Lady Huskies earn first state berth with bruising win

by Neil Pierson<br>Herald Sports Editor
| March 3, 2008 8:00 PM

Prep basketball recaps

SUNNYSIDE - Needing two wins in two nights to advance to the state tournament for the first time ever, the Othello Lady Huskies had just enough gas left in their tank.

Othello, the Central Washington Athletic Conference champion, lost its bid at a district title with last weekend's loss to Prosser. But the Lady Huskies, who'd never before qualified for state, accomplished that task with a 40-30 victory over East Valley on Saturday.

The Huskies also survived a loser-out game on Friday at East Valley, beating Selah 70-60.

Othello (22-3) is the district's third seed to the 2A state tournament, which begins Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome. The Huskies are matched against Black Hills (16-7) in a first-round game at 7 p.m.

Against East Valley, the Lady Huskies survived one of their worst offensive droughts of the season. They scored only two points in the first quarter and trailed 19-13 early in the third quarter.

But after that, it was the Red Devils' turn to struggle. East Valley hit only one field goal in the third quarter and was 4 of 28 in the second half. Othello finished things off by scoring eight straight points at the free-throw line. Othello finished 19 of 31 at the line, to East Valley's 5 of 10.

Courtney Kirkwood, Christine Kirkwood and Allison Walker all recorded double-doubles for Othello. Courtney Kirkwood had 13 points and 13 rebounds, Christine Kirkwood had 13 points and 10 boards, and Walker tallied 11 points and 16 boards.

Arianna Mohsenian had a team-high 10 points for East Valley, and teammate Annie Martinez recorded seven points and 12 boards.

Boys basketball

Ephrata 68, Prosser 65, OT

TOPPENISH - The Tigers and Mustangs renewed a heated CWAC rivalry in the district championship game on Saturday night, and while both teams had already sewn up state berths, this one was fast and furious until the very end.

Winning the district title gives Ephrata the top seed to the 2A state tournament. The Tigers face W.F. West of Chehalis (17-6) on Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome, a 10:30 a.m. start.

Ross Buchert came up huge for Ephrata (21-2) in the overtime session, scoring seven of the Tigers' 14 points and finishing the game with a team-best 15 points. Daniel Simon scored 14 for the Tigers, while Ryan Lutz had 11 and Derrick Webb scored 10.

Ephrata could've put the game away earlier, but shot only 17 of 34 at the foul line.

Regular-season CWAC champ Prosser (19-4) got big games from Kellen Crawford (23 points) and Cody Bruns (19 points). The Mustangs overcame an early 20-10 deficit with a 21-11 surge in the second period.