Ferris beat Bellarmine Prep 75-60 and will play Federal Way for the state championship at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Bellarmine's Abdul Gaddy scored 29 points and Avery Bradley had 17.

Four Saxons scored in double figures, led by Jared Karstetter's 23 points. Jeff Minnerly had 18, DeAngelo Casto had 16 and Shawn Stockton had 15.

Washington Class 4A boys basketball tournament
At Tacoma Dome

Friday's games
Consolation bracket
Franklin 63, Snohomish 45
Richland 63, Kentridge 56
Lincoln 46, Shadle Park 39
Edmonds-Woodway 59, Foss 44
Semifinals
Federal Way 69, Decatur 60, OT
Ferris 75, Bellarmine Prep 60

Saturday's games
Franklin (23-3) vs. Richland (21-9), 11:30 a.m. (5th-8th place)
Lincoln (24-5) vs. Edmonds-Woodway (21-5), 1:30 p.m. (4th-7th place)
Decatur (22-7) vs. Bellarmine Prep (24-4), 3:30 p.m. (3rd-6th place)
Federal Way (21-6) vs. Ferris (28-0), 7 p.m. (championship)

Washington Class 4A girls basketball tournament
At Tacoma Dome

Friday's games
Consolation bracket
Bellarmine Prep 60, Mount Tahoma 46
Skyview 55, Graham-Kapowsin 35
Snohomish 49, Lake Stevens 38
Ballard 57, Kentwood 46
Semifinals
Lewis & Clark 52, Prairie 45
Moses Lake 50, Pasco 45

Saturday's games
Bellarmine Prep (25-5) vs. Skyview (24-4), 11:30 a.m. (5th-8th place)
Snohomish (21-6) vs. Ballard (23-3), 1:30 p.m. (4th-7th place)
Prairie (20-4) vs. Pasco (22-7), 3:30 p.m. (3rd-6th place)
Lewis & Clark (28-0) vs. Moses Lake (24-5), 9 p.m. (championship)

Washington Class 1A boys basketball tournament
At Yakima SunDome

Friday's games
Consolation bracket
Cedar Park Christian 48, Toledo 40
King’s 62, Lake Roosevelt 58
Brewster 48, Vashon Island 36
Connell 55, Granger 46
Semifinals
River View 47, White Swan 44
Charles Wright 54, Bellevue Christian 52

Saturday's games
Cedar Park Christian (16-8) vs. King's (22-6), 9 a.m. (5th-8th place)
Brewster (18-11) vs. Connell (22-4), noon (4th-7th place)
White Swan (21-6) vs. Bellevue Christian (22-4), 3:30 p.m. (3rd-6th place)
River View (23-3) vs. Charles Wright (21-6), 7 p.m. (championship)

Washington Class 1A girls basketball tournament
At Yakima SunDome

Friday's games
Consolation bracket
Freeman 50, Chelan 36
Zillah 65, Vashon Island 46
Nooksack Valley 53, Seattle Academy 39
Colfax 53, Connell 36
Semifinals
Columbia (Burbank) 41, Granger 24
Lynden Christian 49, Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) 29

Saturday's games
Freeman (25-4) vs. Zillah (20-7), 10:30 a.m. (5th-8th place)
Nooksack Valley (17-11) vs. Colfax (24-5), 1:30 p.m. (4th-7th place)
Granger (22-5) vs. Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls)(17-12), 5 p.m. (3rd-6th place)
Columbia (Burbank) (23-3) vs. Lynden Christian (28-0), 9 p.m. (championship)

Washington Class 2B boys basketball tournament
at Spokane Arena

Friday's games
Consolation bracket
Wellpinit 54, NW Christian (Lacey) 46
Bear Creek 42, St. George’s 39
Darrington 52, LaConner 50
Wahkiakum 63, Lind-Ritzville 33
Semifinals
NW Christian (Colbert) 57, Liberty Bell 42
Toutle Lake 39, Riverside Christian 31

Saturday's games
Wellpinit vs. Bear Creek, noon (5th-8th place)
Wahkiakum vs. Darrington, 1:45 p.m. (4th-7th place)
Liberty Bell vs. Riverside Christian, 3:30 p.m. (3rd-6th place)
NW Christian (Colbert) vs. Toutle Lake, 6 p.m. (championship)

Washington Class 2B girls basketball tournament
at Spokane Arena

Friday's games
Consolation bracket
Tacoma Baptist 52, Pomeroy 45
Shoreline Christian 38, LaConner 22
King’s West 45, St George’s 40
Liberty Bell 36, Lind-Ritzville 27
Semifinals
La Salle 54, White Pass 47
Napavine 47, Mossyrock 20

Saturday's games
Tacoma Baptist vs. Shoreline Christian, noon (5th-8th place)
King's West vs. Liberty Bell, 1:45 p.m. (4th-7th place)
White Pass vs. Mossyrock, 3:30 p.m. (3rd-6th place)
La Salle vs. Napavine, 8 p.m. (championship)

The Lions are mounting a comeback and trail 64-53 with 3:20 left

Abdul Gaddy just hit a 3-pointer, but Ferris still leads 58-43 with 7 minutes left to play.

The Saxons have started the third quarter on a 9-0 run and lead 43-29. BP just called time out.

Bellarmine Prep is hanging with bigger and more athletic Ferris.

It'll be interesting to see how Bellarmine will deal with Bradley in foul trouble.

Avery Bradley was just called for his third foul. He's still playing, though.

Abdul Gaddy hit a 12-foot pull-up jumper, bring Bellarmine closer. The Lions trail 30-28 with 3:08left in the half.

Abdul Gaddy hit a 3-pointer to pull Bellarmine closer. It's 25-22 Ferris with 5 minutes left in the second.

Jared Karstetter scored four points in 10 seconds, getting Ferris out front in a hurry.

The Saxons are looking tough. But Bellarmine doesn't seem to be in awe of the defending champs.

Abdul Gaddy hit a 3-pointer. It's Ferris 13-12 with 1:49 left in the first.

Ferris leads Bellarmine Prep 7-4 with 4:29 left.

6-foot-8 center DeAngelo Casto hit a 3-pointer early.

Gerald Hill hit two free throws with five seconds left, breaking a tie and giving Charles Wright a 54-52 win over Bellevue Christian.

The Tarriers will play River View at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Yakima SunDome.

It's not pretty in this one, with Auburn Riverside up 49-17 at halftime.

Barring anything totally out of the ordinary, Kennedy gets a rematch with the Ravens tomorrow at 6 p.m. Lakes will face Fort Vancouver.

Lewis and Clark, the two-time defending state champion, will try to make it three in a row on Saturday after defeating Prairie, 52-45.

FW wins 69-60 and will play the winner of Bellarmine-Ferris at 7 p.m. tomorrow.

Decatur missed four or five shots on their last possession. It's all but over with FW out front 67-60 with nien seconds left.

FW is in the finals for the first time in school history.

Free throws are letting FW extend its lead to 67-60 with 40 seconds left.

Barrington made both free throws. Decatur's Darious Walker scores on a put-back.

FW up four with 1 minute left

Isiah Umipig fed Aaron Broussard for an easy 2-footer. FW leads 52-58 with 1:11 left.

FW's Barrington is shooting 1 and 1.

Broussard hit a 2-footer and Andre Barrington stole the in-bounds pass and made an easy layin i nthe first 25 seconds of OT.

Hale comes back with another basket.

Prairie has just scored eight consecutive points to cut Lewis and Clark's lead to 43-35 with 4:44 to go. Still plenty of time in this one..

FW's Aaron Broussard was called for a 5-second violation with 11 seconds left, giving Decatur a chance to win. But Michael Hale's 3-pointer rimmed out as time expired.

FW blew an 11-point lead in the final 2:48 of the game.

We're going to overtime.

Michael Hale hit a 3-pointer, Decatur stole the ball and Tibbs tied the score at 54 on a fast bteak layin.

30 seconds left

Andre Barrington hit two free throws, giving FW a 54-49 lead with 1:31 left.

KJ Hong drilled a 3-pointer and was fouled by Isiah Umipig on the shot. He hit the free throw and FW leads 52-49 with 2:06 left.

We've got a game again.

Lewis and Clark leads Prairie, 41-25, heading into the fourth quarter.

Jeff Forbes' 12-foot jumper just put Federal Way up 52-41. It's looking bleak for Decatur.

Aaron Broussard as 22 points. Decatur's Marcus Tibbs has 20.

Despite a halftime lead, Lakes' girls basketball team dropped their WCD semifinal to Kennedy, 72-62.

Lakes' coach Dave McEachern: "Better now than later."

Auburn Riverside is already up 6-0 on Fort Vancouver and the game is barely a minute old. Looks like Kennedy gets a second shot at Auburn Riverside tomorrow night.

Aaron Broussard just converted a three-point play and Jeff Forbes hit a fast-break layin, giving FW a 50-41 lead with 4:34 left. Decatur called timeout.

Forbes hit a 3-pointer seconds before the third quarter expired, breaking a tie and giving FW a 38-35 lead.

Sporting a bandage on her nose, Lindsey Levanen has just checked back into the game for Prairie. Prairie trails now to Lewis and Clark, 34-14.

The Gators have maintained their lead, staying in front 33-31 with 3:44 left in the third quarter.

Lewis and Clark takes a comfortable 32-14 lead into the halftime break.
The Tigers defense is making life miserable for Prairie, jumping screens and playing tight on Ashley Corral, the Falcons' leading scorer.

They've stopped the girls semifinal because of an injury to Lindsey Levanen of Prairie. Levanen hit the floor hard on her nose and was bleeding. She's out of the game and Prairie's behind, 25-12 to Lewis and Clark.

Decatur rallied to take the lead late in the second quarter.

Enumclaw defeated previously undefeated Auburn 45-42 in the 3A West Central-Southwest Bi-District tournament semifinals tonight.

Michael Hale fed Darious Walker for a fastbreak dunk. Decatur has the momentum and leads 25-22 with 2:37 to go.

Jerome Collins keeps bringing the style. The Federal Way coach has a dark pink pants, a dark pink striped jacket and a vest. I want to meet his tailor.

Tibbs just buried an NBA-range 3-pointer. It's FW 22-19 with 4:30 left in the second quarter.

Aaron Broussard just hit a pair of free throws and a baby hook, putting FD up 20-16.

3-pointers by Kelsey Baker and Daisy Burke help Lewis and Clark jump to a 20-8 lead early in the second quarter.

In the girls semifinals, Lewis and Clark leads Prairie, 14-6, after the first quarter. L-C outscored Prairie 11-2 over the final four minutes of the quarter.

FW's Jeff Forbes hit a 3-pointer as time expired in the first quater. The Eagles lea 14-10 and are on a 6-0 run.

Isiah Umipig just put Federal Way on top with an and-one free throw. Ten second left in the first quarter.

Here are our predictions for tonight's boys semifinals:

Reporter Doug Pacey
Decatur vs. Federal Way
Ferris vs. Bellarmine Prep

Reporter Darrin Beene
Decatur vs. Federal Way
Ferris vs. Bellarmine Prep

Freelancer Mike Curto
Decatur vs. Federal Way
Ferris vs. Bellarmine Prep

And for the girls...
Reporter Mindi Rice
Prairie vs. Lewis and Clark
Moses Lake vs. Pasco

I headed to Auburn for the showdown of No. 2 Lakes and No. 3 Kennedy and it's nearly everything it was billed to be...

Lakes is up 38-31 at halftime with Sara Halasz and Chene Cooper leading the charge with 14 points each. Halasz had 12 in the second quarter while Cooper had 11 in the first. including an amazing buzzer-beater half-court three to end the first eight minutes.

Daidra Brown has 13 to lead Kennedy, with 11 in the first quarter.

Gearing up for the second half. Whichever team wins will face the Auburn Riverside-Fort Vancouver winner tomorrow at 6 p.m. at Puyallup.

The final consolation games are done and the next set of games – the ones in the 'championship' bracket – don't begin until 7 p.m.

The boys semifinals features Decatur vs. Federal Way at 7 p.m. and then Ferris at Bellarmine Prep at 8:30 or close to it.

In girls action, Prairie plays Lewis & Clark at 7 p.m. and then Moses Lake faces Pasco at 8:30.

We'll have updates once the games begin.

The Ballard Beavers pulled away from Kentwood by outscoring the Conquerors 24-16 in the fourth quarter to win their consolation game.

Kayla Williams scored 20 points and Jeanette Hansen had a double-double (15 points, 16 rebounds) for the Beavers.

Kentwood was paced by Lindsey Moore's 21 ponts. Kelsey Jenkins added nine.

Ballard held just a three-point lead heading into the fourth but finished strong.

Stats from Edmonds-Woodway's 59-44 win over Foss:

* Foss fell behind 10-5 in the first quarter and never could get on track. The E-W lead grew to as much as 20 points (52-32) at one point before Foss scored late in the game.

* The Falcons shot 29.4 percent for the game (15-of-51).

* TeAire Bell led Foss with 10 points. LuQuam Thompson had seven.

* Edmonds-Woodway was led by Connor Donaldson's 17 points and James Conti's 14. Eight players ended up scoring for the Warriors.

* The Warriors shot 40 percent (18-of-45) from the field but helped themselves by nailing 20-of-27 free-throws (74.1 percent).

Edmonds-Woodway wins this one with Foss, 59-44.

... and Foss is going to have to have something amazing happen. They are trailing Edmonds-Woodway, 46-30.

Foss' Julian Cruell made the shot of the tournment, sinking a buzzer-beating shot about 10 feet behind the half court line to end the third quarter.

Unfortunately, the shot is about Foss' only highlight. The Falcons trail Edmonds-Woodway 38-24 heading into the final eight minutes.

Foss guard LuQuam Thompson looks for a pass over the head of Edmonds-Woodway guard James Conti in the first quarter at the Tacoma Dome, Friday, Feb. 29. Chris Hunt for the Tribune

Foss, one day after a tough loss to Bellarmine Prep, is looking flatter than a flapjack against Edmonds-Woodway. Under three minutes to go in the third quarter and the Falcons are trailing, 33-18.

