Make room for the Ephrata Tigers at state
The Ephrata wrestling team is trying something new - forget about state.
So far, the strategy clinched the Tigers a district title and now a regional title. Ephrata came out on top at the CWAC Regional tournament with 154 team points. Cashmere followed with 129.5 and Othello took third with 121.5 points.
Also scoring at the meet, Quincy finished ninth with 59 team points.
The Tigers came away with nine wrestlers heading to the state tournament, including Chris Smith (119) and Dallas Hintz (125) who took first at the tournament. Mark Ouradnik (135) was the only Ephrata wrestler to finish second.
Ephrata's Jake Horn (103), Zack Brissey (130), Ryan Cross (152) and Dan Landeck (171) finished third. Kevin Sieverkropp (140) and James Bush (189) finished fourth to qualify for the state tournament.
After first-place finishes at the district and regional levels, Ephrata head coach Dave Laird hasn't begun thinking about what's next.
"In the past, we always tried to figure out where we would place," Laird said. "We aren't even talking about that."
The defending state champion Othello Huskies fell to third and only qualified five for the state tournament.
Phillip Onitiveros (135) and Freddie Flores (140) each finished first for the Huskies. Ontiveros defeated Ephrata's Ouradnik 6-5 to take the title.
Conrad Garza (112) finished second, while Don Cantu (119) and Michael Carmona (275) finished fourth for the Huskies.
"I thought we took a fairly good group to regionals and we lost a lot of close matches," Othello head coach Ruben Martinez said.
Quincy's Santana Echavarria (171) finished first and Gabe Lindquist (125) finished third to represent the Jacks at the state tournament.
Girls basketball
Ephrata rebounds against Cascade
There were no concerns about Ephrata's ability to rebound from a loss after capsizing Cascade 71-46 on Saturday.
The Tigers, who lost to Chelan 56-43 on Thursday, shot 55 percent from the field and jumped out to a 16-0 lead in the first quarter.
Tiffany Moncrief led Ephrata with 19 points, Laura Tinnell and Courtney Webb had 14 points a piece in the win.
Kisler, Bates hold off Royal
Sierra Kisler and Dana Bates combined for 30 points and 23 rebounds, leading Warden to a 54-31 win over Royal.
Kisler finished the game with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Bates echoed 15 points and 11 rebounds. Marielle Pixton had eight points in the win.
Lady Vikings have a Ball
Jenna Ball scored 21 and 20 points collectively, helping the Lady Vikings stay in the Eastern Region playoff hunt, barely over the weekend.
Big Bend topped Treasure Valley Friday, 81-69, with Sheena Henderson, who led all scorers with 23 points. Courtney Gates added 13 in the win.
Treasure Valley was led by Daunielle Williams with 17 points.
The Lady Vikings continued its winning ways with five different players in double figures leading the way in a 104-61 win over Blue Mountain.
Kristin Brandt had a double-double with 19 points and 12 assists, Kellie Knauss had 17 points, Henderson had 15 and Cheyenne Hudson had 10 points and eight rebounds in the win. Ball finished with 20 points.
Boys basketball
Moses Lake splits, in position for playoffs
Despite splitting games over the weekend, the Moses Lake boys basketball team put themselves in a position to go to the playoffs.
On Friday, the Chiefs knocked off No. 8 Eisenhower 64-62, partly on 13 of 35 shooting by the Cadets from the free-throw line. Moses Lake erased Eisenhower's 17-3 first quarter lead to pull off the win.
"We slowly worked our way back into it," said Brant Mayo, head coach for Moses Lake.
On Saturday, Richland knocked down Moses Lake's high with an 82-35 win over the Chiefs. Mayo said they didn't have any emotion left after coming off consecutive come-from-behind wins over Southridge and Eisenhower.
Moses Lake hosts Wenatchee on Tuesday. A win over the Panthers secures the Chiefs with a playoff spot, or a Southridge loss to Davis puts Moses Lake into the playoffs.
Tigers over Chelan, fall to Cascade
Ephrata's playoff hopes have been left to the final game of the season, unfortunately its against top-ranked Cashmere.
The Tigers gave themselves hope with a 55-47 win over Chelan on Friday. Reid Forrest had 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to win the game. Aaron Lutz had 11 and Jim Williams had 10 points and 12 rebounds in the win.
"The boys played really hard on the defensive end and took control in the fourth quarter," said Brandon Evenson, head coach for Ephrata.
On Saturday, Cascade doused Ephrata's hopes with a 68-55 win, forcing the Tigers to pull off a win over Cashmere on Friday Feb. 18.
Mike Ratigan finished the loss with 16 points.
Lions advance in playoffs
The Moses Lake Christian Academy continued its dominance over Soap Lake Saturday with an 81-57 win over the Eagles in the first round of the North Central Washington District tournament.
Josh Munoz led the Lions with 23 points and Derek Dietzen added a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Elijah Timofeyev scored 11 points and eight rebounds in the win.
Soap Lake's Brad Hitzrosh led all scorers with 25 points, including five 3-pointers and Chad Meiries added 16 in the loss.
Big Bend remains strong over weekend
Brandon Nielsen scored 24 points against Treasure Valley on Friday, leading the Runnin' Vikings to a 90-84 win.
Nielsen was followed by Antonio Walker, who scored 18 points and hauled in seven rebounds in the win. Chris Pendleton had 17 points and Jeff Coffman pulled in a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds.
Nielsen had 26 points and Coffman scored his second double-double of the weekend, leading Big Bend over Blue Mountain 93-68 Saturday.
Coffman finished the game with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists and Antonio Walker had nine rebounds in the win. Blue Mountain was led by Justin Nuess with 14 points, while teammates Jacob Swartzendruber and Peter Sichley had 11 points each.