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| 2A is Still Wide Open | |||||||
 Amanda Kelly of Anacortes
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Anacortes and River Ridge were among the most impressive teams on the opening day of the Washington State 2A tournament in Tacoma, Wash. | ||||||
TACOMA, Wash. - You might say that Courtney Blume was a little hot on Wednesday. The River Ridge junior woke up with a 103-degree fever. Then she had to fend off her mother just to get to her team's first-round game. Good thing, for River Ridge, that she made it, too. Blume's rebound and put-back with 53.3 seconds to play sealed the Hawks' 46-41 victory over Burlington-Edison, the No. 1 seed from the tough Northwest District. Blume's 12 points contributed to an across-the-board effort for one of the pre-tournament favorites.
That's the thing about River Ridge about which the rest of the field must be wary - they know. Blume and the Hawks' leading scorer, Sophie Russell, have been starters or in the rotation for what is now their straight state tournament. The first go-round went all the way to the 3A championship game against Chief Sealth. All the way at the other end of the bracket, Anacortes, a team like River Ridge that dallied with an unbeaten record, stumbled in district play and entered this tournament as a No. 3 seed, looked mighty impressive in blowing past Clarkston 70-50. And you'd think the two - Anacortes and River Ridge - have all but sealed a Saturday night date in the 2A championship game. Anacortes put up the only big number on a day that otherwise was fairly lopsided and low scoring. The Seahawks have got to love their move from 3A to 2A, where there is not very much size and their pressing, running and shooting approach will melt down just about anybody. Then again, the only team with any real size is their opposition on Thursday - Tumwater, which has a pair of mobile, 6-foot-1 forwards in Cristin Richards and Morgan Schwegler. That might be the matchup of tournament - until the final, that is. Both put out dangerous scorers - Ellensburg's Kayla Standish had 17 points in 18 foul-plagued minutes against Tumwater and Misty Atkinson put up 24 points and 15 rebounds against Anacortes - and both get great play from their junior point guards. Ashley Andrews of Tumwater has it-factor galore, while Anacortes' Brittany Janz has impossibly quick hands, a very good stroke and strength and size to finish inside. The winner of that one likely will get Sehome, which is a factor because of Brittany Todhunter, a smooth 6-footer who can knock down wing jumpers, handle the ball, defend and rebound. And, oh yeah, the lone blemish on Anacortes' record? Yes, from the Mariners, in overtime.
Meanwhile, River Ridge kept up its end of the bargain by finding a way to win when Russell was having a tough time shooting the ball. According to teammate Krystal Smith, Russell told her team, "I'm off, so I'm getting the ball inside." She did, and Smith, a 5-10 senior, was one of the main recipients, scoring 13. Russell also turned her attention to the defensive end, collecting four steals and helping harrass Burlington-Edison star Keri Arendse into a 2-for-14, eight-point effort. That effort earns River Ridge a quarterfinal matchup against Prosser, which possesses perhaps the tournament's remaining quality individual bucket makers in Gonzaga-bound Claire Raap and junior Jordan Brown, who put a 24 on Foster. After that likely would be Black Hills, which dumped both River Ridge and Tumwater en route to the No. 1 seed in the Southwest. The Wolves have a strong inside-outside combo in Danielle Swain, a 5-11 junior, and Pia Menkertz, a German exchange student who runs the point. If, after the first day, you came to the conclusion that, well, there are few conclusions to reach, you get the picture. Many of these teams played in the 3A tournament last year and now, minus the Seattle-area schools, looks at a 2A field that seems very much like a mouth in the dentist's office - wide open. "Last year, we knew there was Chief Sealth and somebody else was going to have to play really well," Tumwater coach Nick Greenwell said. "This year, there's not really a favorite. There's not just one team that's better than everybody. There's probably 10 teams that can win it."
Click Here Wednesday's Results River Ridge 46, Burlington-Edison 41 Prosser 53, Foster 46 Eatonville 38, Cheney 24 Black Hills 42, Lynden 30 East Valley 48, Ridgefield 39 Sehome 44, Sequim 33 Tumwater 54, Ellensburg 47 Anacortes 70, Clarkston 50 Thursday's Schedule Burlington-Edison vs. Foster, 9:00 am Cheney vs. Lynden, 10:30 am Ridgefield vs. Sequim, 12:00 pm Ellensburg vs. Clarkston, 2:00 pm River Ridge vs. Prosser, 3:30 pm Eatonville vs. Black Hills, 5:00 pm East Valley vs. Sehome, 7:00 pm Tumwater vs. Anacortes, 8:30 pm Tournament Top Guns Jordan Brown, Prosser, 24 vs. Foster Misty Atkinson, Clarkston, 24 vs. Anacortes Brittany Janz, Anacortes, 23 vs. Clarkston Julia Valicoff, East Valley, 18 vs. Ridgefield Sara Paponjak, Foster, 17 vs. Prosser Justine Textor, Sequim, 17 vs. Sehome Kayla Standish, Ellensburg, 17 vs. Tumwater Tournament Glass Cleaners Jasmine Horton, Foster, 18 vs. Prosser Misty Atkinson, Clarkston, 15 vs. Anacortes Shantel Carmichael, Foster, 12 vs. Prosser Lauren Hefflin, Ridgeview, 12 vs. East Valley Brittany Todhunter, Sehome, 12 vs. Sequim Kayla Standish, Ellensburg, 12 vs. Tumwater Sara Paponjak, Foster, 10 vs. Prosser
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