18th Annual
North Central District "A"
Girls Basketball Tournament
1993

Champ

ionship

Om
(19

ak
-2)

Score

: 39-37

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Okanogan 49, Ephrata 40
Game 1.
At Okanogan, WA

Michelle Messinger picked a pretty good time for one of her best games of the season.
The junior guard scored 18 points and added nine rebounds, five assists and five steals to lead host Okanogan to a 49-40 victory Thursday night over Ephrata in the North Central District A girls' basketball tournament.
``That was probably her best all-around game this year,'' Okanogan coach Michelle Spurr-Ferenz said.
Messinger scored 10 points in the first quarter as the Bulldogs (12-8 overall) raced to a 14-2 lead.
Melissa Merkley added 14 points and nine rebounds for Okanogan, which plays Saturday at Omak.
For Ephrata, Joanna Street and Becky Bates scored 10 points apiece. The Tigers will play the loser of Saturday's Cascade-Quincy game next Tuesday in a loser-out contest.
Ephrata (9-12), which trailed 21-13 at halftime, rallied to cut Okanogan's lead to five in the third quarter. But the Bulldogs pulled away to take a 34-24 lead into the final period.
``We had a lot of easy opportunities in the first half that we didn't convert,'' Spurr-Ferenz said. ``We just struggled from the field.''
Ephrata played without coach Don King, who was completing a two-game suspension imposed by the Caribou Trail League athletic directors. King was suspended because the Tigers played more than the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association limit of 20 regular-season games.

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Quincy 66, Lake Roosevelt 34
Game 2.
At Quincy, WA

Sherry Garcia scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Jackrabbits to the victory.
Chris Garcia scored six of her eight points in the second quarter as Quincy (17-4 overall) outscored the Raiders 19-5 to take a 26-11 halftime lead.
``It was a slow start; the lid was on the basket for both teams,'' Quincy coach Mike Haerling said of the 7-6 score after the first period. ``We started hitting baskets in the second quarter.''
Amy Weber and Erica McMillian added 10 points apiece for Quincy, which will play Cascade at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Cashmere. The game will be played at a neutral site because the teams were tied in the regular-season standings.
Karen Lyngholm led Lake Roosevelt (9-11) with 10 points. The Raiders will play the loser of Saturday's Okanogan-Omak game next Tuesday in a loser-out contest.

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Omak 50, Okanogan 38
Game 3.
At Omak, WA

The Omak girls' basketball team is trying to get a monkey off its back at this year's North Central District A tournament.
By opening with a 50-38 win over neighboring rival Okanogan in Saturday's second-round action, the fifth-ranked Pioneers have taken a big first step toward their goal.
That goal is to avoid an early exit from the playoff picture. Omak has been knocked out of two straight district tournaments following successful league campaigns.
The Pioneers will advance to meet Cascade in Thursday's championship game at Eastmont High. The winner gets the district's top berth to the state tourney.
Against Okanogan, the Pioneers used a pressing defense to expand a slim lead to nine points (27-18) at the intermission.
``Defensively, the girls did an excellent job,'' said Omak coach Lynn Holder. ``They were getting a little too close for us (in the second quarter), but our press was able to cause a couple of deflected passes.''
Lisa Lampe tossed in 16 points and Brandy Hurlbert scored 12 points and dished out three assists to spearhead Omak's attack.
Hurlbert and Lampe each nabbed four steals as Omak made off with 19 steals. Toni Yenko and Becky Dunckel also were defensive leaders.
Leilah Nicholas tossed in 11 points to pace the Bulldogs. Michelle Messinger and Melissa Merkley each produced eight points.

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Cascade-Leavenworth 60, Quincy 53
Game 4.
At Cashmere, WA

