River Ridge, Tumwater boys and Black Hills girls prepare for 2A state quarterfinals in Yakima

The road to the Class 2A state tournament title in Yakima is set.

And, for the top-ranked River Ridge High School boys, the road looks fairly clear.

“I think we’re sitting in a really good situation,” coach John Barbee said. “I think we can control our own destiny.”

The Hawks (22-2) are the only ranked team in the bottom half of the 2A bracket. No. 2 Lynden and No. 3 Clarkston both reside in the upper half.

The top three teams in the state were all No. 2 seeds heading into the WIAA’s selection ceremony Sunday.

River Ridge drew Shorecrest (17-8), which edged fourth-ranked Squalicum, 62-56, in overtime in the Northwest District 1 championship game. The Scots took out Steilacoom in the state regionals.

The Hawks are responsible for knocking Squalicum out in Friday’s state regional, and bested Steilacoom three times this season.

River Ridge meets Shorecrest at 9 p.m. Thursday.

“Shorecrest is tough, but if we get through them, we’ll potentially see Tumwater, who we played earlier this year,” Barbee said. “I know they’re a different team now, a different look without (Ty) Gentry, but someone we’re familiar with.”

The Hawks beat the T-Birds Dec. 30, 71-50, in a non-league game.

“You want to take care of business first, but in the state tournament, you also have to pay a little bit of attention to who you could play next,” Tumwater coach Thomas Rowswell said. “Obviously River Ridge is there and a team we’ve chased before. They know us, and we know them.

“We’re a different team, we’re playing well. I feel confident we can match up with anyone. It comes down to making shots and finding rhythm, which we’ve done the last couple of weeks.”

In the quarterfinals, Tumwater (17-6) will get the team it was originally slated to play in the state regionals in Ellensburg (14-10).

“We finally get to play them,” Rowswell said. “We were supposed to play them last week, and they switched it on us. So we’ve seen a little bit of them.”

The T-Birds, who are in the state tournament for the first time since 2011, knocked out No. 6 Selah on Friday.

BLACK HILLS DRAWS LYNDEN, AGAIN

There’s a bit of a revenge factor in play for the eighth-ranked Black Hills girls.

The Wolves (21-3) will meet No. 3 Lynden (21-3) in the quarterfinals at 2 p.m. Thursday — the same team that knocked them out of the 2A state regionals last year.

“At first I was thinking, I don’t want any part of Lynden,” Greenfield said. “I kept saying that over and over.”

But now? It might give the Wolves and leading scorer Emma Duff (18.0 ppg) extra motivation.

“For this team, it means a lot,” Greenfield said. “They’ve never gotten here.”

This story was originally published February 28, 2016 at 8:25 PM with the headline "River Ridge, Tumwater boys and Black Hills girls prepare for 2A state quarterfinals in Yakima."