Bickleton girls hope to start a new trophy run at State
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Bickleton doesn’t get to State very often, but when they do, they make it count. The Lady Pirates made their fifth trip to State, the first since 1981, and collected their fifth trophy with a seventh place finish on Saturday. The previous trophies came in 1977 (as a class 1A team) and in 1978, 1979, and 1981. Two Bickleton girls went to State in 1986 as part of the Mabton team.
Sunnyside Christian defeated Bickleton in the final game for fifth and seventh place trophies, making a statement on behalf of the Gorge League. Considering that Bickleton, Klickitat and Trout Lake-Glenwood tied for second place during the regular season, having the two league representatives taking two of the eight trophies speaks well for the entire league.
Bickleton finished the tournament 2-2 with wins over Lummi and Wilson Creek and losses to Sunnyside Christian and Colton, the team that was barely challenged on their way to the first place trophy. The Pirates showed big arena jitters during their opening game against Lummi. It was a game of turnovers, mainly by steals. It was also a one-on-one scoring battle, as Katelynn Clinton got the better of Kayla Frajman, setting a tournament record with 35 points. She also led the Pirates with 13 rebounds and eight steals. Frajman scored 19 for Lummi and pulled down 17 rebounds.
The Pirates had a lot of time to think about the next day’s afternoon game against defending champion, Colton. The Wildcats had shutout their previous opponent until 6:30 of the third quarter and looked to do the same against Bickleton. The Pirates had a lot of trouble against the press, dribbling into sideline traps and turning the ball over nine times in the first quarter. When they did get the ball up court, Bickleton was 0-8 from the field.
Clinton finally got the Pirates on the board with a free throw with 15 seconds left in the first quarter. The second quarter went a little better, but Bickleton was down 36-10 at the half. Colton shot only 27 percent in the first half and 35 percent for the game, but the 78-29 shot margin gave them an easy 76-18 victory.
Coach Emily Barnhart said they knew Colton had a lot of weapons and the plan was to shut down the inside game and make the Wildcats beat them from outside, and that they did. Guards Haley Moser and Mollie Kraner were 19-42 on field goals, leading the team with 23 and 12 points, respectively.
There was much anticipation for the game against Wilson Creek, mainly because it was a loser out game, but also because it featured Clinton, the one-time scoring record holder and Ksenja Fredere, the girl whose 36 points eclipsed Clinton’s record, later that same day. It was also a match-up of the tournament’s smallest schools. Bickleton is listed with 22.38 students in high school and Wilson Creek has 26.38.
What transpired was a dominant performance by Bickleton’s defense and few points scored by the two big guns. Clinton’s presence was important to Bickleton, but she scored just 10 points. Fredere was not involved in the Devils’ offense very much and fouled out late in the game with just eight points. Bickleton put the ball up 16 times more than Wilson Creek in the first quarter, due to a 16-5 turnover margin, but the ball wasn’t dropping for Bickleton and their lead was just 12-6 at the end of the first quarter.
The Pirates kept the pressure on Wilson Creek with break-away points by Star Kibby and outside shooting by Morgan McBride. The pressure finally paid off as the Pirates ran away with the game in the fourth quarter and had a 58-41 victory, guaranteeing a trophy. Bickleton’s defense helped Wilson Creek commit 52 turnovers in the game. The Devils won the battle of the boards, but most of Bickleton’s rebounds came on the offensive board and led toe easy points for the Pirates.
Bickleton had no reason to be overly optimistic in the final game against Sunnyside Christian, after going 0-3 against the Knights in the regular season and District playoffs. The closest they had come were a pair of 22 point losses.
The teams looked evenly matched in the first quarter, as Bickleton did a good job getting back on defense and breaking the Sunnyside Christian press. It was a different story in the second quarter as the Pirates had a rash of turnovers. The Knights scored six points at the start of the quarter before Bickleton took their first shot. Thirteen turnovers and inability to defend the inside game put Bickleton down 24-11 at the half. A couple of three point shots and inspired play by Renee Dalrymple increased the lead to 20 at the start of the final quarter. Julie Long pressed the action for Sunnyside Christian, scoring eight fourth quarter points, and Bickleton countered with Clinton pouring in 11. The final score was 53-35, giving the Knights fourth place and Bickleton seventh.