Stats from Edmonds-Woodway - Foss game:

* Foss was led by TeAire Bell, who had eight points. The Falcons made only four field goals in the first half with Bell getting two of them.

* The Falcons shot just 28.6 percent (4 of 14).

* E-W was led by James Conti's six points.

* E-W shot 37.5 percent, making nine of 24 shots.

A mini-rally by Foss helped the Falcons cut Edmonds-Woodway's lead to nine but the Falcons are still behind, 24-13.

Two minutes left and Foss just broke a two-minute scoreless drought on TeAire Bell's two free throws. Still the Falcons trail E-W 22-11.

Almost a quarter and a half of Foss' game against Edmonds-Woodway is over and the Falcons are searching for some offense.

The Falcons are trailing 17-9 and look disjointed. They've been pressing on defense to see if they can get some quick turnovers, but so far E-W is handling the press pretty well.

First quarter ends with Edmonds-Woodway leading Foss 10-5.

The last boys consolation game of the day, Foss and Edmonds-Woodway, has begun. Foss is trailing 10-5 late in the first quarter.

The Vikings are again shut out of trophy day. Lake Stevens, which hasn't won a state girls basketball trophy since 1986 as a 3A school, lost 49-38 to WesCo opponent Snohomish.

The Vikings tried to make a late comeback, pushing from a 20-point deficit to down seven, but Snohomish held on for the win.

It will be the fifth trophy in the past five appearances for the Panthers, who were led by junior Karley Lampman's 15 points. Junior Katie Benson and sophomore Marjorie Heard each added 11 points.

Senior Alona Personius led the Vikings with 14 points. Lake Stevens loses six seniors after this season, including all five starters.

The Abes beat Shadle Park, 46-39. Final stats:

* Royal Tee Lexing led the Abes with 15 points. Kaleb Shelton added 10 and Turrell Smith had nine.

* Lincoln shot 40 percent from the field (16-of-40) and 60 percent from the line (12-of-20).

* Shadle Park was led by Anthony Brown's 14 points. Zach Humphrey had eight points and Aaron Dunn added a game-high 11 rebounds.

* Shadle Park shot 34.8 percent from the field (16-of-46) and made 5-of-6 free throws. The Highlanders were hurt by their 3-point shooting (they made just 2-of-19 attempts with Humphrey, one of the best long-ranger shooters, going 0-for-9 from 3-point range).

Shadle Park misses a couple of shots and is forced to foul with 15.2 seconds left. Royal Tee Lexing drains a free throw, Lincoln now leads 44-39 but Lincoln gets the rebound on the missed second attempt.

Lexing makes two free throws, and it ends with Lincoln winning, 46-39.

Kaleb Shelton's free throw pushes Lincoln's lead to four, 43-39.

Turrell Smith sinks two free throws for Lincoln to increase the Abes lead to 42-39. Shadle Park calls timeout with 35.4 seconds to go.

Lincoln's working the clock. Lots of passes, lots of dribbles. Timeout, ABes with 1:23 to go.

Ryan Rogers made a driving layup and was fouled to give Lincoln a 38-36 lead. He missed the free throw but Shadle Park just missed a shot, so it's ABes ball with the lead and under two minutes to go.

Shadle Park's Anthony Brown just made two free throws to tie the game at 36. There's 3:47 to play.

The Panthers are up 40-20 after three on Lake Stevens and eight minutes away from knocking out the Northwest District's No. 2 team. Snohomish, the No. 3 team from the NW district, will be the only team remaining after Jackson was eliminated yesterday.

The Abes just took about a minute off the clock while running their offense. A blocked shot by Aaron Dunn snuffed their chance at points but the Abes still lead, 36-34, with under five minutes to play.

Lincoln and Shadle Park just started the fourth quarter. Both teams have traded baskets and the Abes still hold a four-point lead at 36-32.

The Abes have grabbed a 34-30 lead with 1:37 to play in the third quarter.

The scorers for Lincoln and Shadle Park at the half:

LINCOLN (19) – Royal Tee Lexing 6, Kaleb Shelton 6, Jordan Russell 2, Darkus Milner 2, Rayshon Cranshaw 2, Turrell Smith 1.

SHADLE PARK (21) – Anthony Brown 9, Zach Humphrey 4, Taylor Pettersen 3, Matt Barnes 3, Aaron Dunn 2.

* Lincoln shot 33.3 percent from the field (7-of-21) and 75 percent from the free-throw line (3-of-4).

* Shadle Park shot 39.1 percent from the field (9-of-23) and 100 percent from the free-throw line (1-of-1).

Snohomish is up fairly big, 25-15, on WesCo opponent Lake Stevens. The Vikings, who barely escaped Jackson and Kristi Kingma's 43 points Thursday, have fallen flat in the second quarter.

Leah Tate has eight to lead Lake Stevens, while Katie Benson is leading the Panthers with nine. Karley Lampman has seven for Snohomish.

Loncoln's Jordan Russell, left, drives past Shadle Park's Robby Douglas at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Shadle Park leads Lincoln, 21-19, at the intermission.

Snohomish and Lake Stevens girls were tied at 11 after the first quarter, but the Panthers have opened the second quarter with a 7-2 run to get a five-point lead with four minutes to go in the half.

After a slow first quarter, Lincoln and Shadle Park have picked it up some. Royal Tee Lexing drilled two 3-pointers to help the Abes tie it at 17, but Zach Humphrey of Shadle Park just made basket to put the Highlanders up by two.

One quarter's in the books. Shadle Park leads Lincoln, 8-7.

We're about two minutes in. Shadle Park leads, 4-1.

Skyview 55, Graham-Kapowsin 35

The Storm advanced to Saturday's fifth-/eighth-place game with Bellarmine Prep by defeating the Eagles.

The Eagles kept the game close with Skyview, which played a tight Thursday game against Jackson, in the first half, but the Storm outscored them 14-6 and 14-7 in the final two quarters.

Ashlee Smith led Skyview with 17 points and Jen Cogburn scored 13 to lead the Eagles, who made their first state tournament appearance in the school's third year.

Game - and season - over for Kentridge. Richland wins it, 63-56.

26.9 seconds to go and a Renado Parker basket for Kentridge makes it 60-56.

Richland just made two free throws and now leads Kentridge 58-53 with less than a minute to play.

There's less than a minute and half to go and Kentridge trails Richland, 56-53.

Richland guard Jamison Rowe passes the ball upcourt after an early breakaway in the first quarter at the Tacoma Dome, Friday Feb 29. Chris Hunt for the News Tribune.

The finish of the Richland-Kentridge game is setting up to be a good one. Richland leads, 52-51 with 4:48 to go.

Graham-Kapowsin is giving Skyview a good battle with senior Jen Cogburn leading the charge with 10 points for the Eagles.

The Storm, up 27-22, have Ashlee Smith (8), Dayle Powell (7) and Shelby Leverenz (6) leading the way.

Ryan McKinney, who was shaken up just before the half, has returned to the Richland bench. He's now at the scorer's table and will check back into the game.

Richland leads Kentridge, 41-36.

Stats and notes from Richland-Kentridge

* Ryan McKinney leads Richland with 10 points. Jonathan Miller has nine for the Bombers, who shot 55.6 percent from the field (15 of 27). Miller also has a game-high eight rebounds.

* Kentridge was led by Renado Parker and Chris Washington, who each scored eight points. The Chargers shot 42.9 percent from the field (12 of 28).

* The largest lead of this close game has been six points (Richland 21-16 after one quarter). There's been five lead changes and six ties.

Just as the half was about to end, Richland's Ryan McKinney, while trying to make a layup, was knocked to the ground by a Kentridge player. He stayed down for almost 10 minutes but then walked off the court under his own power.

At the intermission, Richland leads Kentridge 35-32.

A timeout was just taken. Richland has come back to tie Kentridge at 28.

Kentridge has started the second quarter strong and now leads Richland 28-23 with 3:46 to go.

Richland leads Kentridge 21-15 after one quarter.

The stats and notes from Bellarmine Prep's 60-46 victory over Mount Tahoma:

* Bellarmine Prep got balanced scoring with five players scoring between 12 and nine points. Grace Beardemple had 12, Jen Hunter and Sarah Hartwell each scored 11, Alivia Hale had 10 and ReZina TecleMariam added nine points. TecleMariam also had nine rebounds and three assists.

* Mount Tahoma was led by Amani Sorrell's 12 points and Shauneice Samms' 11.

* The Thunderbirds struggled from the field, shooting just 22.9 percent for the game (16 of 70). They took an amazing 42 3-point attempts and made just seven (16.7 percent). By contrast, Bellarmine shot just five 3-pointers and made three while shooting 37 percent for the game.

Bellarmine's ReZina TecleMariam raises her hands in victory as the buzzer sounds at at the end of the game against Mount Tahoma at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Franklin's Peyton Siva tied a state 4A tournament record with 13 assists in the Quakers' win over Snohomish.

Siva equals the mark held by Alvin Vaughn of Garfield, who did it against Richland in 1979, and Mike Collard of Everett, who had 13 assists vs. Lincoln in 1975.

With 1:15 to play, freshman Grace Beardemple just hit a three to put the Lions up 52-42. Looks like Mount Tahoma's going to lose this one and not play Saturday. The Thunderbirds have finished fifth the past two years. This will be Bellarmine's first trophy since a seventh-place finish in 1998.

Despite a sluggish first half – yes, I've written that about Franklin more than once in this tournament – the Quakers have beaten Snohomish, 63-45.

Franklin erased a two-point half-time deficit to easily cruise into the fifth-eighth place game on Saturday.

Franklin has not slowed down a bit and are beating Snohomish by a comfortable margin with 2:23. The score's 63-43 now after two free throws by Lavell White.

The Lions are continuing to cruise against Mount Tahoma, with freshman Sarah Hartwell scoring seven third-quarter points.

Mount Tahoma's not shooting well in general and the Thunderbirds are getting beat on rebounds and turning the ball over. Everyone looks flat for MT while the Lions have been hustling all game.

Sterling Carter of Franklin just sank a jumper before the third quarter buzzer went off to increase the Quakers lead to 47-33 heading into the final quarter.

Snohomish just took a timeout. They need it, because they are quickly falling behind Franklin.

The Quakers lead, 43-33, with 1:08 to go in the third. Whatever they changed at the half, it's working. They've outscored Snohomish 17-5 so far.

Sorry y'all, had a late-starting morning and spazzed on the blog when I got here.

Despite sophomore point guard Mechela Barnes sitting in warmups, the Lions are rolling in this one: 35-26 with 4:12 to go in the third.

Mount Tahoma shot 24 percent in the first half led by six from Amani Sorrell. Bellarmine's halftime leader was freshman Grace Beardemple, who started for Barnes, with nine.

Franklin has erased their two-point half-time deficit by outscoring Snohomish 11-4 in the first few minutes of the third quarter. The Quakers lead, 37-32.

As we post this, Franklin is winning 30-28, with left 5:47 left in the third quarter.

Franklin guard Sterling Carter drives the ball past Snohomish guard Clayton Johnson for two points early in the first quarter at the Tacoma Dome, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. Chris Hunt for the News Tribune

In the first boys game of the day, Franklin's playing Snohomish. And, just like it has on the first two days of the 4A tournament, Franklin is struggling.

The Quakers, thought to be one of the favorites to reach the championship game, trail 28-26 at the half. They've shot just 39.3 percent while allowing Snohomish to shoot 61.9 percent in the first half.

Snohomish is led by Brad Shaw's nine points and Brad Low's seven. For Franklin, Peyton Siva has scored 12 and Chris Holmes has eight.

Bellarmine Prep's TecleMariam, right and Mount Tahoma's Amanda Sok dive aftyer a loose ball at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Friday, Feb. 29, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Bellarmine players react after beating Foss, 60-59, Thursday night, Feb. 28, during state 4A quarterfinal game at the Tacoma Dome. (Dean Koepfler/The News Tribune)

This one had a wild ending. Here's how it went down:

Foss' TeAirie Bell hit a 3-pointer with 6.2 seconds left, pulling his team within one, 59-58.

Bellarmine's Avery Bradley answers by hitting one of two free throws, extending the lead to 60-58.

Here's where it gets crazy. Bellarmine's Abdul Gaddy fouled Nicholas Edwards' 3-point attempt with 2.3 seconds remaining, giving Edwards three free throws and chance to take the lead.

But Edwards made only one free throw and the Lions escaped with the win.

This was the third time Bellarmine and Foss have played this season and the Lions have won each time.

Bellarming moves on to play Ferris in the semifinals.

Pasco 55, Ballard 45

Pasco plays CBL opponent Moses Lake in tomorrow's 8:30 p.m. semifinal

Kentwood faces Ballard at 3:30 in a loser-out game.

Washington Class 4A boys basketball tournament
At Tacoma Dome
Consolation bracket
Snohomish 68, Mountain View 63
Franklin 56, Mariner 49
Kentridge 62, Garfield 51
Richland 73, Prairie 63
Quarterfinals
Decatur 57, Shadle Park 55
Federal Way 52, Lincoln 45
Ferris 59, Edmonds-Woodway 47
Bellarmine Prep 60, Foss 59

Washington Class 4A girls basketball tournament
At Tacoma Dome
Consolation bracket
Mount Tahoma 60, Inglemoor 56
Bellarmine Prep 49, Puyallup 36
Skyview 77, Jackson 74
Graham-Kapowsin 50, Rogers (Puyallup) 36
Quarterfinals
Prairie 58, Lake Stevens 54
Lewis & Clark 55, Snohomish 47
Moses Lake 63, Kentwood 52
Pasco 55, Ballard 45

Bellarmine escaped with a 60-59 win over Foss. More to come...

Charles Wright beat Granger, 51-43, tonight in Yakima, advancing to the semifinals of the Class 1A boys tournament.

The Tarriers, 20-6, will face Bellevue Christian at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The Yakima Herald-Republic's tourneytown.com site has a rundown on tonight's game.

