33rd Annual
North Central District "A"
Girls' Basketball Tournament
2008

Okanogan
(9-12)

Score: 54-52

 Game 7
6:00pm

Chelan
(16-4)

Score: 53-42

#2 Chelan
(15-4)

 Game 15
6:00pm

Brewster
(19-3)

#5 Cashmere
(9-11)

Score: 48-43

Cashmere
(10-11)

#1 to Regional
#2 to Regional

Score: 55-54

 Game 9
7:30pm

Brewster
(18-3)

Score: 52-35

#1 Brewster
(17-3)

Kettle Falls
(9-14)

Cashmere
(10-12)

Cashmere
(11-12)

Score: 62-51

#3 to Regional
#4 to Regional

***************************************************************************

Okanogan 54, Tonasket 52
Game 1.
At Tonasket, WA

"Upset" was the word of the day Tuesday in the first round of the Caribou Trail League girls' district tournament. Sixth-seeded Okanogan outlasted No. 3 Tonasket 54-52, while No. 5 Cashmere upended No. 4 Lake Roosevelt.
The Tigers and Raiders had firmly entrenched in their spots behind league frontrunners Brewster and Chelan for most of the season — until Tuesday. Now, one must endure a disappointing end to the season as Tonasket and Lake Roosevelt square off in loser-out play as the tournament continues today in Chelan.
Tonasket's Jessica Kitterman hit a big 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left to pull the Tigers to within two. Then, Dana Pryor managed to draw an offensive foul on Okanogan's Kelly Downey on the inbound play, but she couldn't knock down the front-end of a 1-and-1 at the foul line.
Cierra Silverthorn led Tonasket with 16 points and missed just two shots, but her nine shots were far below her customary 18 to 20. Kitterman and Katie Keeton each finished with 14 points.
Downey and Tara Marchand topped all scorers with 17 points apiece to lead Okanogan. Carly Harris chipped in 10.

 ***************************************************************************

Cashmere 55, Lake Roosevelt 54
Game 2.
At Coulee Dam, WA

Jacqueline Cloakey hit two late free throws and Alex Worthern hit a clutch 3-pointer as Cashmere shocked the Raiders.
With four seniors on their roster, the Bulldogs came up big down the stretch.
"I think they were just a little more experienced," Lake Roosevelt head coach Billy Nicholson said. "We had a lot of unforced turnovers and we missed a lot of shots."
Cashmere took a five-point lead into the half but Miranda Carden hit a pair of big threes to key a 20-16 third quarter for the Raiders.
Melissa Meza had 23 points and 11 rebounds for Lake Roosevelt while Cashmere was led by Rachel Lippert's 15 points.

***************************************************************************

Lake Roosevelt 61, Tonasket 56
Game 3. (Loser out)
At Chelan, WA

Five players scored at least six points for the Raiders as they defeated No. 3-seeded Tonasket in a loser-out contest. Lake Roosevelt couldn't keep Tiger stars Cierra Silverthorn (21 points) and Dana Pryor (14 points) under their season scoring averages, but it held the rest of the Tigers to just 21 points.

***************************************************************************

Chelan 53, Okanogan 42
Game 4.
At Chelan, WA

The underdogs came to play, but the favorites came away with the wins in the Caribou Trail League girls' district semifinals Thursday at Chelan High School. Chelan got all it could handle from a physical Okanogan team, before pulling away to a 53-42 victory in the early game, while Brewster downed Cashmere 52-35.
Chelan and Brewster, which split their regular-season meetings, will meet in the title game on Saturday. All four teams have already qualified for next week's regional tournament in Spokane against teams from the Northeast League.
Junior point guard Sydney Austin got Chelan rolling early on, scoring eight points in the first quarter while leading her team to a 13-5 lead. Austin finished with a season-best 15 points to top the Goats.
But Okanogan's Kelly Downey proved to be a fierce competitor and almost single-handedly willed the Bulldogs back into the game. She had nine of her 13 first-half points in the second quarter, none bigger than the half-court shot she nailed at the buzzer before halftime. Only 1.8 seconds were left on the clock when Okanogan inbounded the ball, but no one stepped out to challenge Downey, who hit nothing but net on the remarkable shot that cut Chelan's lead to 26-25. Downey finished with 22 points to lead all scorers.
"They just got spun around and watched her do it," Chelan coach Dane Lewman said, noting that was at times a recurring theme on the night for his team.
As has been customary for the Goats this season, they came out firing in the second half with an 8-0 run, including scoring leader Alisha Love's first four points of the night on back-to-back possessions. Often throughout the year, Chelan's trademark second-half surge has been enough to send teams packing, but the Bulldogs fought back.
"They kept battling," Okanogan coach Darin Radke said of his squad. "We didn't play that well offensively, but they kept fighting."
Downey led two more Okanogan attacks late in the third quarter and early in the fourth that pulled the Bulldogs to within 39-36 after Carly Harris hit a shot with just over five minutes remaining, finishing off a 7-0 run. But Okanogan's aggressiveness backfired late in the game.
"We did get some fouls, and we overplayed a few times and they took advantage with some easy shots," Radke said.
It was the court vision of Chelan sophomore Kelli Bowers that slammed the door shut on the surging Bulldogs. Bowers found Love on a nifty look inside for a 43-38 lead, then hit her again in stride after an Okanogan turnover to build a seven-point lead. Bowers had three key assists down the stretch and finished with six for the game, though it could have been closer to a dozen had some plays been finished at the basket.
"That's the other part of her game that people don't always see — she's a great passer," Lewman said.
Lewman added that overcoming Okanogan's physical tenacity could serve his team well as the postseason continues.
"That's the kind of team we're going to have to face, so we're going to have to know how to beat teams like that," Lewman said.
Kim Harter chipped in 10 points and six rebounds for the Goats, mostly at the foul line, where she was 6-for-7. Love finished with eight points, all in the second half, and had eight boards and four steals. Taylor McClellan added four blocks.
Okanogan struggled with its shooting, going just 15-for-53 (28 percent) from the field. Beyond Downey, no other player had more than six points.