It was almost as if during mid-January, amid the snow and cold that is winter in North Central Washington, a butterfly squirmed out of its cocoon and took flight.
How else to explain the transformation of the Cascade girls' basketball team?
A little more than a month ago, the Kodiaks had a 6-5 record and, as they say, were going nowhere fast.
Enter Raina Richards, a 5-foot-11 senior post player who transferred from New Mexico. The Kodiaks lost their first game with Richards in the lineup, in part because point guard Gina Cook happened to be ill that night.
But Cascade hasn't lost in the month since.
The Kodiaks, 14-6 overall and ranked No. 10 in last week's Associated Press Class A state poll, defeated Quincy 60-53 Saturday night for their eighth consecutive victory and advanced to the North Central District A championship game.
``I think it took her about three or four games before she understood what we were trying to do,'' Cascade coach Kent Johnson said of Richards, who had 10 points and a team-high five rebounds. ``She's really filled a void for us with her height and rebounds. She makes our other players better.''
Entering the season, the Kodiaks were likely more concerned about making district than returning to the State A tournament for the third consecutive year.
As a team, the Kodiaks were facing an identity crisis.
They lost four seniors, including two who have helped Wenatchee Valley College to a co-championship in the NWAACC's Eastern Division, and their coach from last year's squad.
They struggled through the first half of this season with only one player, a little-used freshman, taller than 5-foot-8. The low point might have come Dec. 22, when they lost 89-36 at Omak. In the second meeting between the teams, the regular-season finale, Cascade won 63-54. The Kodiaks will face Omak in the district championship game Thursday at Eastmont.
``We had to find ourselves, find our niche,'' said Johnson, an assistant coach for the Kodiaks before taking the top post this season.
With Richards, that was easy.
Quincy coach Mike Haerling was asked to compare the Cascade team his Jackrabbits beat on the road Jan. 14 with the squad that tied his for second place in the Caribou Trail League and had defeated the Jacks twice in eight days.
``One person,'' said Haerling, who glanced down at his scorebook and tapped Richards' name repeatedly with his index finger.
Yet it wasn't Richards who provided the difference Saturday. It was Cook, a 5-foot-4 senior who tied her career-high with 20 points.
``It just took awhile to get to learn each other,'' Cook said of the growing pains the Kodiaks experienced this season. ``We're starting to click as a team.''
Cook made her first four field-goal attempts in helping Cascade to a 33-24 halftime lead. She was also 4 for 4 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to help the Kodiaks seal the victory in a game in which they never trailed. Quincy, 17-5 overall, was led by Sherry Garcia's 15 points and 15 rebounds.
``The way we've approached the season is, and it may sound like a cliche, but we've tried to really stress taking it one game at a time,'' Johnson said. ``We haven't talked about state this year. We haven't talked about district. We've just stressed the next game.''
But Saturday also showed the Kodiaks haven't eliminated all their identity problems.
As the starting lineups for the two teams were announced on the neutral court, the public-address announcer became confused and called Cook and Richards, et al, among Quincy's players.
There were confused looks on the faces of the Kodiaks and then laughter. It was almost as if they'd been through something similar over the past few weeks.

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Quincy 66, Ephrata 56
Game 5. (Loser out)
At Quincy, WA

Sherry Garcia and Krystal Bowman combined for 39 points and 19 rebounds to lead the Jacks to victory.
Quincy (18-5 overall) jumped out to a 13-4 lead in the first quarter. Ephrata closed to within six points early in the fourth quarter, but the Jacks made 10 of 15 free throws in the final period to seal the victory.
Quincy coach Mike Haerling credited a ``heart-to-heart'' talk at practice Monday with playing a role in the victory. Haerling said the Jackrabbits spent less than 15 minutes on the court during the practice, with the rest spent discussing the team.
``We just cranked it up about two gears,'' Haerling said. ``We played our fourth-gear, fourth-quarter defense the whole game.''
Garcia had 22 points and eight rebounds for Quincy, which shot 53.2 percent (25 of 47) from the field.
Joanna Street led Ephrata, which finished its season with a 9-13 record, with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

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Okanogan 44, Lake Roosevelt 36
Game 6. (Loser out)
At Okanogan, WA

Melissa Merkley scored 19 points to lead the Bulldogs to the victory in the North Central District A loser-out game.
Michelle Messinger added five points, 10 rebounds and five assists for Okanogan (13-9 overall), which will face Quincy at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Eastmont High.
Lake Roosevelt trailed 15-5 after the first quarter, but battled back to tie the score at 27-all late in the third quarter.
But Okanogan outscored the Raiders 14-9 in the fourth quarter, as Merkley tallied 10 points.
``In the third quarter, we really struggled and weren't running our offense,'' Okanogan coach Michelle Spurr-Ferenz said. ``In the fourth quarter, we were more patient and got the ball inside to her (Merkley).''

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Quincy 51, Okanogan 50
Game 7. (Loser out)
At East Wenatchee, WA

