Business as usual at B tourney

Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, March 8, 2005

SPOKANE – In many ways, it was business as usual for the boys and girls 2005 Washington State Class B Basketball Tournaments, though it did produce a few surprises.

The Northeast, as a district, again dominated the trophy winners with seven of the district’s eight entries bringing home hardware. With Cusick winning the girls’ title in an all Northeast District girls’ final and with Sunnyside Christian winning the boys’ championship in a non-Northeast final, the top trophies were at least split among more than one district.

The fact that Republic did not repeat as the boys’ champion was somewhat of a surprise as that team was among the early co-favorites along with unbeaten Willapa Valley and two or three other teams. However, Republic was beaten on the first day, thus placing the favorite’s mantle squarely on Valley’s shoulders. When Sunnyside Christian easily dispatched DeSales, the team that beat Republic, they solidified their reputation as one of the favorites to win it all. And they did!

Of the 16 trophy winners in both tournaments, the Southwest District returned home with the second most hardware, with three trophies for their six entries. Willapa Valley (2nd) and Cathlamet (7th) returned home with boys’ trophies and Mossyrock went home with the girls’ seventh place trophy.

The Northeast District’s dominance of the girls’ bracket was evident when all four teams from that area emerged as Friday’s semifinalists. It is believed that this is the first time that all of a district’s entries advanced to that point in a B tournament. In fact, the way that the girls’ tournament played out, the four Northeast teams and the two Southeast District teams battled each other in three of the four final day’s girls’ games. The only final day girls’ game that broke the one district pattern was the Mossyrock-LaSalle battle for fourth place.

Results of the 2005 B Tournament:

GIRLS – 1st-2nd: Cusick 65 – Almira-Coulee/Hartline 50; 3rd-6th: Curlew 61 – Sprague-Harrington 39; 4th-7th: LaSalle 31 – Mossyrock 28; and 5th-8th: DeSales 53 – Garfield-Palouse 44.

BOYS – 1st-2nd: Sunnyside Christian 46 – Willapa Valley 41; 3rd-6th: Northwest Christian 61 – King?s West 51; 4th-7th: Lind-Ritzville 61 – Cathlamet 54; and 5th-8th: Republic 80 – Neah Bay 54.