Washington Class 2B boys basketball tournament
at Spokane Arena
Consolation bracket
Wellpinit 60, Reardan 54
NW Christian (Lacey) 54, Napavine 46
Bear Creek 54, Seattle Lutheran 39
St. George’s 39, Life Christian 36
Quarterfinals
Liberty Bell 60, LaConner 50
NW Christian (Colbert)66, Darrington 43
Riverside Christian 55, Lind-Ritzville 49
Toutle Lake 56, Wahkiakum 51

Washington Class 2B girls basketball tournament
at Spokane Arena
Consolation bracket
Tacoma Baptist 55, NW Christian (Colbert) 42
Pomeroy 52, Evergreen Lutheran 49
LaConner 37, Liberty (Spangle) 31
Shoreline Christian 62, Seattle Lutheran 38
Quarterfinals
La Salle 57, King’s West 25
White Pass 49, St. George’s 29
Napavine 48, Liberty Bell 36
Mossyrock 40, Lind-Ritzville 38

Washington Class 1A boys basketball tournament
At Yakima SunDome
Consolation bracket
Toledo 63, Lakeside 62
Cedar Park Christian 47, Castle Rock 45
King’s 57, Freeman 49
Lake Roosevelt 49, Winlock 48
Quarterfinals
White Swan 46, Vashon Island 42
River View 47, Brewster 45
Bellevue Christian 37, Connell 35
Charles Wright 51, Granger 43

Washington Class 1A girls basketball tournament
At Yakima SunDome
Consolation bracket
Chelan 61, Onalaska 44
Freeman 60, Rainier 29
Zillah 69, Toledo 63
Vashon Island 46, Bellevue Christian 44
Quarterfinals
Columbia (Burbank) 48, Nooksack Valley 38
Granger 46, Seattle Academy 29
Lynden Christian 62, Colfax 55
Lakeside 45, Connell 35

Bellarmine leads 44-39 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Moses Lake knocked out Kentwood from title contention, 63-52. The Chiefs are good - 6-5 junior Carly Noyes, 6-3 senior Ann Noyes and 5-7 freshman point guard Jordan Loera are huge for Moses Lake. Expect them to play the Prairie-Lewis & Clark winner at 9 p.m. Saturday.

At halftime of Pasco-Ballard, Pasco is up by one, 25-24.

Bellarmine Prep's Dan Durkin hit a pair of 3-pointers late in the second quarter, keeping the Lions ahead of Foss.

Bellarmine leads 31-26 at halftime.

Foss led 8-2, but Bellarmine went on a 13-0 run to take the lead. The Lions ar eup 15-10 entering the second quarter.

Ferris won its 56th straight game, beating Edmonds-Woodway 59-47.

The Saxons will play the winner of Foss-Bellarmine Prep in the semifinals.

The Conqs put together a run in the second quarter and are down just three at halftime.

Jessie Genger has four points to lead KW while Jordan Loera leads Moses Lake with 14.

Edmonds-Woodway isn't rolling over for Ferris. The Warriors trail the defending state champions 34-25 at halftime.

The 2006 and 2007 state champions knocked Snohomish out of the winner's bracket and set up a semifinal showdown with Prairie.

Jeneva Anderson led the Tigers with 12 points while Brittany Kennedy added 11. Katie Benson scored 20 for Snohomish, which faces WesCo opponent Lake Stevens in a loser-out game at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

(Sorry we didn't get you all a halftime score; busy writing my Prairie story before Kentwood tips!)

KW tips in 10:30!

Players from Federal Way celebrate their win over Lincoln at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008.
JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Federal Way advances to the semifinals with a 52-45 victory over Lincoln.

The Eagles will face rival Decatur. Both are in the Federal Way School District.

Isiah Umipig hit two free throws and then Jeff Forbes stole the inbound pass and made a lay-in, putting Federal Way up 50-45 with 13.7 seconds left.

Lincoln's Ryan Rogers' basket made it 43-40 in favor of Federal Way with four minutes to play.

It was all the Eagles in the third quarter, as Federal Way takes a 38-36 lead into the fourth quarter.

Something to think about: Lincoln rested its starters for the final four minutes of the third quarter, while Federal Way's were on the court.

Lincoln went on an 8-0 run in the second quarter, stretching its lead to 11 points, 25-14, at one point.

Federal Way's Montrel Walton hit a pair of jumpers and Andre Barrington added a laying to cut the margin.

If you're wondering, Lincoln hasn't been to the semifinals since 2002. Federal Way's last trip was 1994.

Lincoln's Denzel Dansby passes out of a double team made up of Federal Way's Cole Dickerson, left, and Robert Christopher at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Turrell Smith just hit back-to-back 3-pointers, putting the Abes up 15-6 with 7:23 left in the second quarter.

Turrell Smith stole the ball and fed Kaleb Shelton for a fastbreak layin, giving the Abes a 9-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Five minutes into the first quarter, Lincoln has already played 10 players. The subbing isn't because the Abes are in foul trouble -- they have only one -- but because they press on defense and this keeps them fresh throughout the game.

Federal Way has made on substitution, but leads 6-3.

The Falcons outscored Lake Stevens 16-6 in the fourth quarter to advance to a Friday semifinal against the winner of Snohomish and Lewis & Clark.

Ashley Corral finished with a game-high 28 points on 9 of 25 shooting, and she added seven rebounds. Corral hit a big 3-pointer to tie the game at 50, only to have Lake Stevens run off the next four points to grab a 54-50 lead.

Prairie took advantage of a technical foul call when Corral made both free throws to get the Falcons within two, 54-52. With just under a minute left, Lindsey Levanen made a short one in the lane to tie the game again.

Emily Lashua got the game-winner for Prairie, twice really. First, she made a layup for the lead. Then, with less than 20 seconds to go, she came up with a clean block of Karri Gallagher's attempted layup for Lake Stevens.

Corral gathered the rebound. The ball was knocked free, but went out to Prairie. The Falcons inbounded to Corral, who was fouled and made both free throws with 3.3 seconds to go for the final score.

Gallagher had 22 for Lake Stevens.

Decatur celebrates after beating Shadle Park at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008.
JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Shadle Park tries to throw the ball to half court to set up a shot but Michael Hale III is there, appropriately enough, to intercept it and end the game. The final: Decatur 57, Shadle Park 55.

Decatur moves on to the semifinals at 7 p.m. They play the winner of Federal Way-Lincoln, guaranteeing a Tacoma-area team in the finals on Saturday.

Decatur runs the clock down, but Michael Hale III's jumper was off. Jordan McCloud, though, grabbed the offensive rebound and scored it to give the Gators a 57-55 lead.

There's 1.3 seconds left after Shadle Park calls timeout. The Highlanders will need a long one to win it now.

There's 49.7 seconds left and Decatur and Shadle Park are tied at 55. Decatur has the ball after a Shadle Park foul turned it over to them.

Shadle Park's Zach Humphrey's 3-pointer and two free throws ties the game at 53.

Decatur jumps out to a 53-48 lead thanks to Michael Hale III's 3-pointer...

Decatur just suffered a big blow. Marcus Tibbs picked up two fouls - his fourth and fifth of the game - in about an eight-second span. Tibbs had 17 points but he's done for the day with over six minutes to go.

Decatur just tied the game at 48 on Michael Hale III's three-point play. There's about seven minutes to go, and this is setting up for a good finish.

The Vikings are holding strong on a lead with the game 48-42 after three. Ashley Corral has 21 points, including five three's, but Karri Gallagher has 20 for Lake Stevens inside.

Yes, that score was right. Shadle Park now leads Decatur thanks to its 25-point third quarter.

Zach Humphrey led the way, scoring 11 points. And this comes on the heals of missing his first four shots of the game.

In the early, loser out games, the atmosphere at the Tacoma Dome was a little subdued. The fans were into it and all, but you didn't have that first-day excitement.

But late in the third quarter of the first boys quarterfinal, you can feel a change at the Dome. The Decatur Gators fans - best nickname in the area, FYI - are rowdy and loud. Shadle Park's gang is fired up, too.

The players seem to be feeding off it. The pace picked up considerably. Going into the fourth quarter, Shadle Park leads, 46-43.

Shadle Park's Zach Humphrey is heating up. His second 3-pointer - and only his second basket of the game - just tied it at 38 against Decatur.

Decatur leads Shadle Park, 29-21. Notes and stats:

* Decatur's Marcus Tibbs leads all scorers with 10 points. Jerron Smith has eight points and Michael Hale III has seven for the Gators.

* For Shadle Park, Anthony Brown has nine points and six rebounds. Aaron Dunn has six points. Of note: Zach Humphrey, who scored 24 points for the Highlanders in their first-round win, is 0-for-4 fromthe field and has not scored.

* Decatur is shooting 43.3 percent from the field. Shadle Park is shooting 30 percent but is enjoying a huge lead in free-throws, having made 9-of-11. Decatur is 0-for-1 from the free-throw line.

* Decatur's biggest lead was 10 points at 29-19.

At the half, Decatur leads Shadle Park, 29-21.

Notes and stats to come.

It's Lake Stevens 30, Prairie 23 at halftime, with Karri Gallagher's 15 first-half points leading the way. Prairie's Ashley Corral has 10 points but scored just two in the second quarter.

Prairie's pressing and it's working more often than not on the Vikings.

Decatur's Jordan McCloud, right, and Shadle Park's Aaron Dunn fight for a loose ball at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

After a quarter, Decatur is tied with Shadle Park at 10.
Zach Humphrey, who scored 24 points in Shadle Park's opening round victory, was held without a point.

15-12 at the end of the first quarter. Karri Gallagher has eight to lead Lake Stevens; Ashley Corral has eight for Prairie.

Decatur has already picked up four team fouls in under four minutes of the first quarter. The score's tied at 8.

We're finally underway in the first quarterfinal between Decatur and Shadle Park. The first basket made is a 3-pointer by Marcus Tibbs of Decatur.

Stats and notes from Richland's 73-63 win:

* Richland broke open a close game at the half (36-34, Richland leading) with a strong second half. The Bombers outscored Prairie 16-9 in the third and then 21-20 in the fourth.

* Jake Haworth made 8-of-12 field goals, scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Richland. Tom Sanford chipped in 18 points.

* Prairie was led by Stephen Madson's 20 points. Jeff Dorman had 15 for the Falcons.

* The teams were pretty even in most categories - Richland shot 46.4 percent, Prairie 47.1; Richland had 12 turnover, Prairie had 15; Richland shot 60 percent from the free-throw line while Prairie was at 61.1 percent.

* Big differences were in number of free throws - Richland had 30 (making 18) while Prairie took just 18 free throws, making 11 - and in rebounds. Richland held a commanding 41-25 advantage on the boards.

Julia Nix scored 17 points and grabbed 12 boards for Rogers but the Rams were eliminated from the state tournament.
Jen Cogburn led the Eagles with 14, while sophomore Kayla Reno added 11 for GK.

Richland prevails over Prairie, 73-63.

Graham-Kapowsin leads Rogers, 40-30, early in the fourth quarter.

Graham-Kapowsin's Jen Cogburn, right, wrestles the ball from Rogers' Nichole Jones at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

We don't have any Decatur-Shadle Park boys quarterfinal updates for you just yet. That's because Richland and Prairie are still playing.

The Decatur-Shadle Park game was supposed to start 15 minutes ago at 3:30 p.m. There's five minutes left in the Richland-Prairie game and with the 20-minute warmup for each game, we're about 30-35 minutes behind schedule.

About five minutes to play and Richland leads Prairie, 56-51.

A few notes and stats from halftime:

* Jake Haworth (11 points) and Tom Sanford (10) are the leading scorers for Richland.

* Stephen Madison leads Prairie with 12 points.

* Prairie shot 52 percent from the field in the first half (13-of-25). Richland was almost as good at 46.7 percent (14-of-30).

* The largest lead of the game was five points (Prairie 11-6). There were three lead changes, four ties.

It's at the intermission. Richland leads Prairie, 36-34.

We're deep into Day 2 here at the Tacoma Dome, and if there's one thing that stands out so far is the high number of charges/blocks that are being called.

The problem isn't with the referees. It's with the players.

Too often - at least in my humble opinion - defensive players are setting themselves up to take a charge instead of trying to play some defense. Players jump in front of offensive players driving, they move into guys shooting layups. Often, they're called for a block, which is the right call.

The result so far has been a lot of bodies flopping on the floor and players sent sprawling because of the contact. Who said basketball is a non-contact sport?

Outside of the coaches telling their players to stop doing this, something needs to be done. I think a rule change might be in order to tighten up the rules on charges so that players are discouraged from trying to take them.

Besides being ugly basketball - who wants to see all those stoppages in play or collisions - the practice of trying to take a charge is dangerous. Someone's going to be hurt, whether it's the defensive player getting smashed by the offensive player or the offensive player landing awkwardly.

Prairie leads Richland, 18-15, after one quarter.

OK, so we flubbed our 4A boys and girls championship game predictions. The Franklin boys and Jackson girls didn't even make it out of the first round.

So, to steal a little from the coaches and players we cover, we're going to "take it one day at a time" and predict the winners of tonight's quarterfinals.

Here's what we think:

Boys
Reporter Doug Pacey
Decatur vs. Shadle Park
Federal Way vs. Lincoln
Ferris vs. Edmonds-Woodway
Bellarmine Prep vs. Foss

Reporter Darrin Beene
Decatur vs. Shadle Park
Federal Way vs. Lincoln
Ferris vs. Edmonds-Woodway
Bellarmine Prep vs. Foss

Girls
Reporter Mindi Rice
Lake Stevens vs. Prairie
Snohomish vs. Lewis and Clark
Kentwood vs. Moses Lake
Ballard vs. Pasco

Kentridge's Brandon Turner dunks at the buzzer to cap the victory over Garfield at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008.
JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

I'm some what of a fanatic for uniforms and the various styles of jerseys. Without a doubt the most colorful warmups at the tournament belong to the Richland boys team.

Richland's warmups remind me of something you might have saw back in the ABA days. The school's colors are green and gold and they do nothing to subdue them.

The pants are green-and-yellow striped and are as funky as it gets. The tops are mostly green and are old school button ups. On the back in a "unique" font is their nickname, Bombers.

Kristi Kingma's career at Jackson is over and Washington is waiting for its next star, but the Timberwolves' senior went out with a bang Thursday.

