Kentlake didn’t score in the second half. Stanford-bound twins, Central Valley break records, put Tacoma Dome on notice

Hey, Central Valley: Your message is loud and clear.

The undefeated and No. 1-ranked Bears shutout No. 8 Kentlake in the second half and cruised to 61-16 victory Thursday at the Tacoma Dome in the 4A girls quarterfinals.

“I don’t know if it’s so much (extra) motivation with this round, but the feeling that they had. When you get the feeling that we had last year, you don’t want to feel it again,” CV head coach Freddie Rehkow said. “It’s kind of a running joke that we have: We want to be allergic to losing. And we never want to feel that feeling again.”

The Bears got over the proverbial hump on Thursday after losing to in the quarterfinals of last year’s tournament to Bellarmine Prep, despite entering undefeated and as the top-ranked team. And while doing so, the Bears set 4A tournament records for largest margin of victory — breaking Clover Park’s mark of 44 against Mount Rainier in 1979 — and least points allowed — Mountlake Terrace allowed 20 to Ritzville in 1974.

Kentlake hung tough in the first quarter, trailing 14-9 with senior Aniston Denckla notching all nine of the Falcons’ first quarter points

The Bears put the clamps on after that, outscoring the Falcons 46-7 over the game’s final quarters and 26-0 in the second half.

Rehkow summed up his defense on Thursday — or all season, for that matter — with one word: Relentless.

“In the state playoffs, knowing we’re playing a good team, to have a shutout half, I couldn’t have been more proud of our defense,” Rehkow said. “We don’t play man-to-man defense, we play team defense. And that’s something we’ve stressed all the way down to our JV and freshman programs, that it’s never my man, it’s our man. That’s the philosophy you go with, that you’re going to play everybody tight and everyone on the floor can shoot.”

Kentlake head coach GC Hillburn said he hasn’t seen a team every been shutout in a half, nonetheless been on the receiving end.

“I think Central Valley’s kids showed they have a certain motivation about them this year. I think that’s been evident about them all year,” he said.

Hull — a senior guard and Stanford commit along with her twin sister, Lacie — scored 18 points to become the Bears’ all-time leading scorer in program history with 1,804 points, passing Madison Hovren, who now plays at Army. Hovren collected 1,798 from 2012-2015.

“The best part about it even though she has 1,800 (plus) points, if she were selfish she would probably have 2,500, but she’s not selfish,” Rehkow said. “I think that’s what’s so awesome about her, is we have someone that’s the epitome of a team basketball player, and that’s what we’re blessed with.

“We’re going to miss her, but Stanford is getting a couple of really good players.”

The Bears advance to play a fellow undefeated squad, No. 2 Moses Lake on Friday at 3:45 p.m. Kentlake will play 14th-seeded University in a consolation game at 9 a.m.

This story was originally published March 1, 2018 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Kentlake didn’t score in the second half. Stanford-bound twins, Central Valley break records, put Tacoma Dome on notice."