State eludes KW girls this year

For the first time in five years, the Chico-based Warriors weren’t packing their bags for a trip to Spokane for this week’s state girls B basketball tournament.

King’s West was putting its basketballs and gear away after being eliminated by Cedar Park Christian, 54-37, at the Tri-District B Tournament on Friday, Feb. 22 at King’s High in north Seattle.

Cedar Park, which had the Warriors’ number this season, came back to beat Shoreline Christian 43-42 to earn the district’s No. 3 seed and a berth to state.

“Go figure that one out,” said KW first-year coach Mark Ross of the Warriors’ third loss against Cedar Park in as many games. “I’m still not convinced they were better than us. But they must have been ...”

The Eagles from Bothell (23-3) beat King’s West 42-38 in Sea-Tac League play and stopped the Warriors 49-38 in the Sea-Tac League Tournament.

“It seemed like they always stepped up when we played them and we never did have a great game when we played them,” Ross said. “I think we could have beat them with just a good game.”

The Warriors led 17-14 at halftime, but couldn’t get the job done at the offensive end in the final two quarters.

Taryn Hanley led the Warriors with nine points. Lindsay Redfern, who averages 16.2 points, was held to seven. Kristen Anderson had a team-high 12 rebounds.

“They really played their hearts out, but offensively, for whatever reason, they were tentative,” Ross said. “When you get into a tournament game, you’ve got to shoot when you have the shots. Hesitancy will hurt you.”

Redfern and role players Kallyn Hanley and Bonnie Middleton were the only seniors for the Warriors, who finished 18-7.

“I was looking out there late in fourth quarter and we had three sophomores, a freshman and one senior on the floor,” Ross said. “That was my nucleus. Granted, we’re going to miss Lindsay. She’s not only a good basketball player, but a quality kid, but I’m real encouraged about our prospects for next year.”

Ross said the Warriors need to work on their perimeter and low-post scoring during the off-season.

“We’ve got two very good post players in Valerie Veatch and Amanda Hart,” Ross said. “They just don’t realize how good they are. And we’ve got a strong guard corps coming back. This was a good year to get some experience. I’m anticipating a better ending next year.”

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