With 25 points in the second half, Kingma finished with 43 points to break Joyce Walker's 1980 state tournament record of 40 points in a single game.

Kingma hit a three from the top of the key with 1:58 remaining to tie the record at 40 then hit a shot from about two feet left of the first one with 56 seconds to go for her 43rd points.

Kingma, who missed a chance to tie the game with four seconds on the clock, was presented with the game ball after the game.

Senior Ashlee Smith led Skyview with 29 points in the 77-74 consolation win.

Kentridge outscored Garfield 35-21 in the second half to prevail, 62-51.

Renado Parker led three Chargers in double figures, scoring 19 points and adding eight rebounds. Chris Washington had 17 and Gary Bell added 12 for Kentridge.

The Chargers might have won by more if not for some trouble at the free-throw line. Kentridge made just 12 of 26 free throws (46.2 percent).

Garfield was led by freshman Tony Wroten, who scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Wroten, however, scored just three points in the second half and went 0-for-7 from the field after halftime.

Jackson's Kristi Kingsma scored 43 points but it wasn't enough to prevent Jackson from losing to Skyview, which won 77-74.

Kentridge stays alive, beating Garfield 62-51 in a loser out game.

Kentridge turned up its defense and has pulled ahead of Garfield, leading 48-44 with about four minutes to play.

Skyview is up 39-36 on Jackson at halftime on the girls' court.

Jackson's Kristi Kingma leads all scorers with 18, while Ashlee Smith has 16 for Skyview.

The winner will face the winner of Rogers and Graham-Kapowsin tomorrow.

Mount Tahoma 60, Inglemoor 56 (OT): Senior Necie Samms scored seven of her game-high 17 points in overtime to send Inglemoor home in Thursday’s opening consolation game.
The Thunderbirds (21-6) outscored the Vikings 13-9 in the final four minutes after Samms sent the game to overtime by making the second of two free throws with 3.6 seconds remaining in regulation.
“I wanted to play four games, not two,” Samms said. “I kept thinking this could be the last game of my career.”
Mount Tahoma faces Bellarmine Prep today for the fourth time this season in a loser-out game at 11 a.m.
Two Thunderbirds had a double-double in the game as senior Sabrina Scott scored 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while junior Carrie Ojeda had 15 points and 14 boards.
“I felt like I owed it to the seniors who’ve just worked hard and want to have a good ending to their season,” said Ojeda, who scored six in overtime.
Senior Rachel Williamson led Inglemoor with 13 points in her final game for the Vikings, who finish the season at 19-5.

Jackson's Kristi Kingma drives past Skyview's Abby Olbrich at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Garfield leads Kentridge, 30-27, in a loser out game at the half.

Garfield's getting a big game from freshman Tony Wroten, who leads all scorers with 14 points. He's also got five rebounds.

Kentridge's Chris Washington has scored eight points and teammate Renado Parker has added seven points.

Kentridge's Brandon Turner squeezes a shot off through Garfield's Jamaal Thomas, left, and Tony Wroten at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Covering a state basketball tournament is among the most difficult things for a sports department to do. The amount of teams and games and the intensity of play and interest make for a difficult mix to capture in our pages and online.

We annually devote lots of newspaper space and manpower to reporting on the state tournaments. This year, in addition to a considerable amount of coverage in the printed paper, we are doing several things online.

Let me pass along a few statistics about Wednesday's first day of tournament basketball coverage:

Posts to the Prep Blog: 75
Page views to the Prep Blog: 6,256 (It was the fourth most popular page on our Web site.)
Page views to the prep scores database: about 3,600
Page views to prep stories: about 2,000
Reporters and correspondents involved in the coverage: 9 (Doug Pacey, Mindi Rice, Todd Milles, Darrin Beene, Scott Fontaine, Doug Drowley, Mike Curto, Grant Clark and Tyler Hemstreet).
Photographers, photo editors and correspondents involved in the coverage: 11 (Jeremy Harrison, Janet Jensen, Lui Kit Wong, Joe Barrentine, Russ Carmack and six students from Pacific Lutheran University.)
Sports copy editors, page designers and team leaders involved in the coverage: 11 (Dusty Lane, Arnold Lytle, Liz Wishaw, Scott Oberstaller, Bill Schey, Jonathan Smith, Kenny Via, John Wallingford, Rob Wieman, Victor Yoshida and Paul Miller.)

Garfield leads Kentridge, 16-12, after one quarter.

If you're a follower of high school basketball, then you have heard about Tony Wroten, the fantastic freshman from Garfield.

Wroten is showing that the hype is justified.

He's scored eight of Garfield's first 13 points. He got two points on a tip in when a teammate had a layup blocked. Wroten flew in and put it back in practically before his teammate landed.

Final stats and highlights from Franklin's 56-49 win over Mariner:

* Franklin outscored Mariner 20-10 in the fourth quarter, nullifying three quarters of sluggish play. The Quakers were down by four after one quarter, six at the half and three entering the fourth.

* Peyton Siva, despite landing hard on his right shoulder near the end of the second quarter, led all scorers with 19 points. He got it done at the free-throw line, making 9-of-12 of his attempts.

* Chris Holmes chipped in 16 points, including some key baskets down the stretch, for the Quakers.

* Mariner, which led by as much as 10 points in the game, hurt itself with turnovers, committing 25 in the game.

* The Marauders were led by Joey Dillon's 14 points and Damascus Purnell's 10.

The Lions poured it on with an 18-6 third quarter, including Mechela Barnes scoring five points in the first four minutes before leaving the game with an injury. The Lions won, 49-36.

Bellarmine Prep gets its fourth game against Mount Tahoma this season in a loser-out game at 11 a.m. Friday.

Barnes returned to the bench with an icepack on her right cheek. I'll hopefully get more info post-game.

The Quakers trailed for most of the game but pulled it out in the final minutes to keep their season alive. They defeat Mariner, 56-49, and will play Snohomish on Friday.

Franklin looks like it's going to survive. There's 20 seconds left and the Quakers lead, 55-49.

Less than a minute to play and Franklin leads Mariner, 52-49, after Peyton Siva hits two free throws.

Franklin’s Lavell White shoots over Mariner’s Tevin Dillon and Damascus Purnell at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Franklin and Mariner are going at it right now. There's under three minutes to play and Mariner is holding a 49-48 lead. The lead has changed at least four times the last minute or so.

The Lions opened the fourth quarter with a 15-2 run, but we've now got a delayed game as sophomore point guard Mechela Barnes, who apparently got hit in the jaw, is lying on the sidelines with trainers and paramedics tending to her. She just finally got up and they sat her on the bench; Barnes appears a bit woozy.

Franklin has pulled itself out of a hole some, and trails Mariner just 39-36 after three quarters. Peyton Siva, however, has four fouls....

Puyallup's Katie Tillman, left forces the ball out of the hands of Bellarmine's Jen Hunter in the second quarter at the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Junior Lauren Picha had eight second-quarter points (and 10 in the first half) as the Vikings are up by two on Bellarmine Prep at halftime.

Freshman Sarah Hartwell leads the Lions with six.

Franklin guard Peyton Siva appears to be OK. Siva, who landed hard on his right shoulder in the second quarter and had to come out of the game, started the third quarter for Franklin. He just made two free throws to cut Mariner's lead to 26-20.

A few stats and stuff from the Mariner-Franklin game:

* Mariner's Damascus Purnell leads a balanced scoring attack with six points. Two other Marauders have five points - Joey Dillon and Danny Chhann - and Nick Malysheff has scored four.

* The Marauders owe their six-point lead to a huge advantage at the free-throw line. Mariner has made 10 of 11 free throws, including Purnell's perfect 4-for-4. Franklin is just 7-of-13 from the free-throw line.

* Franklin's shooting woes aren't limited to the free-throw line. The Quakers have made just 5-of-22 shots from the field - that's just 22.7 percent. They've struggled even more from 3-point range, making just 1-of-9 (11.1 percent).

* Peyton Siva leads Franklin with eight points, but has made only two of nine shots.

It's 9-6 Bellarmine Prep after one quarter.

Earlier, Necie Samms led Mount Tahoma with 17 points, while Carrie Ojeda had 15 points and 14 rebounds.

At the half, Mariner is beating Franklin, 24-18.

Franklin's star guard, Peyton Siva, was shaken up trying to block a layup by Mariner's Danny Chhann.

Siva skied in a futile attempt to block Chhann's shot and then landed hard on his right shoulder. Time was stopped while Siva was attended to and he had to leave the game.

Franklin, with about three minutes to play in the half, is trailing 20-14 to Mariner. And frustration seems to be settling in.

Franklin coach Jason Kerr was just slapped with a technical. Kerr has been pretty vocal about some of the calls and his dissatisfaction with them. Add in the fact that his team hasn't scored in about three minutes, and you can see how a guy might be a little testy.

About six minutes to go in the first half and Mariner is leading Franklin, 16-14.

MT wins, 60-56, in the longest four-minute overtime of my life.

Scorers to come after post-game quotes.

Tacoma Baptist knocked off Northwest Christian of Colbert today, 55-42, in a consolation-round game at the Class 2B tournament in Spokane.

The victory for the Crusaders, 17-5, advances into the consolation semifinals at 11 a.m. Friday against Pomeroy, a 52-49 winner today over Evergreen Lutheran.

The Spokesman-Review has a rundown on today's Tacoma Baptist game.

A couple of notes on Snohomish's 68-63 win over Mt. View:

* Brad Shaw of Snohomish scored a game-high 26 points. He made four of five 3-pointers.

* Snohomish had two other double-digit scorers: Zach Wilde with 13 and Brad Low with 12. Nick Klop had a team-high seven rebounds.

* Mt. View was led by Taylor Dunn's 20 points. Dunn also had seven rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.

* For Mt. View, Joseph Vance scored 12 points and had a game-high eight assists. Kyle Carothers scored eight points and had a game-high nine rebounds.

Snohomish, trailing by five with about 3 1/2 minutes to play, rallied to beat Mountain View, 68-63, in a losers out game at the Tacoma Dome.

Brad Shaw scored eight points in the last 2:55 for Snohomish, and had 12 points in the fourth quarter.

Tied at 61 with 1:08 to play, Clayton Johnson scored on a nifty inside move to give Snohomish the lead. Mt. View's Taylor Dunn then missed a driving layup that would have tied the game, and the Thunder was forced to foul. Snohomish made five of its last six free-throw attempts to ice it.

With 22 seconds remaining, senior Rachel Williamson picked off a pass and sailed down the court to score for Inglemoor and put the Vikings up, 47-46.

Mount Tahoma's Necie Samms hit the second of two free-throws with 3.6 remaining to tie it up at 47 all.

And now we're headed to our first overtime of the 4A girls state tournament.

Taylor Dunn just made two free throws for Mt. View to tie the game at 61 with about a minute to play...

The first boys game of the day, Mountain View vs. Snohomish, is going right down to the wire. With 4:19 to play, Mountain View leads Snohomish 53-52

Mount Tahoma’s Charly Williams, right, and Inglemoor’s Rachel Williamson scramble for a lose ball in the first quarter of the first game of the day on the second day of the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

With 22 seconds to go in the third quarter, Necie Samms hit a jumper from the top of the key to tie the game at 36 and now we're headed into the final eight minutes.

Inglemoor's a tough KingCo team and aren't going to led MT cruise by them easily.

Danielle Hunter temporarily put MT up by three to start the fourth.

(half-ish)
It was 27-20 Inglemoor when I walked in at halftime, but MT went on a seven-point run to tie it at 27 all. The Thunderbirds have the ball with four minutes to go in the third and Inglemoor up 32-27.

Snohomish’s Brad Shaw shoots under Mountain View’s Kyle Carothers in the first quarter of the first game of the day on the second day of the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Washington Class 2B basketball tournament
at Spokane Arena
First round
Liberty Bell 57, Reardan 45
LaConner 81, Wellpinit 68
NW Christian (Colbert) 66, Napavine 39
Darrington 68, NW Christian (Lacey) 65
Riverside Christian 66, Bear Creek School 44
Lind-Ritzville 56, Seattle Lutheran 37
Wahkiakum 51, St. George’s 47
Toutle Lake 65, Life Christian 41

Washington Class 2B girls basketball tournament
at Spokane Arena
First round
King's West 48, Tacoma Baptist 30
La Salle 78, NW Christian (Colbert) 42
White Pass 54, Pomeroy 45
St. George’s 53, Evergreen Lutheran 32
Napavine 39, LaConner 19
Liberty Bell 56, Liberty (Spangle) 30
Lind-Ritzville 59, Seattle Lutheran 24
Mossyrock 51, Shoreline Christian 41

LuQuam Thompson's driving floater with 1.5 seconds left broke a tie score, giving Foss a 53-51 win over Prairie and sending it into the quarterfinals where Foss will face Bellarmine Prep at 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

Foss has lost twice this season to Bellarmine, the first a 51-49 defeat and the second a 71-56 defeat in the semifinals of the West Central District tournament last week.

Washington Class 1A boys basketball tournament
At Yakima SunDome
First round
Vashon Island 55, Toledo 54
White Swan 59, Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) 45
Brewster 65, Castle Rock 38
River View 42, Cedar Park Christian 39
Connell 59, King’s 55
Bellevue Christian 63, Freeman 56
Granger 64, Lake Roosevelt 52
Charles Wright 55, Winlock 24

Washington Class 1A girls basketball tournament
At Yakima SunDome
First round
Burbank 61, Chelan 58, OT
Nooksack Valley 52, Onalaska 38
Seattle Academy 56, Rainier 42
Granger 51, Freeman 35
Lynden Christian 67, Toledo 28
Colfax 65, Zillah 53
Lakeside 48, Bellevue Christian 37
Connell 57, Vashon Island 40

Washington Class 4A boys basketball tournament
At Tacoma Dome
First round
Decatur 49, Snohomish 39
Shadle Park 67, Mountain View 43
Federal Way 63,Franklin 58
Lincoln 61, Mariner 53
Edmonds-Woodway 58, Kentridge 40
Ferris 68, Garfield 39
Bellarmine Prep 75, Richland 66
Foss 53, Prairie 51

Washington Class 4A girls basketball tournament
At Tacoma Dome
First round
Lake Stevens 67, Mount Tahoma 43
Prairie 64, Inglemoor 49
Snohomish 49, Bellarmine Prep 27
Lewis & Clark 46, Puyallup 27
Kentwood 66, Skyview 46
Moses Lake 63, Jackson 57
Ballard 48, Rogers (Puyallup) 39
Pasco 50, Graham-Kapowsin 34

The Beavers won their 22nd game of the season, 48-39, against Rogers, who shot 18.6 percent for the game.