In a game with more twists and turns than Le Mans, Quincy had the last laugh. Trailing by four points with 24 seconds left, Erica McMillan canned a 3-pointer and Amy Field stole the inbounds pass and made a layup with 17 seconds left to win it.
``All you've got to do is put down luck,'' said Quincy coach Mike Haerling. ``Hustle paid off. The last thing I said (to the team) was you just keep that good, hard hustle up.''
The Jacks' hustle appeared to be for naught when Quincy sophomore Krystal Bowman was whistled for a technical foul with 42 seconds left, fouling out after scoring a team-high 14 points. Michelle Messinger canned both free throws to put Okanogan ahead 50-46. After missed opportunities by both teams, Messinger stepped to the foul line for a one-and-one with 31 seconds left, but teammate Leilah Nicholas stepped in the key for a lane violation.
Quincy set a double pick at the top of the key for McMillan, whose 3-point cast hit nothing but net. After Field's steal and layup put Quincy on top, Okanogan had one last try, but Nicholas's 16-footer under pressure was off the rim.
Quincy was in control most of the first half, yet Okanogan led 18-16 at halftime. The Jacks, after opening a seven-point lead early in the second quarter, scored only four points over a 10-minute stretch as Okanogan pulled out to a 10-point edge. Melissa Merkley tallied nine of her game-high 23 points over that stretch.
An 8-0 run late in the third period put the Jacks back in the game and Quincy regained the lead 46-44 with 2:36 left on Bowman's post move. Hillary Merkley's perimeter jumper tied the game and Melissa Merkley's rebound basket with 1:31 left regained the lead for Okanogan.
Quincy had three players score in double figures _ Bowman with 14 points, Field 12 and McMillan 10. Sherry Garcia's nine rebounds led both teams.
Melissa Merkley tallied her 23 points on 10-for-15 floor shooting to go with six rebounds. Messinger pumped in 15 points. Okanogan finished the season 13-10.

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Omak 39, Cascade 37
Game 8. (Championship, winner to state)
At East Wenatchee, WA

Forget artistic merit. The Omak girls' basketball team has a pretty trophy to look at.
The Pioneers earned the North Central District A championship with a last-second 39-37 victory over Cascade Thursday, the go-ahead points coming on Staci Landt's short jump shot with 9 seconds to play.
The Pioneers' victory was more a product of hustle and determination than pretty basketball. Omak shot 31 percent from the field, 33 percent at the foul line and made 23 turnovers.
None of the Pioneers complained.
Omak will go on to the State A tournament as the district's top seed. The second state berth will be settled Saturday, when Cascade plays Quincy. The Jacks won Thursday's loser-out opener with another wild finish, beating Okanogan 51-50.
Omak never trailed until the final 16 seconds. Cascade claimed its only lead at 37-36 when Gina Cook threaded a pass to Raina Richards for a layup.
Did Omak panic? No. With two of the team's three senior starters fouled out, the Pioneer youngsters didn't have time to think. Sophomore Leeann Waters raced upcourt with the ball and found Landt ahead of the pack. The junior made the close-range shot and drew a foul with 9 seconds to go.
``All I was thinking was getting the ball in the hoop,'' said Landt.
Cascade never got the ball back for a final chance. Landt missed the foul shot and teammate Alicia Howard missed a putback, but Omak retained possession on a held ball. The ball came to Landt, who was fouled and made one free throw. She rebounded her own miss on the second shot and the clock ran out.
``Our young people came through for us,'' said Omak coach Lynn Holder. ``Leeann made the nice pass and Staci was there to put it in.''
The Pioneers' youngsters had to come through. First, leading scorer Brandy Hurlbert was out, after breaking a school training code. Senior Toni Holder fouled out midway through the fourth quarter. Then Toni Yenko, who got the Omak offense untracked with 14 points in the second half, fouled out with 1:13 to play.
That's when things got touchy. After Yenko departed, Omak had turnovers on three consecutive possessions. Cascade responded when Richards hit a baseline jumper and the go-ahead hoop.
``It was a great defensive effort out there,'' said Cascade coach Kent Johnson. ``It came down to the last shot, who would have the ball. They had the ball last and they scored.''
``I knew we'd come out on top,'' Landt said. ``I had faith in our team.''
Both teams placed faith in defense. While Omak made 31 percent of its field goal tries, Cascade was limited to 28 percent floor shooting.
``We held Omak to 39,'' Johnson said. ``We just didn't make some big shots.''
The teams struggled through the first half. Omak led 9-2 after one quarter, only to have Cascade charge back within two points at halftime.
``We were all a little bit shaken up,'' Holder said. ``We were up seven, then it was only two at halftime. We needed a bigger spread.''
The Pioneers opened a working margin by dropping the ball inside to Yenko. The Omak senior hit 10 straight points on 5-for-7 shooting over a 31/2-minute stretch as the Pioneers jumped on top 27-19.
``That wasn't planned, that just happened,'' Holder said. ``We were just running the offense. Toni was open and she made the shots.''
``It worked once, so why not try it twice,'' said Yenko, who wound up with game-high totals of 19 points (9-for-15 shooting) and 11 rebounds.
The Kodiaks weren't done, however. Cook's ballhawking defense and speed helped Cascade get its transition game going. The senior scored eight of her team-high 10 points in the second half.