Prep roundup: Cascade Christian turns season’s ugly start into 1A state berth with win over Chimacum

Did it look attractive when the Cascade Christian boys basketball team started the season with two wins and seven losses?

Probably not.

But ask Cougars coach Jerry Williams and he will say it was certainly effective.

That poor start to the season sure looks pretty now that the Cougars have won six consecutive games following a 57-48 victory against Chimacum Tuesday at Sumner High School to clinch their ninth state tournament appearance in school history.

“I knew we were going to take our lumps,” Williams said. “But I think it absolutely made us better.”

Cascade Christian (12-9) then watched Seattle Christian rally to defeat fifth-ranked Vashon Island while setting up a Class 1A West Central District title showdown between the schools at Foss High School at noon Saturday. Winner takes the district’s No. 1 seed to the 1A regional round of the state tournament, loser takes the No. 2 seed.

“I’m just proud of my team,” said Cascade Christian senior guard Jesse Howells. “We’ve been working hard and coming to practice every day and lifting. It feels great.”

The Cougars turned the ball over 11 times in the first half and rallied from a first-quarter deficit to take a 26-24 lead at halftime.

Cascade Christian doesn’t have a superstar, but makes up for it in depth. Nine players scored, including Seattle Christian transfer Tyler Fox, who finished with six points. Corbin Nohr scored eight and Kyle Stevenson chipped in seven.

To the Cougars’ credit, those nonleague losses came against quality, bigger schools — Kennedy Catholic, South Kitsap and Prairie to name a few — and they led in the fourth quarter of every one of those losses except against Kennedy Catholic.

Williams likes to schedule tough nonleague games to prepare his team for state tournament runs.

“I’ve been doing that for four years,” said Howells, who scored 14 points. “Not to say I’m used to losing, but I’m used to playing big teams, at least.”

The Cougars are certainly a better team better than their record indicates.

“I think we can get done some special things,” Williams said. “But we still have some things we have to improve on. But if we keep making strides on those things, we’ll be a tough team to beat.”

Seattle Christian 64, No. 5 Vashon Island 61: Sam Schoenberg’s 3-point attempt from the left wing bounced off the back of the iron as the final horn sounded and the Warriors defeated the Pirates.

What did Vashon coach Andy Sears tell his team after the game?

“I told them we got to get ready,” Sears said. “It’s on the line now.”

The Pirates head to an elimination game against Chimacum at 6 p.m. Friday at Sumner. But a win will give them the 1A West Central District No. 3 seed and a berth in the 1A state regionals.

But it looked like this game was going to turn out quite different.

Vashon Island (17-4) led 15-0 in the first quarter. Just like each of its previous two wins against Seattle Christian, it led by double digits before the Warriors could even score.

But Taggart Anderson brought Seattle Christian back with a barrage of 3-pointers — he scored 15 of his 16 points from the 3-point line — as it beat Vashon for the first time this season and snagged a spot in the district title game.

Casper Forest scored a game-high 20 points, Sam Yates added 14 points, eight rebounds and Alex Symbol-Godfrey had 12 points, 14 rebounds for the Pirates.

2A SOUTHWEST 4

Mark Morris 74, Black Hills 56: The setup is starting to look eerily similar for the Wolves.

They put up 56 points in a loss to the Monarchs in the same semifinal last season.

And lost that one, too.

This time, Mark Morris’ Will Burghardt was the thorn in Black Hills’ side. He put up a game-high 24 points, and went 9 of 9 from the free throw line.

TJ Mickelson scored a team-high 15 for Black Hills, while Joe Crumley had 14.

The Wolves (10-12) play Centralia (10-12) in an elimination game 6 p.m. Thursday at W.F. West High School.

Centralia 62, Hudson’s Bay 54: The Tigers held on in an elimination game despite a barrage of fourth-quarter 3-pointers by the Eagles, who hit 13 total.

The Tigers (10-12) get Black Hills (10-12) at 6 p.m. Thursday

Tumwater 54, Woodland 37: A win over the Beavers earned the T-Birds a trip back to the district championship game — and a guaranteed Class 2A state regional berth.

Weston Vandenhazel scored a game-high 16 points for Tumwater, while Spencer Dowers added 13.

Cade Otton recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Tumwater (15-6) plays Mark Morris (19-3) at 8 p.m. Friday at Saint Martin’s University for the district title.

1A SOUTHWEST 4

No. 4 King’s Way Christian 61, Eatonville 55: Junior guard Ray Springer scored 17 points but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Cruisers’ 10-point first-quarter deficit in a winner-to-state game.