Rogers plays the loser of the Graham-Kapowsin--Pasco game that just started; Ballard plays the winner.

Bellarmine Prep is in the quarterfinals after dispatching Richland 75-66. The Lions' 75 points is the most by any team so far in the first round.

The Bombers led 11-1 early in the first quarter, but Bellarmine had trimmed the deficit to one point (36-35) by halftime.

Bellarmine will play the winner of the Foss-Prairie game at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Bellarmine Prep leads Richland 63-55 with 3 minutes, 8 seconds left in the game. If the Lions win, they'll face the winner of the Foss-Prairie game at 8:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Ballard is up, 28-19, on Rogers at halftime. It's been a messy game with quite a few Beavers' turnovers keeping the Rams in the game.

Bellarmine Prep’s Abdul Gaddy shoots over Richland’s Max Bixler in the first quarter of their opening day meeting in the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008. JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

63-57 is really all you need to know.

Junior Carly Noyes (23 points, 10 rebounds), senior (sister!) Ann Noyes (16 pts), Kelly Sutherland (14 pts) and freshman Jordan Loera (10 pts) were too much for Jackson and Kristi Kingma (27 points) the day's first first true upset.

Moses Lake advances to a quarterfinal with Kentwood, while Jackson faces Skyview in a loser-out game.

In the fifth boys game of the day, Ferris is beginning to pull away from Garfield.

Garfield had chiseled a 10-point half-time lead to six in the third quarter but now trails, 46-28, with 39.2 seconds to go in the third.

Ferris, the defending 4A champions, lead Garfield, 30-20, at the half.

For the Saxsons, Jeff Minnerly has 14 points. Garfield is paced by Tony Wroten with 14 points.

A close game in the first half between Jackson and Moses Lake. Jackson holds a 32-30 lead after two quarters.

Kristi Kingma leads Jackson with 14 points and has made two of three three-pointers.

For Moses Lake, Carly Noyes scored 16 points and has made seven of eight shots from the field.

Kristi Kingma and Jackson have a two-point lead at halftime against Moses Lake.

Kingma leads the Timberwolves with 14 points, while Carly Noyes leads Moses Lake with 16.

Kentwood, behind Lindsey Moore's 24 points, won its first-round game of the 4A girls tournament, defeating Skyview 66-46.

The Conquerors erased a five-point deficit after one quarter by outscoring Skyview 22-8 in the second. Kentwood never trailed after that.

Moore made 9 of 16 shots to lead the hot-shooting Conquerors, who shot 46.3 percent for the game. The Storm made 50 percent of their shots in the first half but tailed off in the second, sinking just 28 percent.

Ashlee Smith led Skyview with 17 points and seven rebounds.

It's over -- Edmonds-Woodway defeated Kentridge, 58-40.

James Conti (17 points) and Sean Laue (12 points) led E-W, which shot 45.8 percent from the field. Their defense, though, was a big factor in the win.

Kentridge made just 35.9 percent of its shots, making 14 of 39 field goal attempts. Plus, the Chargers made just 11 of 25 free-throw attempts (44 percent) and committed 22 turnovers.

Renado Parker led the Chargers with 21 points and 11 rebounds. He was the only Kentridge player to score more than five points, however.

Edmonds-Woodway’s James Conti drives past Kentridge’s Renado Parker in the fifth game of the day in the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008. Bryanna Plog for the The News Tribune

Kentridge just took a timeout and it could not have come at a better time. The Chargers need to regroup after a minute of sloppy play.

The Chargers had cut the Edmonds-Woodway lead to seven at 38-31 but then went into a funk. They committed back-to-back turnovers and allowed two point-blank baskets and now trail 44-31 with 4:17 left.

The Conquerors are up 52-41 early in the fourth quarter. Moore has 13 points for KW, while Ashlee Smith has 14 for the Storm, whose three losses this season are all in close games with Prairie.

Heading into the fourth quarter, Kentridge trails Edmonds-Woodway, 33-24.

If you the action on the courts at the 4A tournaments isn't cutting it, then you can always turn to the stands for something interesting.

Case in point: As good as the game is between the Skyview and Kentwood girls teams is - and it's a good, close one - check out the fans for Skyview. There's more than 10 girls - hard to count when they're all moving around - dressed a like in, shall we say, unique costumes.

The girls are wearing black skirts with white shirts. They have on red vests and black ties, and their hair is tied up in pig tails. Lots of makeup, too.

Not sure what that all means, but ... go team!

There have been plenty of other students in curious garb. One guy had on a pair of green-and-yellow striped overalls. Another was dressed all in fluorescent orange. Talk about eye noise.

Some students look like they're about ready to attend an Oakland Raiders football game. One guy, a fan of the Mariner Marauders, looked like the dude on the side of the Raiders helmet, right down to the eye patch. The only difference was the guy had used something black to cover his eyes.

Kentwood 38, Skyview 29 at halftime.

With 3.5 seconds to go, Kentwood junior Lindsey Moore dished to senior Kelsey Jenkins for a baseline three. On the Skyview inbounds, Moore read the pass perfectly picking it off, and tossing up a long, twisting three from the corner as the buzzer sounded. KW definitely has the momentum going into the second half.

It's intermission for the fifth boys game of the day, and Edmonds-Woodway leads Kentridge, 23-13.

Kentridge is not only having trouble shooting -- the Chargers have made just five of 15 shots for 33 percent -- it's having trouble getting shots off. E-W has taken 11 more shots and taken advantage of 11 Kentridge turnovers.

No one player has stood out so far, as six players have scored between four and six points. Renado Parker of Kentridge leads all scorers with six points.

Edmonds-Woodway leads Kentridge 21-10 with three minutes left in the second quarter.

The Warriors are diving all over the court and hustling, while Kentridge seems to be in a bit of a daze.

Skyview 21, Kentwood 16 after the first quarter. It's a good back and forth match in this one, between the fifth-ranked Storm and West Central District champion Kentwood. Senior Dayle Powell leads Skyview with eight, while freshman Courtney Johnson has four to lead the Conquerors.

Kentridge trails Edmonds-Woodway by six after one quarter.

Kentridge got off to a sluggish start in its game against Edmonds Woodway, going almost four minutes without a basket. Chris Washington broke the streak and luckily for the Chargers, they trail only 8-2 with about three minutes to go in the first quarter.

The two-time defending state champions were too much for Puyallup.

The Vikings lost, 46-27, to the Lewis and Clark Tigers in the girls 4A tournament.

Puyallup was led by Danielle Moore's nine points and struggled offensively against the Tigers. The Vikings shot just 24.4 percent from the field for the game (10-of-41) and had just two points in the first quarter.

The Vikings, however, trailed only 16-9 at the half. The Tigers opened up the game in the third quarter, outscoring Puyallup 17-7.

Lewis and Clark was led by Brittany Kennedy, who scored 10 points. Kelsey Baker and Sarah Kliewer each had seven rebounds for the Tigers.

Lincoln’s Kaleb Shelton, right, and Mariner’s Tevin Dillon run down a lose ball near the end of the fourth game of the day in the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008. Bryanna Plog for the The News Tribune

Washington Class 4A boys basketball tournament
At Tacoma Dome
Today
First round
Decatur 49, Snohomish 39
Shadle Park 67, Mountain View 43
Federal Way 63,Franklin 58
Lincoln 61, Mariner 53
Edmonds-Woodway (19-4) vs. Kentridge (21-5), 3:30 p.m.
Garfield (17-7) vs. Ferris (25-0), 5 p.m.
Richland (19-8) vs. Bellarmine Prep (22-3), 7 p.m.
Foss (15-11) vs. Prairie (14-7), 8:30 p.m.

Washington Class 4A girls basketball tournament
At Tacoma Dome
Today
First round
Lake Stevens 67, Mount Tahoma 43
Prairie 64, Inglemoor 49
Snohomish 49, Bellarmine Prep 27
Lewis & Clark 46, Puyallup 27
Skyview (22-3) vs. Kentwood (21-4), 3:30 p.m.
Moses Lake (21-5) vs. Jackson (22-1), 5 p.m.
Rogers (Puyallup) (10-15) vs. Ballard (21-2), 7 p.m.
Graham-Kapowsin (19-6) vs. Pasco (20-6), 8:30 p.m.

Those Abes are moving on to the second round after beating Mariner, 61-53.

Kaleb Shelton led Lincoln with 18 points. Three others -- Dominique Faga'atau (13 points), Ryan Rogers (12 points) and Turrell Smith (10) -- scored in double figures for Lincoln.

Damascus Purnell led Mariner with 14 points and six rebounds. Michael Minor and Tevin Dillon each had 12 for the Marauders.

Lincoln's full-court pressure helped force Mariner into 22 turnovers. The Abes also had 12 steals, led by Rogers' three.

Lincoln High holds a 44-34 lead after three quarters against Mariner. If the Abes can hold on, they'll face Federal Way in a second-round game on Thursday.

Puyallup junior Danielle Moore hit a long three from behind the dotted arc as time expired on the half to cut two-time defending state champion Lewis & Clark's lead to 16-9 going into the locker room.

Moore leads the Vikings with five points while senior Tabitha Tomlinson has four but has played just 11 minutes with foul trouble. Jeneva Anderson leads seven Tigers' scorers with four points.

Lincoln, thanks to a big second quarter, holds a 32-21 lead over Mariner at the half.

The Abes led by three after the first quarter but outscored the Marauders 17-9 in the second. Kaleb Shelton leads Lincoln with nine points while Dominique Faga'autau has seven and Ryan Rogers five.

Mariner's Joey Dillon leads all scorers with 11 points.

Puyallup is having a hard time against undefeated Lewis & Clark, which leads 8-2 after one quarter in the girls 4A tournament game.

The Vikings did not score until 32.7 seconds left in the quarter, getting two free-throws from Bailey Miller to break their scoring drought.

Bellarmine Prep’s Alivia Hale, left tries to block Snohomish’s Allison Burns in thefourth quarter of the third game of the day in the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.
JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

The third girls 4A game is over and it's all Snohomish, 49-27, over Bellarmine Prep.

Cold-shooting Bellarmine went just 6-for-41 from the field (14.6 percent). The Lions were led by Alivia Hale's seven points.

Snohomish's Katie Benson scored 24 points and had 14 rebounds. Benson went 12-of-18 from the field and had nine offensive rebounds and was the only player to score in double digits in the game.

The Eagles, the fifth-seed out of the West Central District, hung on to beat Franklin in large part because of the play of Aaron Broussard. Broussard scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Jeff Forbes also had a big game, scoring 17 points for the Eagles.

Franklin was led by Peyton Siva, who scored 15 points and had nine assists.

Three quarters are done and the Bellarmine Prep girls are still trailing in their 4A game against Snohomish. Snohomish leads, 38-19.

Katie Benson is a big reason for the Snohomish lead. She's scored 20 points, most from inside, as Snohomish has capitalized on a big rebounding advantage. The Panthers have 13 seccond-chance points, including 11 in the second quarter alone.

Federal Way upset second-ranked Franklin, 63-58, in the third boys game of the 4A tournament.

Early in the third quarter, things are not going so well for the Belleramine Prep girls. They trail Snohomish, 27-10.

Federal Way holds a 57-51 lead over Franklin with 1:44 left to play. The Eagles are in the bonus, so if they can make some free throws, they have a good chance to advance.

Standing off to the side of the west end of the Tacoma Dome is UW men's basketball coach Lorenzo Romar, decked out in a purple Huskies polo shirt and holding a purple umbrella.

Romar's intently watching the Federal Way-Franklin game, which features Franklin guard Peyton Siva, one of the area's top recruits. Siva is the No. 5 ranked junior point guard in the nation, according to Scout.com. Siva is considering UW, Louisville and Kansas.

Siva has scored 10 points through three quarters and has his Quakers leading the Eagles, 45-44 heading into the final quarter.

(Final shameless self-promotion.)

Read what others think about Federal Way coach Jerome Collins' always-colorful suits here.

It's halftime of the Federal Way-Franklin game. Federal Way holds a 29-28 lead on a last-second putback by Aaron Broussard.

Federal Way’s Isaiah Umipig, top, and Andre Barrington fight Franklin’s Vionte Reid for the ball in the first quarter of the third game of the day in the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.
JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

(The self-promotion is almost over.)

There's another atmosphere post from the Tacoma Dome here.

The Federal Way game with Franklin got off to a slow start but the teams began picking it up. Federal Way leads, 16-14, after one quarter thanks to a Jeff Forbes layup in the final seconds. Forbes was freed by a crushing screen by Daniel Young.

There's no doubt who is the best dressed person in the Tacoma Dome right now. Federal Way coach Jerome Collins wins in a landslide.

Collins is rocking a lavender suit, complete with matching vest. His jacket is lavender and white checked. It must be getting close to Easter.

Shadle Park boys won comfortably in their first-round game, beating Mt. View 67-43 in the second game of the day from the 4A Tournament at the Tacoma Dome.

Zach Humphrey led the way for Shadle Park, scoring 18 of his game-high 24 points in the first half. Anthony Brown, who is headed to Washington State, added 12 points and Aaron Dunn had a game-high 13 rebounds for the Highlanders.

Mt. View was led by Taylor Dunn's 14 points. Kyel Carothers scored 10 points and had seven rebounds for the Thunder.

Shadle Park led by six points after one quarter thanks to Humphrey's buzzer-beating three-pointer. The lead grew to 11 at the half and 15 entering the fourth quarter.

In case you're wondering who's bringing you coverage of today's games, I snapped this photo.

That's Trib prep sports guru Doug Pacey to the right (and likely annoyed at the flash going off a feet from his face). Next to him is Darrin Beene, the man who can do it all for us. And then there's Tom Wyrwich of the Seattle Times. (He's the competition, but he's also a college buddy from Mizzou, so I only have good things to say.)

