Spotlight falls on Coulee City Saturday

COULEE CITY — Week one of the new basketball season is underway and many teams are just starting to get a feel for things.

But here on Saturday night, the process will be expedited, when the host Almira/Coulee-Hartline Warriors take on Moses Lake Christian Academy in a doubleheader of state tournament proportions almost four months early.

Tipping off the action will be the girls at 6 p.m. followed immediately by the boys’ showdown.

What makes this tilt shine so bright in the first week of December is each squad’s incoming resume.

The Moses Lake Christian Academy Lions’ boys squad finished second last year at the 1B state tournament while their Warriors counterparts completed a third-place run.

On the girls’ side, ACH finished 5th, while the Lions ended qualified, won a game, but did not place.

Add a lot of talent returning from both sides to create a state atmosphere in the first big hoops clash of the young season.

“It’s a preseason game and those are great indicators that point to where you sit as an individual team as well as how your league stacks up against other leagues around the state,” ACH boys coach Scott Isaak said. “It will not be a game we take with any less focus than a league game.”

Isaak’s coaching opposite Duke Wood believes his Lions boys are ready to compete following a 1-1 performance at the Othello Jamboree on Tuesday.

“I think meeting ACH this early on will tell us where we stand,” Wood said. “They are one of the top teams in the state, it’s an early test for us and we will see how the kids respond.”

The opening game features a Warriors squad that won its opener 70-50 over Davenport Tuesday while the six-player roster of Moses Lake Christian Academy takes the court for the first time.

“ACH has all of their meaningful players back and we lost our top scorer from last year, possibly the best MLCA Lady Lion ever, so we’re starting over on some level,” Lions girls’ coach Bryce McPartland said. ”Comparatively speaking, they are close to the level to which we aspire, whereas we are still climbing. It’ll be a challenge with our youth, but I’m anxious to see us respond to getting hit in the mouth. This is a great developmental game for us.”

Warriors girls coach Ben Addink reciprocates the praise.

“They have such good coaching I am confident they will be playing the game the right way and to the best of their ability,” Addink said. “ We need to control tempo and establish a strong post game to succeed.”

What makes match-ups like this special is the double-header itself. Many leagues and classes in Washington have their varsity boys and girls squads play opposite site match-ups on game day.

But at the 1B level the teams travel together allowing for a night like this to occur more often.

“It always adds to the fun of the evening and the atmosphere surrounding it,” Isaak said. “Two teams, each with great community support only adds to the best way I know to spend a Saturday night in Coulee City.”

“I think anytime you have a double header at the varsity level it is going to energize the crowd and the players as well,” Wood added. “If we bring our ‘A’ game with us and play the way I know we can, it should be exciting to watch.”

McPartland feels the atmosphere created on such evenings should become the rule rather than the exception statewide.

“B level basketball is great in this respect and in my opinion it’s about community and the support that a community gives to its local boys and girls team,” McPartland said. “Having the doubleheader format really brings the community out in force. I’m a huge fan of this set up and wish the other classifications would adopt it as well.”

Until then, basketball fans may need to indulge themselves by taking in an event like this one in Coulee City.