Coach Barnhart, in her first year as Bickleton head coach, said her team became more versatile through the season, something she believed was essential if they were to compete at State. Barnhart knew she had a great player in Clinton, but she also knew there needed to be more balance in the scoring if the team hoped to win. There is already an air of excitement for next year. Bickleton will lose seniors Morgan McBride, Nakai Kibby and Holly Goodnight. McBride was responsible for much of the outside shooting that allowed Clinton room to work inside. Kibby provided toughness and collected a lot of offensive boards. Goodnight saw a lot of playing time in the past couple of years, but was slowed by injury for most of the current season.
The future looks bright for the Pirates with Clinton getting help from a rapidly developing post player, Jamie Venema, a freshman who averaged more than 20 minutes per game at State and has the bruises to prove it. Star Kibby and Jenna Mount will give the Pirates a pair of senior guards who might be the quickest in the league. Rounding out the front line is Aymie Osborne who will be a junior and Sierra Luther and Amanda McBride will be sophomores who have the taste of State in their mouths, just the kind of thing it takes to establish a run of State playoff experiences.
Mustang-Eagles go to the Wells but come up short against Knights
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
The most telling statistic of the first half of the TLG opening game of the State playoffs against Moses Lake Christian, was the number of shots taken by Andy and Jacob Wells. The two post players accounted for just five of TLG’s 23 shots, not nearly enough when the inside game is your bread and butter. There was also a lack of an inside defense, allowing the Lion a 16-14 rebound margin off missed Lion shots.
Things didn’t improve in the second half, as Moses Lake Christian cruised to a 53-24 victory and TLG was left wondering how their big men put up just nine shots in the game while the guards shot 26 times.
It was very clear that an overnight conversation turned things around the next day against King’s Way Christian. There was an obvious effort to work the ball inside, and for their part, the Wells brothers moved well and gained plenty of opportunities for shots with Andy Wells working off the high post and Jacob down low.
TLG took advantage of the Knight’s press, breaking loose for several easy buckets. As the Wells brothers scored, the middle opened up for the guards to drive and TLG was settling into a balanced effort. It probably would have carried the Mustang-Eagles to victory, but the spector of fouls raised it’s ugly head and Jacob Wells spent much of the second quarter on the bench, allowing the Knights to open up a lead.
Jacob fouled out with 2:32 left in the game and TLG trailing 49-42. Tygh Schuster ramped up his game to try and keep TLG close, but the Knights did just enough to fend off the comeback and TLG was sent home from the tournament with a 54-50 loss. The chance to appear at State was something coach Dan Concienne hadn’t expected at the start of the year. Noting that the team was young with three freshmen and four sophomores, Concienne was never sure what kind of game his team would play, but was confident they would gel by year’s end. That confidence was rewarded and TLG will look to next year with a more State savvy team hungry for another shot.
Timberwolves’ winning season is over
Goldendale’s exceptional year for basketball came to an end when the Lady Timberwolves exited the SCAC playoffs, losing 52-35 to Columbia-Burbank, last Thursday. Both Goldendale teams put up winning records in SCAC play, a big turnaround from the previous year’s record. The loss to Burbank put the girls’ record at 12-10 for the season. They were 7-5 in league play, finishing third behind Granger and Zillah, two of the three teams which made it to State.
Lexi Cameron and Monica Houser paced their teams in the opening quarter, each with a pair of three-point shots. Goldendale was a hot 4-5 from the field, but turnovers limited their number of shots. The second quarter was characterized by cold shooting for both teams. Goldendale was 1-12 and Burbank hit 2-18. Goldendale continued to turn the ball over, ending the half with 15 give-aways.
As poor as the shooting was in the second quarter, it got hot in the third. Goldendale couldn’t close the gap in scoring despite 6-11 shooting, as Burbank had added two points to their lead thanks to a 9-5 rebounding advantage. The Wolves trailed by nine going into the final quarter, but the Coyotes hit 10-14 foul shots, thwarting any hopes of a comeback. |
