White River’s Kendall Bird finishes career with 1,934 points

That’s a career for Kendall Bird.

And what a career it was for the White River High School senior. She finished her four-year stint with the Hornets with 1,934 points.

“She’s been an amazing kid and an amazing teammate,” White River coach Chris Gibson said. “You can’t say that about all great players. She doesn’t act like she’s good. That’s the best part.”

But Bird, a University of San Diego signee, sure shows how good she is.

In her final high school game against fourth-ranked Wapato, Bird capped her stellar career with a game-high 24 points and 15 rebounds.

“I owe everything — all of my points, all of my rebounds, all of my assists — to my teammates,” Bird said. “I wouldn’t do anything without them.”

Wapato (22-4) went on to win the Class 2A state tournament consolation game, 67-48, riding its relentless offensive pursuit to a fourth-place finish.

But, the third-ranked Hornets (25-4) still left the Yakima Valley SunDome with a sixth-place trophy.

“I’m really proud of my teammates,” Bird said. “We played really well today. We played well all season.”

White River’s sixth-place finish is the eighth trophy in the program’s history.

Jane Allyn Norris, Lucy Rasmussen and Lily Tranquillo are the other seniors that played their final game for White River on Saturday.

“I can’t question their effort, that’s for sure,” Gibson said. “I’m happy with the season. The season is a journey, it’s been four months, and these kids have done a nice job.”

W.F. West 51, Black Hills 50: The Bearcats, in their fourth meeting of the season with Black Hills, went on a 14-3 run in the fourth quarter to edge the top-ranked Wolves.

“I just thought it was a really gutsy performance,” W.F. West coach Tom Kelly said. “When you lose that semifinal game, it’s hard to pick up the pieces and get back, and they did.”

Julia Johnson, a junior, hit the game-winning shot for W.F. West with 11 seconds to play.

Emma Duff couldn’t get a buzzer-beater to fall at the other end for the Wolves (23-3), and the Bearcats bench erupted.

“We’ve lost to Black Hills three times, and we just needed this win,” Johnson said. “It’s just better than first place.”

The Wolves bested the Bearcats (22-5) in all three meetings prior to Saturday.

1B GIRLS

Oakesdale 63, Tacoma Baptist 24: The No. 5-seeded Tacoma Baptist girls lost to No. 2-seeded Oakesdale in the 1B fourth-place game on Saturday at the Spokane Arena.

"We don’t have that background of state experience, and that showed a little bit," said head coach Beth Wing, whose Crusaders (25-2) finished sixth in their first appearance in the 1B state tournament since 2010.

Neither team could take care of the ball early, with Tacoma Baptist registering 21 turnovers in the first half and Oakesdale adding 13 of its own.

The Nighthawks (22-6) capitalized on the frenetic pace and established a 29-6 halftime lead.

Brooklyn Pascua led the Crusaders with eight points.

This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 10:25 PM with the headline "White River’s Kendall Bird finishes career with 1,934 points."