Tacoma Dome saving top matchups for first: WIAA draw determines state basketball brackets

Get to the Tacoma Dome early this week.

Because some of the most anticipated basketball will happen sooner rather than later.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association held a drawing for its state tournament brackets Sunday. One of the developments — The News Tribune’s No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the 4A and 3A classification for boys and girls will not meet in the state title game.

Undefeated Bellevue and unbeaten defending champion Lynnwood? They’re on the same side of the 3A state girls tournament bracket.

Two-time defending state champion and top-ranked Garfield and No. 2 Rainier Beach? They’re on the same side of the 3A state boys tournament bracket.

“I was expecting we were going to see each other in the first round,” Rainier Beach coach Mike Bethea said. “(Garfield coach Ed Haskins) and I were just talking about that. They’ve got to change something there.”

But Beach would first have to get through Lincoln.

You can almost see the Tacoma Dome from Lincoln High School and at 12:15 p.m. Thursday the Abes will play Beach in the state quarterfinals.

The schools have combined for 54 state tournament appearances and 11 state titles. But they’ve never met in the state tournament until this year, and haven’t met in any game since Aubrey Shelton was a player at Lincoln. He’s now the coach.

“We’re excited to play them,” Shelton said. “I think there’s a little more pressure on them because they are the favorite. We’ve just got to go out there and play hard and have fun.

“It’s great to represent Tacoma in a tournament Seattle has dominated the past few years. And now we get a Seattle team out of the gate. We’ll see what we got.”

The seventh-ranked Lincoln girls drew No. 4 Arlington for a 3A state quarterfinal at 9 p.m. Thursday.

This is the second time in school history that Lincoln’s boys and girls teams are both playing in the state tournament in the same year (the previous time was in 1977).

The good news for the Lincoln girls is they’re on the opposite side of the bracket from Lynnwood and Bellevue.

“We’re the only girls team still standing from the town (Tacoma) — that’s a big deal,” Lincoln coach Jamila Jones said. “When I took over the program three years ago, the goal was to put a product that Tacoma would be proud of, not just Lincoln, and to be something that people would want to watch and want to be a part of.”

The 4A side has some loaded matchups, too.

Top-ranked and unbeaten Federal Way and No. 2 Gonzaga Prep are on the same side in the boys bracket. Federal Way (26-0) opens its title defense against Lewis and Clark at 7:15 p.m. Thursday at the Tacoma Dome.

And no powerhouse 4A girls matchup will come sooner than No. 1 Central Valley (25-0) and No. 2 Moses Lake (23-0) — a quarterfinal at 12:15 p.m. Thursday at the Tacoma Dome.

Back in 4A boys, No. 3 Curtis opens against Central Valley in a 3:45 p.m. Thursday game. If the Vikings win, they would reach the semifinals and play the winner of Kentwood vs. No. 6 Issaquah.

The last two times that Curtis reached the Dome, it won the state title (2013) and advanced to the state title game (a loss to Gonzaga Prep in 2011).

“We’ll celebrate a little and have the guys over (Sunday) at my house for some pizza and soda,” Curtis coach Tim Kelly said. “Then we’ll talk to them about this week and watching film and how practices will be.

“We’ll tell them that this is awesome and you have to take it in. But you have to remind them that, yes, this is awesome, but there’s a big ol’ reward on Saturday if we get to that point.”

Kelly said he and Central Valley coach Rick Sloan are good friends. But for Sloan (who took over in 1996) and Kelly (in his ninth year at Curtis and Lincoln’s coach prior to that), this is the first time that their teams will play each other.

“This is a tough matchup,” Sloan said.

Sixth-ranked Kentlake opens against third-ranked Bothell at 9 a.m. Thursday in 4A girls and third-ranked Todd Beamer faces No. 7 Skyview at 2 p.m. Thursday. The winner of that would play the winner of Central Valley-Moses Lake.

EAGLES DRESSING FOR STATE

Longtime Life Christian Academy boys basketball coach Mark Lovelady jokes that he has a three-piece suit hanging in his closet specifically booked for a state championship game.

“It is so old,” he said, “it is back in style.”

In their 11th career state trip, Lovelady and the Eagles easily had their best draw — both with opponent and time slot.

Third-ranked Life Christian (23-2) will take on unranked Lind-Ritzville/Sprague (17-10) at 7:15 p.m. Thursday in the Spokane Arena.

Last season, in their first trip to the 2B championships, the Eagles lost to Liberty in their opener, then won two consolation-round games to place fourth.

“The ‘wow’ factor will still be there, because they are kids,” Lovelady said. “But … we will be a little more prepared than last year.”

The Evergreen Lutheran girls face Taholah in the quarterfinals. Considering the Eagles drew Republic in the 9 a.m. game a year ago at the state tournament, this was a much more favorable break in the bracket.

Fifth-ranked Evergreen Lutheran (20-2) and Taholah (15-7) will play at 7:15 p.m. Thursday at the Spokane Arena.

“I do not know a ton about what they do,” Eagles coach Nick Trebesch said. “The only team we played and they played was Neah Bay — and we beat them a couple weeks ago. I will try and find some film on them and come up with a game plan.”

In the 2A boys bracket, No. 2 River Ridge drew Shorecrest for a 7:15 p.m. Thursday game at the Yakima Valley SunDome. Tumwater will play Ellensburg at 9 p.m. Thursday.

The sixth-ranked Black Hills girls will play No. 4 Lynden at 2 p.m. Thursday in the SunDome.

Top-ranked Zillah had to beat No. 2 Lynden Christian in a loser-out state regional to reach the SunDome. Zillah drew No. 3 King’s in its state quarterfinal game at 12:15 p.m. Thursday.

This story was originally published February 28, 2016 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Tacoma Dome saving top matchups for first: WIAA draw determines state basketball brackets."