(More shameless plugging below)

Another post on the atmosphere of the Tacoma Dome is here.

Mt. View guard Matt Raivio is a dead ringer for his oldest brother, Derek Raivio, the former standout guard for Gonzaga.

Matt, a slightly built guard with closely cropped blond hair, had four points in the first half of the Thunder's game against Shadle Park. He'll need to drill some 3-pointers like his brother if Mt. View of Vancouver is to overcome Shadle Park, however.

Prarie’s McKenzie Meyer, left, and Katelyn Scobba, right fight Inglemoor’s Brittany Gardner for the ball in the first quarter of the second game of the day in the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.
JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Heading into the fourth quarter of the second boys game, Shadle Park holds a commanding 48-33 lead.

McDonald's All-American Ashley Corral scored 12 of the Falcons' 18 first-quarter points for an early 18-9 lead against Inglemoor.

At the half, Corral has 21 of Prairie's 34 and three assists. Lindsay Finch leads Inglemoor with 11.

Corral finished with 26. Finch led Inglemoor with 17.

Halftime shows by cheerleaders/dance squads is a time honored tradition at basketball games and the 4A tournament is no different. The performance by the Mt. View dance squad, however, was not the usual dance routine.

Far from it. The squad wore black pants, white and black striped socks, black Converse high tops and white tops that resembled straight jackets. Their act could best be described as Bride of Frankenstein meets the Zombie. The dancers moved herky-jerky and stared blankly out in space like the undead. Pompoms were not seen.

I'm no art critic, so I won't try and decide if the routine was good or not. But it was different, and after seeing close to 400 'go-fight team' routines over the years, this one definitely stood out.

I talked to a couple of the performers and they said they've seen a lot of stares and confused looks by audiences during their routines. So I guess I'm not the only one.

The Shadle Park boys team leads Mt. View, 35-24, at the half.

One of the highlights was a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Shadle Park's Zach Humphrey to close the first quarter. As time was running down, Humphrey heaved a 25-foot shot from along the left side to give the Highlanders a 19-13 lead.

Humphrey had a big first half, scoring 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including five of his nine three-point attempts.

Taylor Dunn leads Mt. View with 10 points at the half.

The Vashon boys won their first-round game this morning against Toledo, 55-54, in the Class 1A tournament in Yakima.

From The Associated Press:

John Gage scored 17 points and Chris Pieterick added 14 as seventh-ranked Vashon Island held off a late Toledo charge to beat the Indians, 55-54, in the first round of the Class 1A boys state tournament.

Pieterick made a free throw with 12 seconds remaining to seal the win.
Toledo, which trailed by seven with fewer than three minutes to play, got a layup by David Wallace with three seconds left to close the scoring.

Gage had 11 points in the first half, but the Pirates (21-4) couldn't muster more than a seven-point lead before intermission. They extended the advantage to 44-33 early in the fourth before Toledo (13-12) charged back.

Talon Rakoz scored 11 of his 12 points for Toledo in the final quarter to spark the comeback. David Wallace added a game-high 18 points, and Jarrod Yates also had 12 points.

The Yakima Herald Republic's tourneytown.com site also has the details.

Mountain View’s Matt Raivio, left, and Shadle Park’s Zach Humphrey run down a lose ball in the first few minutes of the second game of the day in the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.
JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

(Shameless self-promotion below)

The first post about the crowd at the Tacoma Dome is posted here.

King's West beat Tacoma Baptist this morning, 48-30, in the opening game of the Class 2B girls basketball tournament in Spokane. The Spokesman Review has a rundown on the game.

Snohomish’s Brad Shaw fights for a lose ball with Decatur’s Marcus Tibbs in the first few minutes of the first game of the day in the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.
JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

Mount Tahoma's Shauneice Samms drives in to Lake Stevens' Brittany Tri in the first few minutes of the first game of the day in the state 4A basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008.
JOE BARRENTINE/The News Tribune

For the second year ina row, Decatur beat Snohomish in the first round. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't that exciting, but Decatur will take the victory nonetheless. The Gators' 49 points is their lowest output this season.

Gators forward Darious Walker did have a few nice dunks in the game.

Decatur will play the winner of Mountain View-Shadle Park at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow. Snohomish gets the loser of that game at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Ojeda finished with 14 to lead Mount Tahoma, while Personius scored 23 for the Vikings.

The Thunderbirds play the loser of Prairie-Inglemoor tomorrow at 9 a.m. Mount T was 2-of-28 behind the arc.

Lake Stevens 37, Mount Tahoma 22 (half)
Carrie Ojeda leads the Thunderbirds with 10 points at halftime, while Mary Ochiltree has 14 and Alona Personius has 10 for the Vikings.

Mount Tahoma was 0-of-11 from behind the arc in the first half and shot 19.4 percent (7-of-36) overall. Lake Stevens shot 40 percent (12-of-30) in the first half.

Mount Tahoma down big early
After scoring the first point of the game on a Necie Samms free throw, Mount Tahoma didn't hit a field goal until Carrie Ojeda scored with 2:25 left in the first quarter.

In that time, Lake Stevens went on a 16-0 run. At the end of the first quarter, it's Lake Stevens 20, Mount Tahoma 5.

The Panthers aren't going away. Brad Shaw just drilled a 3-pointer and Zach Wilde made a lay-in, cutting Decatur's lead to 35-30.

We're off and running at the Class 4A state tournament, but Snohomish and Decatur are awfully sluggish.

Halfway through the first quarter, Decatur is ahead 4-3.

We've got four minutes on the clock with Mount Tahoma and Lake Stevens warming up on the floor... state basketball is finally here and it's time to get excited (or at least wake up!).

Behind the cut you'll find my team capsules for all 16 girls teams that ran in today's paper. We'll give you many, many updates throughout the day, so tune in when you have the time.

=> Read more!

Well, not quite yet. But soon.

The News Tribune will be at the Tacoma Dome in force during the Class 4A boys and girls basketball state tournaments this week.

We'll provide a steady stream of game updates, analysis and commentary on what's going on, video and updated photo galleries throughout the day.

Check back often.

We've seen the bracket, we've picked our favorites and, as the draw goes sometimes, a showdown of No. 1 and No. 2 could happen Friday night rather than in the title game as Lewis & Clark and Prairie are both in the top half of the bracket. Speaking of the top half, the 4A girls bracket is pretty top-heavy this year. The fourth quarter-bracket, with Ballard, Pasco, Rogers (Puyallup) and Graham-Kapowsin, looks like the easiest one. Word is, some coaches were jealous of coach Karen Blair and Ballard's draw.

A few things look familiar: Kentwood and Skyview matched up in the first round in 2007, as did Lewis & Clark and Puyallup. Kentwood and Lewis & Clark, respectively, came out on top last year. And the past two years, Lake Stevens and Mount Tahoma have met at state. This year, it's the opening game of the girls' bracket.

Expanded thoughts on the girls' draw, including comments from Puyallup, Mount Tahoma and Kentwood coaches, behind the cut...

=> Read more!

I just got back from the basketball state tournament draws at WIAA headquarters in Renton. We've got a few intriguing matchups. The tournament starts Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome. Here are the first-round matchups with links to the brackets:

4A Boys
Game 1: Decatur vs. Snohomish, 9 a.m.
Game 2: Mountain View vs. Shadle Park, 10:30 a.m.
Game 3: Federal Way vs. Franklin, noon
Game 4: Mariner vs. Lincoln, 2 p.m.
Game 5: Edmonds-Woodway vs. Kentridge, 3:30 p.m.
Game 6: Garfield vs. Ferris, 5 p.m.
Game 7: Richland vs. Bellarmine Prep
Game 8: Foss vs. Prairie, 8:30 p.m.

4A Girls
Game 1: Lake Stevens vs. Mount Tahoma, 9 a.m.
Game 2: Inglemoor vs. Prairie, 10:30 a.m.
Game 3: Snohomish vs. Bellarmine Prep, noon
Game 4: Puyallup vs. Lewis and Clark, 2 p.m.
Game 5: Skyview vs. Kentwood, 3:30 p.m.
Game 6: Moses Lake vs. Jackson, 5 p.m.
Game 7: Rogers vs. Ballard, 7 p.m.
Game 8: Graham-Kapowsin vs. Pasco, 8:30 p.m.

If you weren't at Puyallup High School for the Class 4A West Central District boys basketball title game on Saturday night, you missed a heck of a game. Lincoln edged Bellarmine Prep 75-70 after losing to the Lions two times earlier this season.

Lincoln broke open the game in the third quarter, taking a 46-35 lead, but the Lions rallied back to tie the score early in the fourth quarter. It was back and forth from there, but the Abes never trailed.

Even in the victory, Lincoln didn't have an answer for Bellarmine Prep junior guard Abdul Gaddy. The Arizona-commit scored a game-high 26 points as Washington coach Lorenzo Romar watched from behind the baseline.

I compiled a short clip of a few of Gaddy's highlights from the game. Here it is:

I'm working on getting an external microphone so these clips will have audio instead of silence. I promise to have that cleared up before the state tournament.

With Gonzaga freshman Courtney Vandersloot watching over them, the Kentwood Conquerors girls basketball team took its second consecutive WCD 4A title with a win over Mount Tahoma.

Vandersloot, who scored 31 points in the same game a year ago, was tucked away in the stands cheering on her former team after scoring nine points and dishing off 11 assists in Gonzaga's afternoon game at the University of Portland. Gonzaga claimed its fourth straight WCC title with the win.

But in the evening, it was all Kentwood, and former Vandersloot understudy Lindsey Moore, for a 69-53 win as Moore scored 26 points.

Earlier in the day, sophomore point guard Mechela Barnes led Bellarmine Prep with 12 points to a 58-34 win against Puyallup.

-- In 3A play, Enumclaw continued to roll by pouncing on No. 6 Capital after the Cougars lost to Auburn Riverside earlier in the week. Capital is eliminated, while Enumclaw goes on to face Auburn, which bounced back from a loss to Fort Vancouver with a win against Hazen. Auburn won both regular season meetings between the two SPSL teams, by five and by six.

-- In 1A, Vashon snuck into the state tournament with a one-point overtime win against Seattle Christian. It is the Pirates second trip to state in three years.

-- In 2B, Tacoma Baptist won a loser-out game Friday against Toutle Lake to earn the program's first state tournament berth since 1994 and just the second-ever trip to state.

Behind the cut, the entire list of 4A girls basketball state teams, along with their region/district, seed and record through tonight's games.

=> Read more!

We're in the second quarter of the Kentridge-Foss game at Puyallup and the Chargers have a 29-15 lead. Both teams have already locked up state bids, but it looks like Kentridge will be the West Central District No. 3 seed and Foss will be No. 6.

Speaking of the state tournament, I'll be at the WIAA office in Renton for the draw on Sunday and will post the Class 4A, 1A and 2B brackets.

In the meantime, here are some things to consider as the state tournaments draw closer:

-- Lakes made easy work of Mount Rainier, a team that was ranked in the top five in 3A for much of the season. I think Rainier Beach, Auburn and Lakes have separated themselves from the rest of the teams, but can the Lancers and Trojans make a run at the Vikings? We'll certainly find out soon. I do believe that this Lakes team is much more versatile and confident than the one that got spanked 71-54 by Rainier Beach in the first round of last season's state tournament.

-- Lincoln is my pick to score an "upset" at the state tournament. The Abes aren't the most talented team in 4A, but they're deep enough -- 10-12 players get significant minutes -- and athletic enough to play pressure defense the entire game. If Lincoln's opponent can't break the press or has an off-shooting game, the Abes could pull off a stunner.

-- Vashon Island sure surprised me. The Pirates lost three players a week before the postseason for rules violations. They lost their final regular season game and then followed with a loss in the West Central District title game to Seattle Christian, a team they beat twice in the regular season. Seemingly left for dead, Vashon won back-to-back games in the West Central-Northwest Bi-District tournament, clinching a state berth and playing Charles Wright in a few hours for the tournament championship. Nice job, Pirates.

Depending on your tolerance of the quality of high school basketball video highlights, this might be a treat.

I set up a Web cam when I was at last night's Lakes-Mount Rainer 3A West Central-Southwest Bi-District tournament first-round game at Clover Park.

EDIT: (2 p.m. Friday)I have updated the video.

I uploaded to YouTube a video of a few clips of the game. I didn't catch any real "highlights" on video, but a basketball fan ought to be impressed with the way the Lancers unselfishly find the open man and play defense -- big man Kavario Middleton has a nice spin move for a basket after blocking the in-bound pass. Apologies to Anthony Enriquez, whose missed dunk is in the clips but the dunk he had in the first half is not.

Before you click play, you'll want to MUTE YOUR SPEAKERS or at least turn down the volume. My laptop's internal microphone was on and it's a lot of noisy gobbledy-gook.

This was the second time I've experimented with this -- here's a link to my first venture -- and I'm not going to win any awards with this video. My camera doesn't zoom, so I just aim it at the nearest basket. Hopefully you'll enjoy seeing clips and highlights of games I'm covering. It's easy enough to attach a Web cam to my laptop and click "record," while I keep play-by-play and take notes for the article I'm going to write for the next day's newspaper.

I'll have the kinks worked out -- the audio issue will be corrected -- in time for the Class 4A state tournament next week at the Tacoma Dome.

The News Tribune does shoot high-quality video -- you can find them here -- for certain events, including plenty of high school sports.

It’s time for the final area scoring leaders, area top 10 and statewide rankings…

Kentwood’s starting to come on strong, especially after last night’s win against Bellarmine Prep in the WCD semifinals. Coach Keith Hennig said last night that he has the "easiest coaching job in Washington" with Moore picking up essentially where Courtney Vandersloot left off. Last night, Olympia, Kentlake, Tahoma and Jefferson all had their season ended.

In 3A, Capital comes up to Puyallup tonight to face top-ranked Auburn Riverside. If things go as predicted in other games, Lakes and Kennedy will face off next week.

2A districts start this tomorrow for the Black Hills-River Ridge-Tumwater trio. Should be some good basketball.

