State basketball tournament fields are set. 15 Mid-Columbia teams make the cut
The final number of state-qualifying high school basketball teams from the Mid-Columbia reached 15 teams after this past Saturday’s final district tournament games.
And state seeding committees met on Sunday to determine tournament pairings for this coming weekend.
What’s nice is that 11 of this region’s teams were selected to be in the top eight of their classifications — meaning that no matter what happens in these upcoming games, they all will head to their respective final tournament destinations.
That would be Class 4A and 3A in the Tacoma Dome, Class 2A and 1A in the Yakima Valley SunDome, and Class 2B and 1B at the Spokane Veterans Arena.
All state tournaments run from Feb. 28 to March 2. Todd Schumacher’s Columbia-Burbank Coyotes earned the top seed in the 2B boys tournament, while Grandview’s boys and Warden’s girls each earned No. 2 seed.
Kamiakin’s girls grabbed a 3 seed in 4A girls.
It means Don Schumacher, the former athletic director and boys basketball coach at Kamiakin, can sit in one place on Saturday to watch his sons’ teams play back-to-back: Todd Schumacher’s boys at 4 p.m., and Lane Schumacher’s Kamiakin girls at 6 p.m.
In fact, there will be a quadruple-header at Kamiakin beginning at noon on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Earl Streufert’s Richland Bombers boys earned a No. 7 seed and will meet No. 2 Tahoma at Auburn High on Saturday.
Here’s a look at what our region’s teams did to get in, and the schedule for this coming weekend:
4A GIRLS: Lane Schumacher’s Kamiakin squad hasn’t had to play since Feb. 13, when the Braves routed Gonzaga Prep 64-34 to win the District 8 title.
Now his team plays at home against Bothell, a team they faced at the state tournament last year.
Meanwhile, Chiawana fell short in Saturday’s game at Gonzaga Prep for the district’s second berth to state, falling to the Bullpups 51-50 in overtime.
Malia Ruud finished with 23 points for the Riverhawks, while Kaia Foster added 17. Both juniors will be back next season.
4A BOYS: The Bombers qualified for the state tournament by beating Lewis & Clark 67-55 on Saturday.
Richland used a 22-10 third quarter to pull away from the Tigers, and the Bombers won despite shooting just 3-for-17 from the 3-point line.
Seniors Josh Woodard (19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists), Jack Forbes (15 points) and Luke Westerfield (10 points and 7 rebounds) played their final game at Art Dawald Gymnasium.
Sophomore Landon Northrop added 14 points and 5 assists for Richland.
3A GIRLS: Kennewick lost to Mead in the district championship game 70-54 on the road Saturday.
Doesn’t matter, though, as Daron Santo’s team had already qualified for the state tournament with a semifinal win on Feb. 13.
Haylee Johnson led the Lions with 24 points.
Now the Lions play at 6 p.m. Friday at Richland High, playing either Peninsula or Ridgeline.
2A BOYS: After losing the CWAC championship game at Grandview last Thursday by a 67-49 (giving the Greyhounds the top seed to state), Prosser bounced back on Saturday to earn the second state berth.
Dalin Cortes scored a team-high 23 points to lead the Mustangs to a 90-70 win over visiting Selah.
Brothers Koby McClure and Kory McClure each added 19 points.
Both Prosser and Grandview were seeded in the top eight of the Class 2A tournament, meaning that they’ll both advance to the Yakima Valley SunDome the following week no matter what happens to them this coming weekend.
2A GIRLS: After losing to No. 1-ranked Ellensburg in overtime last Wednesday in the district championships, the Prosser Mustangs defeated Selah 59-45 on Friday for the district’s second state berth.
Lay’lee Dixon led Prosser with 15 points.
1A BOYS: Royal held on to beat Wapato 77-70 in the third-place game on Saturday.
The Knights needed to win to advance to state, or lose and go home.
Royal (20-6) has won 14 of its last 15 games.
2B BOYS: Todd Schumacher’s Columbia-Burbank squad rolled past Tri-Cities Prep 86-68 in the district tournament championship on Friday, giving the Coyotes (22-0) the top seed into the state tournament, while Prep (18-2) is No. 5.
2B GIRLS: Esmeralda Sanchez scored 18 points to lead Mabton past Warden 69-59 in the district championship game Saturday in Burbank, giving the Vikings the top seed to state.
Makenna Klitzke led Warden with 15 points. Despite the loss, Warden got the higher seed, No. 2, than Mabton, which earned an 8 seed.
Tri-Cities Prep lost 44-34 to Cle Elum on Saturday, but both teams advance to state.
1B BOYS: DeSales earned District 9’s top seed on Friday by beating Oakesdale 72-42 at Dayton High.
But both qualified for state.
The third state berth went to Richland’s Liberty Christian, which knocked off Pomeroy 37-33 in the third-place game, also at Dayton on Friday.
LC is a 20-seed and plays at 13-seeded Sound Christian Academy on Tuesday night. If the Patriots can win that, they’ll play Oakesdale in Spokane on Friday.
DeSales earned a 4 seed and will play at Kamiakin on Saturday.
1B GIRLS: Sunnyside Christian had already qualified for the state tournament on Feb. 9 by winning a district semifinal.
The Knights played Oakesdale on Friday in the District 9 tournament final and lost 35-30.
State basketball pairings
Tuesday, Feb. 20
Class 1B boys — No. 20 Liberty Christian at No. 13 Sound Christian Academy, 7 p.m. (winner advances to play No. 12 Oakesdale at Central Valley High School, 8 p.m., Feb. 23; loser is out).
Friday, Feb. 23
Class 3A girls — Winner of Tuesday’s (19) Peninsula-(14) Ridgeline vs. (11) Kennewick at Richland High (winner to Wednesday first round, loser out), 6 p.m.
Class 2A boys — (8) Prosser at (1) Lynden (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 8 p.m.
Class 2A boys — (7) Rogers-Spokane at (2) Grandview (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 8 p.m.
Class 2B girls — (7) Brewster vs. (2) Warden at Richland High (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 8 p.m.
Class 2B girls — (15) Tri-Cities Prep vs. (10) Davenport at Cheney High (winner to Wednesday first round, loser out), 8 p.m.
Class 1B girls — (16) Pe Ell vs. (9) Sunnyside Christian at Grandview High (winner to Wednesday first round, loser out), 6 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 24
Class 4A boys — (7) Richland vs. (2) Tahoma at Auburn High (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 6 p.m.
Class 4A girls — (6) Bothell at (3) Kamiakin (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 6 p.m.
Class 2A girls — (5) Clarkston vs. (4) Prosser at Kamiakin High (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 12 p.m.
Class 1A boys — (6) Royal vs. (3) Annie Wright at Tacoma Community College (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 4 p.m.
Class 2B boys — (8) Chief Leschi vs. (1) Columbia-Burbank at Kamiakin High (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 4 p.m.
Class 2B boys — (5) Tri-Cities Prep vs. (4) Lake Roosevelt at Wenatchee High (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 2 p.m.
Class 2B girls — (8) Mabton vs. (1) Napavine at W.F. West (Chehalis) High (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 2 p.m.
Class 1B boys — (5) Neah Bay vs. (4) DeSales at Kamiakin (winner to Thursday state quarterfinals, loser to Wednesday first round), 2 p.m.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
