CBC men’s and women’s basketball teams will be rooting for each other in the Final Four

Something must be in the water on the Columbia Basin College campus.

CBC’s sports teams are a perfect 5-for-5 so far this year advancing to the Final Four of their respective sports.

In the fall, the Hawks’ men’s soccer team won the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) title. The volleyball team finished second in the final 8 tournament; and the women’s soccer team tied for third, falling in the semifinals.

Now, it’s the men’s and women’s basketball teams’ turn — where both squads have made the Final Four in the NWAC Championship tournament.

Ironically, the Final Four is being held at Cheryl Holden Court in the CBC Student Recreation Center on the school’s campus.

Saturday’s NWAC semifinal schedule is as follows:

1 p.m. — Women, Columbia Basin (22-5) vs. Green River (23-3);

3 p.m. — Women, Lane (30-1) vs. Peninsula (22-4);

5 p.m. — Men, Clackamas (23-8) vs. Everett (24-7);

7 p.m. — Men, Bellevue (21-9) vs. Columbia Basin (22-6).

Very few times in NWAC have teams from the same school made it to the basketball semifinals at the same time.

But this has been a special season for both Hawks teams.

CBC women

For CBC’s women, head coach Amy Sokaitis has taken a group that numbered 14 in August to start to the semifinal. Through attrition — players leaving the team or getting injured — she has a rotation of eight.

The Hawks have a successful formula of using two guards who played together at Post Falls High School in Idaho — Lexie Heath and Trinidie Nichols — leading the team in scoring. They’re a potent 1-2 punch.

They’re supported with about four forwards, all who are relentless in crashing the boards for rebounds. And those forwards do that with glee.

“Everybody works hard on this team,” said Kenzi Pedersen, one of those four board crashers. “If we don’t score, I want to give them (Heath and Nichols) a second chance (to score) because I know they can do it.”

And, adds Nichols, the Hawks play tough defense.

“Great defense causes great offense,” she said.

Sokaitis started thinking she might have a good team back in August. But she was convinced after a 67-65 early season loss to Clackamas in December.

“We lost to them, but we outplayed them,” said Sokaitis. “That’s when I realized what we had.”

Nichols agreed.

“I think we all came together when it’s most important,” Nichols said.

What may be even more important is that these players care about each other.

“The people,” said Heath. “That plays a big part in this.”

CBC men

The Hawks men have used a different formula to get this far.

No one player is the star. Head coach Anthony Owens uses everyone, sometimes in a way that he’ll switch out an entire unit during the game — like a hockey line shift change.

Get out there, expend as much energy as possible, then let the next guy come in and do his job.

And every player buys into it.

“It starts with our defensive energy,” said sophomore Amar Rivers, the team’s leading scorer at 11.2 points a game. “There is not a single ego on this team. If someone is hot (shooting) we feed the hot hand.”

Teagen Hoard, a sophomore, agrees.

“We all bought into this system. We play together. I like that,” said Hoard.

And, like the women’s team, the men all seem to get along.

“We just all love each other. It’s the chemistry,” said Jayden Martinez, who graduated from Chiawana High School. “It could be anybody’s night. We all trust in each other.”

Hoard mentions a couple of team dinners at Martinez’s parents house in Pasco.

Then there was the time Bobby Siebers’ mother came into town, and the team joined Bobby at his mother’s hotel to have a Super Bowl watch party.

“We get together just as often as we can,” said Hoard. “A lot of us will be gone this third quarter, so we know we all may not be together again.”

Owens knew he had something early in the season when the Hawks beat Lower Columbia, Skagit Valley and Linn-Benton in the non-conference portion of the season.

But things got even better after that.

“This group of guys is funny. They are on each other often,” Owens said. “They police themselves, and it makes my job easier.”

Sometimes too easy.

“Sometimes I have to tell (point guard) Malakai (Munoz) to shut up so I have something to say,” said Owens.

Support for each other

Very few times do both teams travel in the same bus on road trips — even though they both play at the same site.

It has to do with the women’s team not having to stay late, and the men’s team not having to get to the game too early.

But they support each other.

“Our guys have made it a point to never miss a tipoff of our game,” said Sokaitis. “It’s super special.”

Rivers and Hoard says CBC teams all support each other.

“We try to get out and support them,” said Hoard.

“We see each other every day at practice,” added Rivers. “We bring the energy to the women’s games for sure.”

And the women do the same during the men’s games.

It definitely has been a special time on the Columbia Basin College campus.