In 2B that we don’t rank, Tacoma Baptist’s girls’ lost to Napavine last night but play a winner-to-state, loser-out game Friday against Toutle Lake. The game tips at 6:30 p.m. at Rochester High.

As always, check out scoring leaders and standings behind the jump.

=> Read more!

Here it is, the final installment of The News Tribune's rankings and area scoring leaders. This time next week, we'll be in the second day of the Class 4A state tournaments at the Tacoma Dome, where I'll be spending so much time at over the next few weeks that my landlord ought to give me a break on this month's rent.

But back to basketball. Undefeated Auburn still reigns over the region. Lakes and Bellarmine Prep are again Nos. 2 and 3, but I believe any of these three are deserving of the No. 1 ranking.

Bellarmine Prep's Avery Bradley -- surprise! -- still leads the South Sound in scoring, averaging 25.6 points per game. All the usual suspects -- Mathias Ward, Abdul Gaddy and Brandon MaGee -- are right up there, too.

Click below to view the complete rankings and scoring leaders.

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Lincoln coach Aubrey Shelton has a history of predicting championships.

As an eighth grader, Shelton said he'd win a district crown as a senior at Lincoln. And he did in 2001 when the Abes beat Enumclaw and eventually won the 4A state title.

After last week's quarterfinal victory, Shelton proclaimed that the Narrows League would surprise people.

Smart guy, that Shelton.

Shelton's 10th-ranked Abes stunned No. 5 Kentridge Tuesday night and No. 4 Bellarmine beat Foss, setting up an all-Narrows League West Central District title game.

"I called it," Shelton said. "Three of the four teams that have already locked up state berths are from the Narrows League. (The Narrows League) has been underrated all year."

Bellarmine Prep has been ranked all season and Lincoln entered the poll a few weeks ago. But four SPSL teams -- Kentridge, Kentwood, Decatur and Federal Way -- have been in the top 10 nearly the entire season.

I went through The News Tribune's in-house digital archives -- they only go back to 1998 -- and couldn't find a West Central District boys basketball final that pitted two Narrows League teams. The league is no stranger to the title game, though. With the exception of last season, a Narrows League team has played for the district title every season since 1998 and has won seven times.

I saw the second meeting between Bellarmine and Lincoln when the Lions beat the Abes 75-64 for the league title. It was a close contest and was a one-point game, 55-54, with four minutes remaining.

That's when Bellarmine's Avery Bradley and Abdul Gaddy took over. The Lions quickly distanced themselves, seemingly unaffected by the Abes liberal substitutions that kept fresh legs on the court.

Gaddy has that extra gear. He can turn it up to 11.

No sooner did Washington basketball coach Lorenzo Romar step into the gym Tuesday night, did Gaddy take over. He scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half when Bellarmine ran away from Foss.

Gaddy, who orally committed to Arizona before the season began, said he saw the Huskies coach standing near the baseline. He didn't let on if Romar's presence was the cause of his points surge. If it wasn't, though, it was awfully coincidental.

By the way, UW fans, Gaddy did say he was solid in his committment to Arizona.

A handful of South Sound basketball players have been nominated to be selected to play in the 2008 McDonald's High School All-American boys and girls basketball games.

The local boys are: Gerald Hill, Charles Wright; Kavario Middleton, Lakes; Renado Parker, Kentridge, Patrick Philley, Charles Wright; Ryan Snowden, Auburn; Teancum Stafford, Auburn; and Mathias Ward, Gig Harbor.

The local girls are: Katie Grad, Auburn Riverside, and Sara Halasz, Lakes.

The games will be played March 26 in Milwaukee, Wis. The teams will be announced later this month.

Click here to view the complete list of nominated boys and here to view the girls.

As you might expect from a couple of teams who went undefeated in the Western Cascade Conference, the Lakes boys and girls basketball teams earned plenty of postseason honors.

Sara Halasz was named the girls' Player of the Year and teammates Chene Cooper and Brianna Morrison made the first team. Three Lancers -- Kavario Middleton, Jermaine Kearse and Anthony Enriquez -- were on the boys first team. North Thurston's Will Sharp was Player of the Year.

Lancers girls coach Dave McEachern and boys coach Jo Jo Rodriguez each were named coaches of the year.

View the complete teams after the jump.

=> Read more!

With wrestling, swimming and gymnastics behind us we're going to overload on basketball for the next three weeks.

The 4A West Central District tournament's semifinals are this week, while the 3A West Central-Southwest Bi-District tournament starts on Wednesday for the boys and Thursday for the girls. We've got the 2A West Central District tournament and 1A West Central-Northwest Bi-District tournaments, too.

Some teams have already clinched state berths and others are one loss away from seeing their seasons end. Click below to see this week's matchups.

=> Read more!

We're all recovering from a full weekend of wrestling, gymnastics, swimming and a touch of basketball, but the playoffs are in full swing, so we must push on.

Local teams that claimed a state berth last week:

Boys: Kentridge, Lincoln, Foss, Bellarmine Prep
Girls: Puyallup, Kentwood, Mount Tahoma, Bellarmine Prep.

And yes, it is the Bellarmine Prep girls' third consecutive trip to the state tournament, not the first since 2000 that was in today's paper.

Now, behind the jump, check out the remaining 4A game schedules and the first week of 3A districts. Once this week's schedules for 2A, 1A and 2B are nailed down, I'll put them up, too.

=> Read more!

All 13 of The News Tribune's "untouchables" won state championships.

Here's are some highlights folks will remember from Mat Classic XX:

Six wrestlers -- Michael Mangrum, Jim Belleville, Jordan Hancock, Ryan DesRoches and Erich Schmidtke -- won their third state title.

Belleville could become the fifth wrestler in state history -- and first since Brandon Sitch in 2006 -- to win four state titles next season.

Enumclaw ended Sedro-Woolley's six-year reign as 3A state champions. The Cubs finished fourth.

There's a new player in 4A and it's the Graham-Kapowsin Eagles. The three-year-old school almost beat big, bad Lake Stevens, which won its fifth title since 2000.

What will you remember most?

The finals of Mat Classic XX will start in about an hour -- the last of the consolation place matches are finishing up right now.

I've scoured the results and records and here are some interesting tidbits -- to me, at least -- that popped up.

Thirty defending champions reached the finals this year

Of those 30, 11 have the possibility of winning a third title next year.

Of those 12, three sophomores -- Sedro-Woolley's Derek Garcia, Republic's Ryn Rollins and Kelso's Alisha Beach -- could become four-time state champions.

Of the aforementioned 30, only Black Hills' Jim Belleville can become a four-time state champion next year. Of course, tonight he has to beat Toppenish's Yuder Pech, who, like Belleville, is a two-time state champion.

Here are the team standings heading into the third-/fourth-place matches and finals.

Class 4A
1. Lake Stevens 131
2. Graham-Kapowsin 125.5
3. Central Valley 93
4. Snohomish 87
5. Rogers (Puyallup) 84

Class 3A
1. Enumclaw 110.5
2. Yelm 109.5
3. Auburn 103.5
4. Eastmont 91
5. Sedro-Woolley 90

Class 2A
1. Deer Park 151.5
2. Blaine 82
3. Black Hills 71
4. W.F. West 67
5-tie. Riverside 65
5-tie. Aberdeen 65

Class 1A
1. Lakeside 205
2. Orting 131
3. Royal 130
4. Vashon Island 106.5
5. Chelan 71

Class B
1. Republic 114.5
2. Kittitas 103.5
3. Reardan 93
4. Concrete 62.5
5. Pomeroy 54

Girls
1. Mount Baker 71
2. Hoquiam 70
3. Yelm 49.5
4. Kentwood 43
5. LaCenter 38

Three-year-old Graham-Kapowsin is giving traditional power Lake Stevens more than the Vikings want to deal with. The Eagles trail defending Class 4A champion Lake Stevens by a half-point, 125-124.5.

The Eagles sent four wrestlers (Efrain Aguilar, Brad Sweet, Tyler Story and Zach Folden) to the finals, while the Vikings have three (Josh Heinzer, Josh Monson and George King).

It looks like Sedro-Woolley's six-year reign over 3A is nearing end and Enumclaw or Auburn will likely be the Cubs' successor. The Hornets have a one-point lead over the Trojans, 104.5-103.5.

Enumclaw has three wrestlers (Jason Gray, Sam Bauer and Joey Pierotti) and Auburn has three (Matt Sencenbaugh, Jake Swartz and Garrett Rutledge).

The teams will go head-to-head in the 125-pound finals when Sencenbaugh meets Gray.

All 13 Untouchables have made it safely to the finals.

Here's how The News Tribune's 13 untouchables have fared (I'll update this post throughout the tournament):

Brian Owen, University, 4A 130 pounds: First round -- pinned Andy Duncan of Cascade in 1:12. Quarterfinals -- pinned Beamer's Corey Obungen in 1:21. Semifinals -- beat Graham-Kapowsin's Jack Miller 12-5. FINALS -- will face Tahoma's Kevin Tao.

Derek Garcia, Sedro-Woolley, 3A, 140 pounds: First round -- pinned Hanford's Mike Ruane in 1:29. Quarterfinals -- pinned Auburn's Mitch Amidon in 1:13. Semifinals -- pinned Kamiak's Pedro Mendoza in 56 seconds. FINALS -- will face Bonney Lake's Addison Tracy.

Ashlee Phy, Mount Baker, Girls 145 pounds: First round -- Bye. Quarterfinals -- pinned Chelssea Eakins of Washougal in 1:39. Semifinals -- pinned Spanaway Lake's Cassi Curtis in 34 seconds. FINALS -- will face Skyline Alexis Willcher.

Jordan Hancock, Republic, B 152 pounds: First round -- pinned Darrington's Rich Groh in 2:30. Semifinals -- pinned Reardan's Chad Godley in 45 seconds. FINALS -- will face Liberty Bell's Kjell Johnson.

Erick Starks, Battle Ground, 4A 171 pounds: First round -- beat Bethel's Teagan Franco 16-7. Quarterfinals -- pinned Lake Washington's Sean Haschak in 1:39. Semifinals -- pinned Redmond's Cary Hooper in 2:35. FINALS -- will face Kentlake's Taylor Johnson.

Taylor Meeks, Orting, 1A 160 pounds: First round -- pinned Grandview's Robert Gunnier in 3:23. Quarterfinals -- beat River View's Chris Strawn by injury default. Semifinals -- beat Cashmere's Tanner Wood by technical fall, 15-0. FINALS -- will face Omak's Robert Miller.

Kylee Bishop, Washington, Girls 160 pounds: First round -- Bye. Quarterfinals -- pinned Fife's Betty Granados in 2:36. Semifinals -- pinned Inglemoor's Rowan Pilger in 4:26. FINALS -- will face Highline's Siri Berg.

Michael Mangrum, Auburn Riverside, 3A 145 pounds: First round -- pinned Blanchet's Adam McNaghten in 3:17. Quarterfinals -- pinned Squalicum's Levi Johnson in 3:44. Semifinals -- pinned Spokane East Valley's Nic Price in 5:07. FINALS -- will face Yakima West Valley's Nick Gautreaux.

Eric Jones, Auburn Riverside, 3A 152 pounds: First round -- Technical fall over Ferndale's Tristan Greig 22-6. Quarterfinals -- beat Sunnyside's Danny Alvarez by technical fall, 18-3. Semifinals -- pinned Everett's Cary Irwin in 2:26. FINALS -- will face Shelton's Alex Cannon.

Brad Sweet, Graham-Kapowsin, 4A 152 pounds: First round -- beat University's R.J. Daschbach 4-2. Quarterfinals -- pinned Federal Way's Jacob Conklin in 1:00. Semifinals -- pinned Shorewood's Matt Jensen in 3:59. FINALS -- will face Rogers' Kyle Foster

Ryan DesRoches, Riverside, 2A 171 pounds: First round -- pinned Prosser's Nathan Bauer in 53 seconds. Quarterfinals -- pinned Hoquiam's Justin Krzmarzick in 3:48. Semifinals -- pinned Washington's Josh Caron in 2:39. FINALS -- will face Cedarcrest's Brady Paxman.

Jake Swartz, Auburn, 3A 171 pounds: First round -- pinned Olympic's Shane Galeski in 2:22. Quarterfinals -- pinned Skyline's Anthony DeMatteo in 1:40. Semifinals -- pinned Everett's Alec Bird in 1:49. FINALS -- will face Sedro-Woolley's Cody Pohren.

Erich Schmidtke, Aberdeen, 2A 189 pounds: First round -- pinned Riverside's Hunter Orgill in 3:04. Quarterfinals -- pinned Blaine's Darrell Price in 1:50. Semifinals -- beat Clarkston's Frank Willis 5-1. FINALS -- will face Archbishop Murphy's Brad Gee.

Rumblings from the first session of day one of state gymnastics:

- Auburn Mountainview (unofficially; team trophies are awarded tomorrow; don't ask...) finished third with a team-record score of 171.600 behind first-place Newport and second-place Issaquah. Auburn Riverside was seventh.

- Kennedy junior Gwen Smithberg won the all-around title (as well as vault) with a score of 37.550. Auburn Mountainview's Alexi Morton was second with 36.675.

- Among locals, Morton (vault and bars), Bonney Lake's Kristin Scribner (vault, bars and floor) and Auburn Mountainview's Ashley Perkovich (floor) will compete Saturday for individual event titles.

The 4A march-in just started, so time to watch some more tumbling.

Here's a few housekeeping items before the second session starts:

Coaches of the year were just announced. They are: 4A, Snohomish's Kevin Judkins; 3A, Auburn's John Aiken; 2A, Blaine's Craig Foster; 1A, Tenino's Jeff Thummel; B, Republic's Jim Guble; Girls, Mount Baker's Clyde Blockley.

In the girls quarterfinals, 25 of 36 matches (70 percent) were won by pins.

To the poster who asked, Graham-Kapowsin's Efrain Augilar won his first-round match with a third-round pin.

Looks like Sedro-Woolley will have to make quite a comeback to win its seventh straight Class 3A state championship. The Cubs are in fifth place and trail Spokane East Valley by eight points.

