Prep roundup: Brooklyn Coe leads Deer Park girls to district tourney title; Riverside boys keep state aspirations alive

Deer Park girls basketball went undefeated in league last year for the first time and reached state for the third time in program history. The Stags are looking for more this season.

Steps 1 and 2 are complete. No. 3-ranked Deer Park ran through another undefeated regular season, and Wednesday punched its ticket to state against a tough league foe – despite enduring a rough shooting night.

Junior Brooklyn Coe scored 16 points and the Stags (23-0) beat No. 6 Lakeside (18-4) 49-35 in the District 7 1A championship at West Valley High School.

Avery Haff led Lakeside with 14 points. Eagles leading scorer Ayanna Tobeck missed the game. The Eagles face Chelan in a District 6/7 crossover Saturday.

Deer Park’s leading scorer – and Northeast A League MVP – freshman Ashlan Bryant scored eight points, all in the first quarter as she dealt with foul trouble. The final score missed tying a season low by one point for the Stags, who were held to fewer than 56 points just three times this season.

“We have to remind ourselves – she’s the MVP of the league but should be an eighth grader,” Deer Park coach KC Ahrens said of Bryant. “She picked up that third foul … and it really got her out of the flow of the game. But we need her in there moving forward.”

“I just needed to be a little more aggressive and attack more,” Coe said. “Our shots weren’t really going down, so I just had to attack and when I was open had to shoot it.”

Deer Park scored just 15 points in the second half.

“We just were a little tired and got a little complacent to shoot perimeter shots,” Ahrens said. “We’ve done a good job getting to the line all year and we didn’t in the second half.”

Bryant had a pair of layups and a corner 3-pointer and Deer Park raced out to a 15-7 lead after one quarter. Bryant picked up her third foul on a charge midway through the second quarter and sat the rest of the half. The Deer Park defense only allowed six points while she was out. Coe scored nine in the quarter and the Stags led 34-19 at halftime.

Lakeside opened the second half with a 11-4 run to make it an eight-point game, but Coe hit a late 3 and Deer Park led 41-31 entering the fourth quarter. The teams combined for 12 points in the fourth quarter.

But a win this time of the year is a win.

“Our goal is a trophy,” Ahrens said. “To win it would be something special. … When we shoot the ball, we can play with anybody.”

Medical Lake 52, Colville 45: Charde Luat scored 39 points and the Cardinals (14-10) beat the Crimson Hawks (14-8) in the third-place game at West Valley. Navae Kinney led Colville with 18 points.

Medical Lake travels to Cashmere for a District 6/7 crossover Saturday.

Boys

District 7 1A

Freeman 58, Lakeside 36: Tanner Goldsmith scored 18 points, Finn LaPointe added 15 and the Scotties (20-2) beat the Eagles (10-12) in the district title game at West Valley to punch a ticket to state.

Lakeside, which was led by Adam Edwards with 12 points, hosts Omak in a District 6/7 crossover Saturday.

After a low-scoring first half, Freeman heated up in the third – led by Goldsmith with 15 points in the period – and the Scotties led 40-26 after three quarters. 

LaPointe hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the fourth to push the lead to 20.

Riverside 70, Medical Lake 44: Jake Graham scored 28 points and the Rams (15-6) beat the Cardinals (7-15) in the district third-place game at West Valley. Mavrick Rasmussen led Medical Lake with 15 points.

Riverside travels to Quincy on Saturday in a District 6/7 crossover.

Gymnastics

State 3A/2A qualifying meet: Mead and Mt. Spokane qualified as teams for the State 3A/2A meet on Feb. 23-24 at Sammamish High School at the qualifying meet at Mead Gymnastics Center on Tuesday.

Mead’s Dezlyn Lundquist was first all-around with 37.650 points, followed by Mead’s Tabitha Pierce (35.900) and Mt. Spokane’s Jacquie Bonnett (35.825).

Lundquist was first in the floor exercise, balance beam and uneven bars; Bonnett placed first on vault.

Honors

Cullen selected to WIAA Hall of Fame: Longtime Mead soccer coach and athletic director Dick Cullen was named as one of six to be inducted to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Hall of Fame, the only coach to receive the honor this year.

This year’s induction ceremony is May 8 at the Renton Pavillion Events Center.

Cullen’s girls soccer teams won the Greater Spokane League title every year from 1985-95 and the state title in 1993. They also finished third at state twice and fourth three times. His boys teams won 11 league titles (1986-96) and were second at state in ’86 and ’96, third in ’90 and fourth in ’89.

Cullen was the AD at Mead from 1996-2012. Under his direction, the Panthers won the GSL all-sports Trophy 11 times and the WIAA Scholastic Cup from 2007 to 11.