***************************************************************************

Brewster 52, Cashmere 35
Game 5.
At Chelan, WA

Martha Taylor got Brewster off and running with nine of her 11 points in the first quarter en route to a 15-7 lead.
Taylor LaMoreaux and Megan Brown also netted 11 points apiece. Kassidy Brown finished with 10.
The Bears led by just eight at halftime, but Brown scored seven in the third quarter to help stave off the battling Bulldogs. Her 3-pointer at the midway point finished off a 7-0 run to open the second half and gave Brewster a 33-18 lead, its biggest to that point.
Stacie Clay had a big second half, when she dumped in 11 of her team-high 14 points. But she didn't have much in the way of a supporting cast, particularly inside as Rachel Lippert, Katelyn Thompson and Mollie Newberry who were all deep in foul trouble early in the third quarter. That trio comprises the bulk of Cashmere's attack in the middle.
Lippert finished with eight points, all in the first half before riding the pine for most of the second. Jacqueline Cloakey also added eight points.

***************************************************************************

Cashmere 62, Okanogan 51
Game 6.
At Chelan, WA

Cashmere point guard Stacie Clay continued her red-hot play of late with 21 points to lead all scorers in the third-fourth place game. Okanogan led by three at halftime, but Clay scored 14 of the Cashmere's 20 points in the fourth quarter to slam the door shut.
Katelyn Thompson tacked on 12 points for Cashmere, and Jacqueline Cloakey 10. Alex Worthen and Rachel Lippert chipped in nine and eight, respectively.
Kelly Downey and Carly Harris each scored 14 points to lead Okanogan, while Nadine Downey and Meka Townsend added nine and eight.

***************************************************************************

Lake Roosevelt 65, Kettle Falls 52
Game 7.
At Chelan, WA

The Raiders used their superior speed and a 13-2 run in the third quarter to pull away in a game that sent a fifth team to regionals. Junior post Melissa Meza continued her dominance of the middle, leading the team with 20 points. Jennifer Williams dumped in 14, and Rowena St. Pierre 12.
Taylor Bircher led Kettle Falls with 14 points, but the Bulldogs lost their leader in the second half. Frustrated by Lake Roosevelt's second-half surge and her fourth foul, Bircher said something the head official didn't like, and she received a technical for her fifth. She continued mouthing off to the official as she walked off the court but was ignored and allowed to stay in the gym on the bench.

***************************************************************************

Brewster 48, Chelan 43
Game 8. (Championship, both to regionals)
At Chelan, WA

For three quarters, the Brewster girls owned Chelan in the Caribou Trail League district title game on Saturday, then held on for dear life in the final eight minutes of a 48-43 win.
After an ugly start for both squads, Brewster's Teddi Reese gave her team a spark late in the second quarter. She hit a nice, left-handed runner in the lane, then nailed a 3-pointer just 18 seconds later to give the Bears an eight-point lead. Martha Taylor, who finished with 13 points, tacked on another trey the next time down the court, and just like that Brewster was up 22-11 with 1:06 left in the half.
Chelan managed just 13 first-half points.
"We absolutely did not play — we couldn't do anything," Chelan coach Dane Lewman said. "We just waited for something to happen, instead of making something happen."
And it would be an eternity before something finally did happen for the Goats.
Brewster carried a 32-21 lead into the final period after five different Bears scored in the previous quarter. The Goats, meanwhile, were on pace to post a season-low scoring mark.
But Brewster's defense started showing signs of slippage late in the third, allowing Chelan to score six straight points and trim a 16-point deficit to 10 at one point.
"We really expended a lot of energy the first three quarters," Brewster coach Jerry Riggan said.
The Bears scored four points to open the fourth quarter and led 36-21, and that proved to be important as sophomore guard Kelli Bowers caught fire. Bowers hit her second and third of four 3-pointers in the quarter on back-to-back possessions to trim Brewster's lead to 38-31 with 3:37 left, culminating a frenzied 10-2 run. Bowers scored all 14 of her points in the last 5:40 of the game.
"Our coach told us if you give Bowers one of those, she's going to want all of them," said Taylor, who was constantly forced to fight through and around traffic chasing Bowers, who used her teammates as shields to create shots.
But another big 3-pointer by Reese disrupted Chelan's rally and pushed Brewster's lead back to 10. The Bears also hit 7 of 8 free throws in the final 1:11 to hold off the Goats.
Brewster post Taylor LaMoreaux was the lone source of consistency in an otherwise sloppy game, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Reese and Kassidy Brown (six rebounds) each added eight points. Taylor was 7-for-8 from the foul line and added five boards.
Sydney Austin chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds for the Goats, while scoring leader Alisha Love had her worst game of the season on a scoreless night deep in foul trouble. Love fouled out in the fourth quarter.