Here are the team standings after the first session:

Class 4A
1. Lake Stevens, 30
2. Graham-Kapowsin, 29.5
3. Kentwood, 21
4-tie. University, 19.5
4-tie. Rogers (Puyallup), 19.5
6. Central Valley, 16
7. Snohomish, 15
8. Moses Lake, 14
9-tie. Heritage, 11
9-tie. Tahoma, 11

Class 3A
1. Spokane East Valley, 25.5
2-tie. Auburn, 23.5
2-tie. Enumclaw, 23.5
4. Sunnyside, 19
5. Sedro-Woolley, 17.5
6. Eastmont 17
7. Kelso, 16
8. Yelm, 15.5
9. Shelton, 15
10-tie. Everett, 13
10-tie. Auburn-Riverside, 13
10-tie. White River, 13

Class 2A
1. Deer Park, 34.5
2. Blaine, 19
3. Ridgefield, 16
4. Black Hills, 15
5-tie. W.F. West, 14
5-tie. Aberdeen, 14
7. Washougal, 13
8. River Ridge, 12
9. Wapato, 11
10. Toppenish, 10.5

Class 1A
1. Lakeside, 38
2. Orting, 28.5
3. Royal, 27
4. Vashon Island, 20.5
5. Chelan, 20
6. Castle Rock, 17
7. Forks, 14
8. Chewelah, 12.5
9-tie. Connell, 12
9-tie. Tenino, 12
9-tie. Warden, 12

Class B
1. Republic, 27.5
2. Reardan, 25
3. Kittitas, 20.5
4-tie. Pomeroy, 16
4-tie. Oroville, 16
6. Concrete, 15
7. Darrington, 12
8. Liberty Bell, 11
9-tie. Ocosta, 8
9-tie. Willapa Valley, 8

Girls
1. Hoquiam, 30
2. Mount Baker, 26
3. Yelm, 20
4. Kentwood, 19.5
5-tie. LaCenter, 18
5-tie. Lake Stevens, 18
7-tie. Burlington-Edison, 13
7-tie. Vashon Island, 13
9-tie. Skyline, 11
9-tie. Kelso, 11
9-tie. Columbia River, 11
9-tie. Shelton, 11
9-tie. Spanaway Lake, 11
9-tie. Newport, 11

We're halfway through the first round and we haven't seen any stunning upsets.

Here's how The News Tribune's 13 untouchables have fared (I'll update this post throughout the tournament):

Brian Owen, University, 4A 130 pounds: First round -- pinned Andy Duncan of Cascade in 1:12. Quarterfinals -- will face Corey Obungen of Todd Beamer.

Derek Garcia, Sedro-Woolley, 3A, 140 pounds: First round -- pinned Hanford's Mike Ruane in 1:29. Quarterfinals -- will face Auburn's Mitch Amidon.

Ashlee Phy, Mount Baker, Girls 145 pounds: First round -- Bye. Quarterfinals -- pinned Chelssea Eakins of Washougal.

Jordan Hancock, Republic, B 152 pounds: First round -- pinned Darrington's Rich Groh in 2:30. Semifinals -- will face Reardan's Chad Godley.

Eric Starks, Battle Ground, 4A 171 pounds: First round -- beat Bethel's Teagan Franco 16-7. Quarterfinals -- will face Lake Washington's Sean Haschak.

Taylor Meeks, Orting, 1A 160 pounds: First round -- pinned Grandview's Robert Gunnier in 3:23. Quarterfinals -- will face River View's Chris Strawn.

Kylee Bishop, Washington, Girls 160 pounds: First round -- Bye. Quarterfinals -- pinned Fife's Betty Granados in 2:36. Semifinals -- will face Inglemoor's Rowan Pilger.

Michael Mangrum, Auburn Riverside, 3A 145 pounds: First round -- pinned Blanchet's Adam McNaghten in 3:17. Quarterfinals -- will face Squalicum's Levi Johnson.

Eric Jones, Auburn Riverside, 3A 152 pounds: First round -- Technical fall over Ferndale's Tristan Greig 22-6. Quarterfinals -- will face Sunnyside's Danny Alvarez.

Brad Sweet, Graham-Kapowsin, 4A 152 pounds: First round -- beat University's R.J. Daschbach 4-2. Quarterfinals -- will face Federal Way's Jacob Conklin.

Ryan DesRoches, Riverside, 2A 171 pounds: First round -- pinned Prosser's Nathan Bauer in 53 seconds. Quarterfinals -- will face Hoquiam's Justin Krzmarzick.

Jake Swartz, Auburn, 3A 171 pounds: First round -- pinned Olympic's Shane Galeski in 2:22. Quarterfinals -- will face Skyline's Anthony DeMatteo.

Erich Schmidtke, Aberdeen, 2A 189 pounds: First round -- pinned Riverside's Hunter Orgill in 3:04. Quarterfinals -- will face Blaine's Darrell Price.

One other interesting item: Toppenish's Yuder Pech and Black Hills' Jim Belleville remain on a collision course to meet in the finals of the 2a 140-pound bracket. The two-time state championships each won their first-round match. Belleville won 17-7 and Pech 16-7.

The wrestlers have been called to their mats and we're minutes away from the start of Mat Classic XX.

I'll be here all day today and Saturday, providing updates and information. We'll also post videos of some of the most anticipated matches.

There are 1,116 wrestlers competing in five classifications (4A, 3A, 2A, 1A, B and girls).

To get you started, here's a link to our "Untouchables" and the brackets.

Let's rumble.

You've read it here for weeks and this entry is no different. Ferris, Rainider Beach, Mark Morris and Bellevue Christian are the No. 1 teams in 4A-1A.

There is some movement in the 4A rankings, as Federal Way falls out of the top-10 for the first time this season and Roosevelt appears.

The first five in the 3A rankings didn't change, but the next five are a jumble.

I believe the Evergreen Conference is the toughest in 2A, and that's shown in my rankings. Don't be fooled by their win-loss records. Same goes for Lynden in the Northwest Conference.

We'll get a chance to see just how good Auburn and Renton are when the two league champions go head-to-head at 6 p.m. Saturday at Auburn for the SPSL/Seamount's No. 1 seed to the 3A West Central-Southwest Bi-District tournament.

Sorry for the delay in getting the basketball rankings and area scoring leaders posted on the blog. I've been swamped coordinating our coverage of state swimming, gymnastics and, especially, wrestling this week. With this piece of basketball housekeeping out of the way, it's all Mat Classic, all the time until Saturday night for me.

View the complete rankings and scorling leaders below.

=> Read more!

The News Tribune's Joe Barrentine set up a few cameras in the Tacoma Dome on Thursday, catching the mats being rolled out as hundreds of wrestlers trickled in for a pre-Mat Classic XX workout.

Who's ready for "the world's oldest and greatest sport"?

The "we're busy with other sports' state tournaments" edition. :)

It’s time again for the area scoring leaders, area top 10 and statewide rankings…

I love playoff time – nearly every game is guaranteed to be competitive, especially the closer to state we get. For those keeping track, 1B starts Wednesday. 4A, 1A and 2B are the following week and 3A and 2A kick off March 5 (20 days!).

No AP state rankings this week, FYI. Apparently not enough people voted to publish one. I did vote, though, and my poll below is basically the same. Including jumping Prairie over Lewis & Clark in 4A. Why? Because I think Ashley Corral and the Falcons are going to win the state title. Call it a woman’s intuition, if you will. But they’re my new 4A No. 1. Also, not a single 3A team moved. Hmm.

For scoring leaders, I feel like I’ve spent a lot of time with it in the past week but I have to actually check it to tell you anything (which, really, is that the top three stayed the same: Katie Grad, Sara Halasz, Lindsey Moore). Puyallup’s Tabitha Tomlinson is still fifth while River Ridge’s Courtney Blume dropped down and Tumwater’s Morgan Schwegler jumped up.

Playoffs are into districts (4A and 1A), sub-district (3A) and final weeks (2A) for our locals. Of our top 15 scorers, only Emerald Ridge’s Shannon Byrne’s season is already over. The rest are still chasing playoffs.

This weekend, I’ll only get to one game (Saturday’s Kennedy-Auburn Riverside showdown) because the rest of my weekend will be at state gymnastics. But I anticipate four games/nights next week – time to gear up for the basketball’s final swing. And, with that, I’ll stop yapping. :)

As always, check out scoring leaders and standings behind the jump.

=> Read more!

Scoring leaders and rankings to come this evening; behind the cut: Katie Grad leads the SPSL 3A as player of the year. Only have the girls' teams so far.

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Mat Classic is almost here and so is The News Tribune's annual list of Untouchables. These are the best of the best, locks to win state championships.

I went through the brackets and picked out my preliminary list, coming up with 17 potential Untouchables. After giving the brackets another look, talking with coaches, sports writers and wrestling guru Dave Gilbertson, I whittled that number to 11.

Want to know who they are? You'll have to wait until Friday. If that's too long to wait for a wrestling fix, don't worry. Our all-area wrestling team will run Thursday.

In the meantime, who are your Untouchables?

The WIAA has posted the brackets for Mat Classic XX. Here they are.

The tournament begins Friday at the Tacoma Dome and concludes on Saturday.

Friday's West Central District III swimming championships results at Hazen High, after the jump.

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The basketball news keeps rolling in.

Bellarmine's Avery Bradley and Abdul Gaddy shared MVP honors in the Bay Division, while Gig Harbor's Mathias Ward earned it in the Bay Division.

Shauneice Samms, Mount Tahoma's super shot-blocker, is MVP of the girls Bay Division and Foss' Shawna Purugganan is MVP of the Bridge Division.

Click below for the complete teams.

=> Read more!

Just received the all-SPSL boys and girls basketball teams.

Kentridge's Renado Parker and Kentwood's Josh Smith shared MVP honors in the boys SPSL North, while Bethel's Brandon MaGee was MVP in the SPSL South.

Lindsey Moore was voted MVP in the girls SPSL North, while Puyallup's Tabitha Tomlinson was MVP in the SPSL South.

Click below to view the complete teams.

=> Read more!

There's no movement at the top of any of our rankings, but there's quite a bit of shake-up in the middle in the 4A, 3A and 2A polls.

No surprise here: Bellarmine Prep's Avery Bradley leads the South Sound in scoring, averaging 26.0 points per game.

Reminder: Lincoln and Bellarmine Prep play for the Narrows League title tonight at 8 at Mount Tahoma. It'll be interesting to see how the Abes' pressure defense fares against the Lions' fast-paced style.

Click below for a list of the top-15 scorers and our complete boys rankings.

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It’s time again for the area scoring leaders, area top 10 and statewide rankings…

Not a lot to add today because I’ve got a lot of other stuff on my plate – I didn’t make too many changes between the AP poll ballot I cast yesterday and today’s rankings, other than, primarily, adding Roosevelt back into the 4A fold after bouncing back with a win against Ballard last night. (The Roughriders’ only losses are to Ballard, Jackson and Franklin.)

3A and 2A saw little movement while 1A had three new teams jump into the top-five mix.

In scoring, Capital’s Jena Russell makes her first appearance in the top 15, while Auburn Riverside’s Katie Grad and Lakes’ Sara Halasz continue their holds on the top two spots. Add in Kentwood’s Lindsey Moore at third and none of them have missed the top three in weeks.

Playoffs start tonight with the Narrows League, while 3A and 2A continue play through Friday.

Check out scoring leaders and standings behind the jump.

=> Read more!

Not lost in all of our signing day coverage are this week's Associated Press state high school basketball polls.

Once again, Ferris, Rainier Beach and Mark Morris are atop the boys 4A, 3A and 2A classifications. In the girls rankings, Lewis and Clark, Auburn Riverside, Anacortes and Lynden Christian hold on to the top spots again.

Click below to view the polls.

=> Read more!

I was at Lakes this morning when 11 Lancers officially committed to play football in college. That's an incredible number. We posted a story on the Lakes signings here on the TNT homepage. There's also a running list of where all the in-state football players are committed to.

I'm working on high school football signings and Mindi Rice is handling the other sports. We'll update the Preps blog throughout the day with signing news.

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It's time to get ready for the playoff portion of the basketball season - and I'm posting this at the prompting of a commenter on another thread (I just saw it this morning, sorry!). (In fairness, I spent an hour of my morning scribbling out the girls hoops games I want to be at, so it *is* that time...)

In 4A, the South Puget Sound League and Narrows League have tournaments this week, then merge into districts the following week (boys on Feb. 13, girls on Feb. 14).

In 3A, the SPSL 3A has another week left before the SPSL-Seamount crossover tournament. The Western Cascade Conference, sans tournament, plays for two more weeks before meeting up with the SPSL/Seamount folks (and the Southwest District) in the district tournament (Feb. 20 for boys, Feb. 21 for girls).

In 2A and smaller, the Evergreen and Nisqually folks also play for another week or two before playoffs, as do the 1A and 2B schools. And I can safely say we have no teams in the earliest state tournament, for 1B schools.

For statewide district tournament schedules for all classes, check out the WIAA's site. We'll also be working off these as the tournaments grow closer.

But don't forget (and we won't, trust me) that during all these wild and fun playoff basketball games, we also have district and state tournaments: boys swimming, gymnastics and another Mat Classic.

For those interested, the boys and girls Narrows and SPSL 4A schedules can be found behind the jump...

=> Read more!

We have the where and when now.

3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2 (tomorrow) at Stadium High

Don't forget: the first time the two played, the Thunderbirds won by one. The second time, Bellarmine by six in OT. Expect both teams to make the 4A state tournament, so it's definitely good basketball.

Edit: Mount Tahoma edged Bellarmine Prep, 55-54, Saturday at Stadium in the Bay Division title tiebreaker. Lions senior ReZina TecleMariam led all scorers with 18, while Mount Tahoma senior Necie Samms led the Thunderbirds with 14 and junior Carrie Ojeda added 11. For more details, check out the story in Sunday's TNT.

Mount Tahoma gets a game against Bridge Division winner Foss, with the winner earning the No. 1 seed to districts. Bellarmine Prep gets a matchup with South Kitsap (it gets complicated from there...). Also note the home-court advantage for Mount Tahoma in that title game...

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