The loser will need to play the winner of a game between King’s Way Christian and Montesano for a berth to state.
Jon Manley contributed to this report.