The Sumner High School girls finally have a West Central District basketball championship to their name.
All it took was a little swagger to get there.
Playing with a confidence the program has lacked in recent years, Sumner took down SPSL foe White River, 57-43, in the Class 2A district championship game Monday morning at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
Sumner will take on Renton in the state regionals at 8 p.m. Friday at Kent-Meridian High School. White River will play the River Ridge/Centralia winner at 6 p.m. Friday, also at Kent-Meridian.
“The girls have worked hard all season,” Sumner coach Shane Patrick said. “It’s (been) a process to get them to believe. They’ve always played hard; they just didn’t know how to win. They know how to win now.”
Sumner (22-4) took advantage of a beat-up, sixth-ranked White River team. The Hornets were without defensive leader Sutton Mills, while leading scorer Kennedy Hobert was slowed by a sprained wrist. Hobert finished 0-for-11 from the field in 18 minutes.
“We just weren’t ready to play without our kids,” White River coach Chris Gibson said.
Nursing a 20-18 lead at halftime, the Spartans opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run over the first four minutes. After White River’s Nicole Miller hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 30-21 with 3 minutes, 21 seconds to go before the fourth quarter, Sumner sophomore Anna Hurd scored eight straight points to push the lead to 17.
“We knew that they were going to come (out) swinging (in the second half),” said Sumner forward Jamie Lange, who finished with six points and a game-high 14 rebounds. “We knew that we were going to come out harder than we’ve ever had (to) before.”
The Spartans, who lost both games during the regular season to White River, led 40-25 after the third quarter.
“The first two times we played White River we came in kind of scared,” Lange said. “This time we really came in with that swag.”
Brenna Allsop led Sumner with 11 points, while Hurd finished with 10. Amanda Lance scored 17 points on 5-for-25 shooting from the field for White River (21-4).
BOYS
Clover Park 60, Sequim 45: After sitting out last year’s Class 2A West Central District tournament with a foot injury, Clover Park junior guard David Crisp wanted desperately to make up for lost time.
He did just that on Monday afternoon in the 2A district championship game, pouring in 26 points to lead the fifth-ranked Warriors to their second district title in three years.
“I was ready to get this win,” Crisp said with a grin.
Clover Park (19-6) advances to take on Olympic in the state regionals at 6 p.m. Saturday at Kent-Meridian High School.
Anthony White scored 10 points, and Xavier Means added nine points and grabbed 15 rebounds for Clover Park.
Senior-laden Sequim hung tough, trailing 41-32 through three quarters, but the Warriors opened the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run — all on nearly uncontested fastbreak layups.
Crisp scored six points during the run, and Philip Winston added a pretty finish off a spin move in the lane.
“Our team speed and quickness is something that most 2A teams have a difficult time preparing for because you can’t practice against it,” Clover Park coach Mel Ninnis said.
Jason Brocklesby scored 22 points to lead Sequim (20-4).
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