Central Valley girls use balanced scoring to rout Mt Spokane, reach semifinals; Bears boys down Southridge

The Greater Spokane League and Mid-Columbia Conference trade which league’s top team receives the top seed to the district tournaments every season, which is why the undefeated Central Valley girls team, ranked No. 1 in 3A in the state’s RPI, is the second seed this season to six-loss, No. 22-ranked Kennewick.

Regardless of the quirks of seeding to the district tournament, the Bears are on the short list of state title contenders. Their first-round matchup, against seventh-seeded Mt. Spokane, turned into a mismatch.

Brynn McGaughy and Aspen Henry scored 14 points apiece, and the Bears beat the Wildcats 67-33 to advance and host a district semifinal against third-seeded Southridge on Tuesday.

Mt. Spokane faces University in a loser-out.

The weirdness about an undefeated team not seeded first isn’t impeding CV’s preparation for district and state.

“I don’t even know how many people have come up to me and asked me that question,” McGaughy said. “And all I say is, ‘It doesn’t really matter.’ We’re still gonna go out and do our best. But yeah, it is kind of confusing.”

“I get told them, ‘Well, you know, no one said it was gonna be easy.’ ” Central Valley coach Jason Wilson said. “If the seeds hold, we’re gonna have to go down to Kennewick again, and that’s OK.”

Central Valley isn’t a one-player show, despite McGaughy’s lofty prospect status and scholarship to the University of Washington. With six players with eight or more points on Saturday, the Bears showed they have a lot of ways to beat a team.

“We talk about sharing it, right?” Wilson said. “And we get into modes where, especially when we build a lead, like, ‘Oh, I can get a shot now,’ or whatever. And the thing that got us a lead was sharing the ball and creating these opportunities for each other. When we do that and we push pace, we’re really hard to guard.”

CV (21-0) raced out to a 10-2 lead 3½ minutes into the game and veteran Mt. Spokane coach Jim Redmon asked for a timeout. Wildcats senior Sloane Gardner hit a corner 3-pointer and CV led 15-10 after one quarter.

The Bears’ defense turned up the heat in the second quarter and McGaughy heated up, driving to the hoop to pick up baskets or free throws. CV limited Mt. Spokane (8-13) to four points in the quarter and led 36-14 at halftime.

“We hang our hat on the defensive end and defensive rebounding,” Wilson said. “The rebounding has been hit or miss at times early in the season, but we rebounded really well as things went along. It’s not been quite where I want to be, but yeah, defensively we pride ourselves on that.”

A 13-4 run at the start of the third quarter made it a 30-point game.

“It’s one at a time,” McGaughy said. “We got the GSL championship, and next we’re wanting to get a district and then we want to get a ring and all. But I think our team is so good at not trying to think ahead too fast.

“And that’s why we’re here right now.”

Boys

Central Valley 74, Southridge 61: Orland Axton scored 21 points, Cameron Walls added 18 and the fourth-seeded Bears (11-10) beat the fifth-seeded Suns (7-16) in a first-round game.

CV hosts eighth-seeded North Central, which upset top-seeded Kennewick 56-53 in a semifinal on Tuesday.