Recent State B stories.
The distance between the two end lines on a basketball court at the Arena is 94 feet. That's exactly how far La Salle head coach Todd Kent's girls pressure the opposing offense, but that 94 feet starts to seem much longer if the offense can't break through easily.
He acknowledged the cliché, but Northwest Christian's Karl Richardson added a team-specific twist. "Defense wins championships," he said after NWC beat Republic 54-48 in the boys State B basketball championship at the Arena.
There's a theory that fifth place might be the second-toughest trophy to get besides first, because it takes winning three straight loser-out games while dealing with the disappointment of that first-round loss.
Sprague-Harrington's top-ranked girls basketball team had rebounded well from its first-round loss to Sunnyside Christian with a pair of routs in consolation play, poised to take fifth place in Saturday's matchup with Toutle Lake.
On Thursday, Republic missed a handful of free throws down the stretch and had to sweat out a victory. On Friday, Derek Gianukakis made sure the Tigers would have nothing to worry about.
Many teams participating in the girls State B Basketball Tournament have recent experience at the state level. This is not the case for St.
Although they were threatening post-peach basket records for scoring futility, it wasn't because Sunnyside Christian and Northwest Christian were playing poorly offensively. The defense was just that good.
When two rivals square off as many times as La Salle and Sunnyside Christian's girls basketball teams, players and coaches alike know what to expect.
Most people don't understand how the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association really works. In a lot of ways, it is democracy in action. The WIAA is an association of member schools.
It was an important point to make, one that occasionally gets lost in points and wins and losses. After St. John-Endicott head coach Mike Tollett watched his team lose a heartbreaking first-round game on a blown 3-point call at the buzzer, he gathered his team in the locker room.
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