Yakima Herald

River Ridge reverses Prosser charge to secure girls championship

YAKIMA, Wash. — With 6:20 left in the third quarter Saturday night, the Prosser Mustangs were in full gallop.

They had scored the first six points of the second half to complete a 13-point comeback and tie the game at 28. They seemingly had top-ranked River Ridge on its heels, their large and loud contingent of fans on its feet and the ever-precious commodity called momentum on their side.

But then the Hawks changed everything. Scoring 13 unanswered points on six shots without a miss, River Ridge rode its abrupt reversal to a 57-46 victory and the Class 2A state girls championship in the SunDome.

The win ended a spirited run by the underdog Mustangs, who came in with a No. 7 state ranking and, by most accounts, second billing to the Hawks, West Valley and Archbishop Murphy.

But still they left with the No. 2 trophy in the school’s first title-game appearance since 1997. “It was phenomenal,” an emotional coach Mark Little said after a lengthy locker-room meeting with his players. “I can’t even begin to describe … what these girls have done this year is remarkable. They got better every single game.”

River Ridge, meanwhile, finished 26-1 and celebrated its third title in four seasons, and second-year coach Tom Kelly said the decisive burst was not an aberration. “These girls can do that,” he said. “They can just turn it on. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Jennifer Cole, a 6-foot junior who scored a team-high 16 points and was voted the tournament’s MVP, got the first two baskets of the River Ridge run. She would add another bucket to the spree, which was capped by Monteaka Norwood’s 3-0 pointer.

But the Hawks’ heroics would not have been needed had it not been for a nails-tough Prosser squad that finished 22-4, and was keyed by a 20-point, nine-rebound, three-steal night from 5-8 junior Tayshia Hunt.

After Rachel Anderson, who with Kelli Wilson were the only two seniors on the Mustangs’ roster, scored inside to start the third quarter, Tamara Jones converted a three-point play and Hunt maneuvered inside for yet another hoop.

Tie game. But River Ridge, which had struggled initially with Prosser’s switch from a man-to-man defense to a 2-3 zone, responded swiftly and decisively. Up 43-32 at quarter’s end, the Hawks increased the margin to 47-32 early in the fourth.

The Mustangs battled back, making it a two-possession game at 50-44 when Anderson rebounded Hunt’s free throw miss and scored at 1:55. A slashing layup by Jasmine McDonald, who had 11 points along with Samira McDonald, and two free throws by Kelsey Russell, younger sister of Central Washington standout Sophie Russell, sealed it.

Jones a first-team, all-tournament selection, totaled 13 points and seven rebounds despite the Hawks’ suffocating interior defense. Hunt was named to the second team. “This (game) doesn’t even begin to tell the whole story,” Little said. “These girls have grown so much as people, and the way they treat each other is so meaningful to the bigger picture.”

Hawks’ Options Tough to Beat

YAKIMA, Wash. — This target was moving and quick and well-disguised — difficult to isolate and, ultimately, too tough to beat on this night.

Prosser’s girls, so good this week at breaking down boulders, couldn’t place the chisel long enough to crack top-ranked River Ridge in Saturday’s Class 2A state championship game.

Having broken down one scoring star after another to power their way into the title game, the upstart Mustangs encountered a Hawks’ crew with no stars and that made a big difference in the 57-46 outcome.

Tournament MVP Jennifer Cole had 16 points in the finale, but the four other starters had eight points or more.

“That’s been such a big help all season long and especially here,” Cole said. “Everybody put in their points and that makes us hard to defend.”

River Ridge coach Tom Kelly insisted that balance wasn’t just a key, it was the whole lock, stock and barrel.

“Look at the individual tournament stats — we weren’t in the top five in anything,” he said. “Teams just can’t key on one or two players and that’s what our whole season was about.”

The Hawks were fortunate to have that balance because otherwise the Mustangs could well have snared the big prize. Locking in and shutting down an opponent’s main weapon was perhaps Prosser’s main weapon this week.

And the list of victims grew daily.

On opening day it was Kingston’s Sophia Baetz, a 20-points-a-game guard who went 1-for-12 for two points. The next night she had 23.

In the quarterfinals, it was Elma’s four-year standout and Western Washington recruit Katie Colard, who was near her average with 13 points but got there with 3-for-19 shooting.

Then came the big showdown against West Valley in the semifinals. Eager for some payback for a trophy loss to the Eagles last year, the ‘Stangs got that payback in large part because of the defensive job on Hannah Love, an 18-point forward who made 2 of 12 shots and finished with five points.

That’s 56 points of scoring punch held to nearly a third of that.

But the trouble that River Ridge presented was that the trouble came from all directions.

When the Hawks jumped out to a 10-2 lead, the five field goals came from each of the five starters.

“We got better with each game here, but River Ridge shot a little better than we expected,” said Prosser coach Mark Little, who never takes credit for Prosser’s successes and always takes the blame for the Mustangs’ rare stumbles. “This stings, but what a phenomenal team. They grew so much together.”

The other key to Prosser’s march through the state bracket was its rebounding, an advantage the hard-working Mustangs earned and won every night — 40-32 vs. Kingston, 41-30 vs. Elma, 43-33 vs. West Valley and 42-39 vs. River Ridge.

And first-team all-tournament pick Tamara Jones averaged 19 points this week, bringing her three-year state total to 220 points. Should the Mustangs return next year — and with only two seniors that appears highly possible — Jones would certainly overtake the tournament record of 235 career points set by Blaine’s Jessica Summers in 2004.

But on this day it was River Ridge, which secures the program’s third state title in four years — and under three different coaches to boot. With two starters held over from the ‘08 team that clipped Ellensburg 43-42 in the state final, the Hawks are in the full throws of a juggernaut run.

“We could tell Prosser was going to be tough,” Cole said. “We had a great start and they came back hard. But we’ve got a lot of experience and that balance. That was the difference.”