South Sound district basketball championships: live updates, results from TCC
Tacoma Community College is hosting South Sound district high school boys and girls basketball championship games on Saturday. Follow along with stories, stats, players interviews and more from Tacoma. This story will be updated throughout the day.
SCHEDULE AND FINAL SCORES
Girls 1A: Bellevue Christian 50, Cascade Christian 34
Boys 1A: Annie Wright 72, Bellevue Christian 49
Good things happen when the ball is in Jeremiah Harshman’s hands. With the clock winding down at the end of the first and second quarters, Harshman took his defender one-on-one and on both occasions, hit a 3-pointer as time expired.
Just like he’s done thousands of times growing up on his own hoop.
“You know when you’re a little kid, you always count down from five,” Harshman said. “I’ve always just done that since I was young.”
He scored 18 points, Martin Kaupanger scored 18, Amare Breedlove added 14 and Annie Wright cruised to an easy win and its second consecutive district title at TCC on Saturday morning.
“We’ve got back-to-back district championships,” Harshman said. “That felt good but that’s not our main goal. We want to play all the way through to (the state championship game on) March 2.”
Girls 2A: White River 48, Sammamish 29
These White River Hornets don’t just play defense. They play suffocating defense.
White River gave Sammamish nothing in the 2A district championship game, speeding the Redhawks up with a full-court press and relentless team defense in a 48-29 win.
“It makes most teams speed up,” White River senior Josie Jacobs said of her team’s full-court press. “They turn over the ball a lot and our ball pressure helps. “Our goal was to take away (Sophia Eastman). She’s good on the drive, good shot. So just take her away and ball pressure.”
At half, Sammamish had mustered just 10 points. After three quarters, just 17. Jacobs led a balanced Hornets effort with 11 points. Maggie Schmitz added nine, Dakota Sprouse scored eight, Vivian Kingston and Ava Bright chipped in six apiece.
“We always share the ball so well,” Jacobs said. “Everyone on this team is so unselfish and we play for each other. I love it.”
Boys 2A: Renton 75, North Kitsap 74 (OT)
In the most entertaining game of the day to the point, Renton junior guard Jordan Agosto was waiting in the corner, ready for the ball to come his way.
He caught a pass from his teammate and sunk the game-winner in overtime as time expired to lift Renton to the 2A District 2/3 title.
Girls 4A: Camas 63, Bellarmine Prep 44
Every time Bellarmine closed the gap or threatened to crawl back into the game, Camas had a barrage of 3-pointers waiting in response. In total, the Papermakers connected on nine shots from deep, a blazing-hot shooting display that’s become commonplace for the tight-knit group, the nucleus of which has been playing together since elementary school.
Camas came out on top, 63-44, winning the 4A District 3/4 title for the second straight year.
“All the emotions come in,” said Camas guard Riley Sanz, who scored a game-high 14 points. “You don’t really realize it in the moment, but back-to-back district championships is just huge.”
Camas, a legitimate state title contender, has larger goals, of course. But Saturday’s result means positive momentum heading into the state tournament.
“Obviously, we want to win the (championship), that’s the goal and this is just one step in the road,” Sanz said. “People are doubting us and we just have to show them that we might have some downs in the game but we always come out on top.”
If the shots fall at the Tacoma Dome and the ball keeps moving in the offense like it did on Saturday, the Papermakers have the pieces to hoist the trophy.
“We move the ball, we work as a team and it always makes us win,” Sanz said.
Bellarmine guards Jada Travis and Teagan Ellington led the Lions with 12 points apiece.
Boys 4A: Tahoma 74, Kentwood 56
The way Dalton Brown was playing in the first half, he was probably hoping the halftime buzzer would never come. Brown, Tahoma’s 6-foot-6 forward, came out on fire in the 4A District 3/4 championship game against Kentwood, scoring 18 of his game-high 29 points in the first half in a comfortable 74-56 win.
“I was feeling the shot and I just kept going,” Brown said in succinct fashion following the win.
“He’s a big-time player,” Tahoma coach Rick Tripp added. “Against Emerald Ridge, he didn’t have an offensive tonight. Against (Federal Way in the district semifinals on Thursday), we just said, ‘Hey, we need you to play defense.’”
But Saturday was Brown’s time to shine on the offensive end and his performance catapulted Tahoma to the program’s first-ever district title. Just how important was a district title on the way to the Tacoma Dome to Tahoma’s players?
“Very important,” Brown said. “We’ve never done it before.”
It can be pick-your-poison against Tahoma this season. Guard Jayden Stephens added 19 points and Adam Davis, who was the hero against Federal Way after scoring the game-winning buzzer-beater, added 10. Sophomore guard Brandon Tagle scored a team-high 18 for Kentwood, Mason St. Louis added 17 and Corey Tita scored 13.
Girls 3A: Auburn 61, North Thurston 45
Auburn won just two games a season ago. On Saturday night, they cut down the nets after beating North Thurston in the 3A District 3/4 championship game, 61-45. Their season record to this point: 22-2. How’s that for a turnaround?
“You don’t see that,” said senior Emmalee Secrest, who scored a game-high 19 points. “In high school basketball, especially. With our four freshmen coming in, three senior transfers, it’s a whole different team. It’s not the same.”
Every time Soraya Ogaldez (team-high 17 points) and the Rams made a run, Auburn had an answer.
“Even though we’re all freshmen and seniors, and mainly freshmen, I think we all just have a lot of maturity with the game, a lot of IQ, so that really helps us,” Secrest said.
Auburn freshman guard Avery Hansen added 13 points and senior guard Jaylah Brown scored 10. Grace Lee finished with nine points for the Rams.
Boys 3A: Auburn 56, North Thurston 40
Jaylen Petty showed up to Tacoma Community College wearing a black mask on Saturday night after breaking his nose two days earlier in a district tournament semifinal game.
He proceeded to drop 29 points, lifting Auburn to the 3A District 3/4 championship with a 56-40 win over North Thurston. Clearly, the nose isn’t bothering him too much.
“I was just able to come out and play my ball and just have fun, honestly, with my guys,” he said. “It’s more just heart, mental, just playing through it.”
Petty ended up ditching the mask in the second half after getting the OK from Auburn’s athletic trainer.
“First half, every time I kept going into the paint, they kept smacking, it kept moving, everything,” Petty said. “So I had to just take it off, I said forget it.”
A familiar story played out for the Trojans. For a while, it was a close game — until it wasn’t. Auburn outscored North Thurston 21 to 2 in the third quarter, putting the game out of reach.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” said Auburn coach Ryan Hansen. “We’ve been fortunate to have good quarters and put a big run out there.”
Auburn (23-1) will likely be awarded the top seed in the 3A state tournament. Its only loss came to an out-of-state team during a holiday tournament. The Trojans have a win over 4A Tahoma — which won the 4A District 3/4 championship at TCC earlier in the day — on their resume.
This story was originally published February 17, 2024 at 12:04 PM.
