‘Catmania’: Defense carries the day as Mt. Spokane boys down Mead 57-38; Teryn Gardner leads Mead girls over rivals

The old adage says one should throw out the record book in a rivalry. High school rivalries don’t come much more contentious than Mead-Mt. Spokane in general, but lately on the basketball court it’s been one-sided – entering Friday, Mt. Spokane had won 13 straight dating back to 2015.

After a physical battle in front of a beyond-capacity crowd, add another one into the win column for Mt. Spokane.

Both teams struggled from the floor much of the night, attributable to the intense defense from both sides. But the visitors found a spark of offense in the fourth quarter and No. 3 Mt. Spokane pulled away for a 57-38 win over Mead in the Greater Spokane League opener for both teams.

Maverick Sanders led Mt. Spokane with 16 points. Andrew Rayment added 11 and Ryan Lafferty 10.

Liam Blanchat paced Mead with 12 points.

“They’re a good team, it’s fun to play them,” Lafferty said. “It’s a rivalry game, you know, we had good energy. It was a low-scoring game, good defense on both sides, but I thought our guys did well.”

“You can tell that both teams, you know, the kids were so excited that they were not as patient as maybe they would be in a normal setting,” Mt. Spokane coach David Wagenblast said. “And I think the kids on both teams were just so hyped up, so excited to play this game that offensively it wasn’t a work of art.”

Mt. Spokane limited Mead to four points in the first quarter and 13 for the half.

“I’m really proud of our defensive effort,” Wagenblast said “(Mead) is a team that usually scores 60-70 points a game, so 38, I’m really proud of that. It’s gonna be tough to score in this environment, because they’re a good team.”

The Wildcats (10-1, 1-0) led by 10 entering the fourth quarter. A 13-4 run at the start of the quarter, with six points coming from Lafferty, pushed the lead to 54-30 with just under 4 minutes to play.

“We weren’t doing great in the first half and so we kind of stepped that up, just trying to get to the rim and take good shots and so we did that,” Lafferty said.

Mt. Spokane missed several open jumpers early. Mead (4-7, 0-1) struggled to find shots and the Wildcats led 12-4 after one quarter.

It didn’t get much better in the second. Sanders hit an early 3, but Trey Williams’ layup midway through was Mt. Spokane’s only other basket in the quarter. Mead scored nine in the frame, including five by Blanchat, and the Panthers trailed 22-13 at halftime.

Blanchat and Nash Dunham hit back-to-back 3s late in the third quarter and the Panthers cut the deficit to 34-25. Rayment answered with a runner in the lane and Mt. Spokane led by 10 through three periods.

Rayment added a follow-up at the start of the final quarter to spark the Wildcats’ rally.

“I just wanted to bring some energy,” Rayment said. “We were getting kind of low and (Mead) picked up some speed, and we wanted to get some back and we got on a little roll there. So, I just tried to keep it going.”

Added Wagenblast: “(Rayment) has the ability to just athletically go make some really incredible plays. Today we really needed him to and he stepped up and really provided quite a scoring punch for us.”

Girls

Mead 65, Mt. Spokane 48: Teryn Gardner scored 16 points with eight steals, Addison Wells Morrison added 13 points and the No. 8 Panthers (5-2) beat the Wildcats (4-5) in the early game.

Abby Priddy scored 13 points and Emma Bryant had 12 for Mt. Spokane.

Mead built a double-digit early lead, saw it dwindle to five points at the start of the fourth quarter, then pulled away late.

“We told them in the locker room – it started pretty, but it got ugly,” Mead coach Quantae Anderson said. “We love pretty wins, but we love ugly wins, too.”

The Panthers’ full-court press created five steals – three from Gardner – in the first quarter as they raced out to a 20-7 lead .

The Wildcats took advantage at the line in the second quarter, hitting 10 of 12 attempts to keep pace, but Mead led 41-29 at halftime.

The Wildcats came out on 7-2 spurt in the third quarter, but Miah Cyr scored a pair of baskets for Mead to get it back to double digits. Mt. Spokane’s 6-foot-3 post Patience Grey scored twice off misses and the Wildcats trailed 50-45 after three quarters.

“It was survival of the fittest. Really tough, gritty,” Anderson said. “We knew we were gonna get that and I’m proud of the way my girls came out and fought, and they continued to fight, and they got just as gritty.”

The teams went more than 2 minutes without scoring in the fourth quarter until ninth-grader Morrison made a 3 from the corner to put Mead up 53-45. Fellow frosh Grace Wenkheimer hit from the other side and the Panthers’ lead extended to 13 after an eight-point run.

Mead outscored the visitors 15-3 in the final quarter.

“Most of that fourth quarter we had the three babies in,” Anderson said of Morrison, Wenkheimer and Reese Frederick. “I’m super proud of how they handled it.”