If you hang around the White River High School girls basketball program long enough, you’ll know how to accurately grade a Hornets game.
Points scored? It varies greatly with the SPSL 2A champions.
Shooting percentage? Something in the 40-percent range is generally lights-out.
No, the best indicator is a number not seen on any statistical sheet – pass deflections.
Those quick, active hands will be what determines how far No. 6 White River advances in the Class 2A playoffs.
So far, so good – the Hornets are in the West Central District semifinals, courtesy of their 64-33 victory over Bremerton on Thursday night at Foss High School.
Kennedy Hobert and Amanda Lance each scored 19 points for White River (20-3), the defending 2A district champion. Terra Driskell scored 14 for the Knights.
On a night when the Hornets were a bit sluggish offensively, they forced 28 first-half turnovers, which fed the team’s decisive 22-0 run in the second quarter in building a 40-11 cushion.
“We aren’t real big,” Hornets coach Chris Gibson said, “so we have to rely on our pressure.”
The thing about watching senior Sutton Mills or sophomore Amanda Lance prowl around the backcourt, looking to create something on defense – it is their hands that almost defy logic.
When they are able to get to errant passes, very rarely does the basketball get away.
Instead, they are able to corral most loose basketballs in mid-air, like how an outfielder snares a line drive in baseball.
“It is kind of the way I study their eyes, just so I can be one step ahead,” Sutton said. “We try and anticipate those things.”
It’s not just having soft hands? “I never noticed that before,” Sutton said with a smile.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Eatonville 46, University Place 31: Brendan Davis scored 15 points as the Cruisers remained alive in the 1A tri-district tournament.
Eatonville will face King’s in a loser-out game at 11 a.m. Saturday at Lynnwood High.
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