State 4A girls: Chloe Williams leads five in double figures, Central Valley shuts down Issaquah in quarters
The Greater Spokane League has placed a team in the State 4A girls title game in 16 of the past 19 years, with 12 champions.
Usually there are two or three GSL teams in the bracket, but with just two allocations for District 8 this season the lone entry is Central Valley.
The Bears passed their first test with flying colors.
Chloe Williams led five in double figures with 14 points and No. 3 Central Valley handled No. 12 Issaquah 72-55 in a State 4A quarterfinal at Tacoma Dome on Thursday.
CV (21-3) advanced to a semifinal – it’s 11th in program history – on Friday at 5:30 against No. 7 Union. Issaquah (20-10) falls to the fourth-place bracket.
Grace Geldien scored 13 points, Peyton Howard had 12, MJ Bruno added 11 and Michael Pitts 10.
CV’s girls program has been the model for the rest of the state to follow for the past two decades. GSL coach of the year Felice Orrell is maintaining that tradition in her first season at the helm.
“It’s definitely something that we take pride in back home for sure,” Orrell said of representing the GSL at State. “For Spokane, yeah, we want to represent really well and take care of business.”
A 2002 CV graduate, Orrell played under coach Dale Poffenroth and then-assistant coach Freddie Rehkow. During her time as a Bear she was a team captain and part of two state championship teams, including the undefeated 29-0 squad her senior year.
“It’s awesome,” Orrell said of her first trip to State as a coach. “It’s like coming back home.”
Issaquah finished third in the KingCo League behind No. 1 Woodinville and Inglemoor, which didn’t qualify for the tournament. The Eagles upset No. 5 Kentridge 57-35 in a first-round elimination game on Wednesday.
As a 17-point lead shrank to single digits at the start of the fourth, CV clamped down and scored the first eight points in the last frame.
“Coach pulled us into a timeout and told us that we needed to shift gears and go a whole another level,” Bruno said. “And so that’s what we decided to do.”
Issaquah’s all-KingCo first team guard Alivia Stephens scored 16 points, but just five in the fist half as CV built a big lead.
“We wanted to do a stick on her and I thought MJ, she does such a good job on a lot of these really high level basketball players,” Orrell said. “Then in that second half we kind of started switching a little bit, so we decided to switch back to our original game plan – MJ sticking on her – and she did a really good job defending her.”
“Our plan was to shut (Stephens) down because she’s a really good 3-point shooter,” Bruno said. “ If we shut her down, it would probably shut down the whole team.”
Williams popped a 3 and CV went up 12-5 early. Bruno and Geldien scored inside buckets and CV went up by 11. The Bears held Stephens scoreless in the first and led 21-10 after one.
Geldien’s 3 early in the second allowed CV to double up Issaquah at 28-14.
Stephens picked up her first points on a reverse layup with 3:47 left in the first half. She added a 3 on the Eagles’ next possession to get the deficit back to single digits.
But Geldien and Howard both scored on short jumpers and CV ended the quarter with an 8-3 run and 37-24 lead at intermission.
CV missed six of its first nine shots in the second half, but a layup and a couple of trips to the line for Howard allowed the Bears to stretch the lead to 17.
The Bears’ shooting woes continued though, and the Eagles ran off six straight points. Stephens drilled a 3 late in the quarter to get the deficit to single digits and CV entered the fourth leading 53-44.
Williams drilled one from distance and CV scored the first eight points of the fourth. Pitts drilled a 3 with 3 1/2 minutes left to push the lead to 19 and the Bears cruised to the win.
“We kind of went a little stagnant,” Orrell said of the third quarter. “I just told them to focus up and find another level. We hadn’t played since I guess Saturday. We’ve been here for two days and we’re just kind of getting that dust off.”