Eatonville (14-7) will play La Center in an elimination game Thursday at Centralia. The Cruisers need to win in order to remain in contention for the district’s final seed to state regionals.

Brooks Moeller scored 14 points and Carson Hutchings added 11 for Eatonville, which is hoping to make its first state tournament appearance since 2004.

2B SOUTHWEST 4

No. 3 Life Christian 49, Adna 39: What can’t Luke Lovelady do?

He can post double-doubles, that’s for sure. The 6-foot-7 junior guard scored 15 points and snagged 21 rebounds to lift the Eagles to a district-title showdown with Mossyrock.

Mossyrock upset No. 2 Morton/White Pass, who lost standout Kaleb Poquette to injury, according to The Chronicle (Centralia).

Life Christian (21-2) had already clinched a state berth with a win in last week’s quarterfinals.

The Eagles trailed Adna, 34-31, entering the fourth quarter before pulling away.

RIVER RIDGE GIRLS DEFEAT RIVAL FIFE

As long as a playoff win is the outcome, River Ridge girls basketball coach Steve Schultz will take it.

“I’ll take that win again,” he said. “If we scored 12 points and won, I’d be happy.”

The Hawks didn’t score many more than that Tuesday night in their 28-20 win over Class 2A South Puget Sound League rival Fife at Curtis High School, but it was enough to avoid elimination in the West Central/SeaKing bi-district tournament.

MaKenna Schultz scored eight of her game-high 14 points in the fourth. She was the only scorer in double digits. Lauryn Gray added six, while Caitlin Yenne and Madaline Retzlaff had four apiece.

“At halftime, I knew we needed to do something, we needed to step it up,” MaKenna Schultz said.

Both teams struggled offensively from the opening tip. River Ridge shot 10 of 47 (21.3 percent) from the floor.

But even a low-percentage shooting night was enough to edge Fife. The Trojans finished 8 of 45 (17.8 percent) and committed 16 turnovers — including a string of eight in the first quarter.

MaKenna Schultz’s deep 3-pointer with 1 minute, 35 seconds remaining in the first turned out to be the game winner.

Fife had multiple scoring droughts that lasted more than four minutes.

The Hawks (14-8) have to win one more game to secure a 2A regional playoff berth.

They’ll play Renton (16-8) — which joins River Ridge’s division of the 2A SPSL next school year — in an elimination, winner-to-state game at 7:45 p.m. Thursday at Curtis.

4A WEST CENTRAL DISTRICT 3

Olympia 42, Kent-Meridian 26: Jenna Randich led all scorers with 19 points as the Bears rebounded from a quarterfinal loss against fourth-ranked Todd Beamer this past Saturday to defeat the Royals in an elimination game.

Savannah Lackey was the leading scorer for Kent-Meridan with 11 points.

Olympia (14-9) plays Curtis (17-7) in an elimination, winner-to-state game at 7:45 p.m. Thursday at Mount Tahoma High School.

Rogers 63, Kentridge 50: The Rams outscored the Chargers 18-11 in the fourth quarter to win a loser-out game.

Jessi Westering scored a game-high 21 points with Tristen Coltom chipping in with 16 points for the Rams.

Taylor Jenkins and JaQuaya Miller scored 15 points apiece for the Chargers.

Rogers will next face South Kitsap at 6 p.m. Thursday at Mount Tahoma in a loser-out game.

South Kitsap 48, Puyallup 41: The Wolves overcame a 26-16 halftime deficit to rally back and defeat the Vikings.

South Kitsap was led by Libby Borgonia, who scored 13 points.

The Wolves ended the third quarter outscoring Puyallup, 20-8, in the third quarter and 12-7 in the fourth to get the win.

3A WEST CENTRAL 3/SOUTHWEST 4 BI-DISTRICT

Sumner 55, Bonney Lake 41: After trailing 11-10 in the first quarter the Spartans fired back, outscoring the Panthers in the remaining three quarters to win an elimination game.

The Spartans move on to face Auburn Mountainview 7:45 p.m., Thursday at Washington in a loser-out game.

Hazen 37, Enumclaw 30: The Highlanders outscored the Hornets in three out of the four quarters to get a win in a loser-out game at Franklin Pierce High School.

Hazen moves on to face Columbia River 6 p.m. Thursday at Washington High.

This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Prep roundup: Cascade Christian turns season’s ugly start into 1A state berth with win over Chimacum."