Big Bend to host hoops tourney

MOSES LAKE — A shiver here, a shake there, a slippery move everywhere.

No, not talking about the weather.

This is all about women’s junior college basketball the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) way.

Starting Friday, Big Bend Community College will host one of four NWAACC Crossover Tournaments at the Peter D. DeVries Activities Center.

According to Big Bend Athletic Director and head women’s basketball coach Preston Wilks, this opportunity only comes once to Moses Lake every eight years.

“The NWAACC rotates the opportunity to host this great tourney with each college in the East Region,” Wilks said. “We’re excited to be the Host site and hope that this gives us a slight advantage for making it into the Finals. This tourney is a great chance to see how you stack up against teams from other regions.”

During the course of the weekend three other tournaments will be taking place on the floor of one team representing each region — Lower Columbia CC of Longview, Skagit Valley CC of Mt. Vernon, and Umpqua CC of Umpqua, Oregon — consisting of two teams from each region in the NWAACC.

Wilks, despite being excited about the opportunity to host such an event, is concerned with the historic lack of large attendances at these tournaments.

“When we travel to other campuses for this tourney, typically the attendance is pretty sparse,” Wilks said. “Hopefully our local fan base will come out and put on a good showing for this tournament and show the other colleges what great support and fans we have here in the Basin.”

Friday, the Lady Vikings open up tournament play at 8 p.m. against Portland Community College from the NWAACC South Region.

Portland CC (1-4) comes in having lost their last four games in a row by a 26-point average margin.

“In a tournament like this, you have to really focus on your first opponent,” Wilks said.  “We do not want to overlook them.”

The winner of that contest would then play in Saturday’s 8 p.m. semifinal against the winner of Edmonds CC (1-2, North Region) and Grays Harbor CC (0-4, West Region) which will tip off at 6 p.m. on Friday.

On the other half of the bracket, Centrailia CC (2-1, West Region) takes on Everett CC (1-1, North Region) at 1 p.m. on Friday, which is followed by Chemeketa CC (1-2, South Region) against Treasure Valley CC (4-1, East Region).

The consolation semifinals take place Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m. If the Lady Vikings drop their opener against Portland CC they would play the loser of Edmonds and Grays Harbor at the latter time.

Big Bend is led by Dana Bates who tops the NWAACC in rebounding (13 per-game) and is fifth in scoring at a 19.8 points-per-game clip.

Alia Parker is the only other Lady Viking in the top 20 of a statistical category ranking 20th in assists at 3.2 per-game.

The Panthers of Portland have received top performances from Hollisha Watson, Kavaly Phosakam, and Diamond Ferguson over their last couple of contests.

One player to keep an eye on during the tournament could be Treasure Valley’s Alla DzhiDzhiyeshvilli who is in the NWAACC’s top 20 for scoring (15 points-per-game), steals (4.2 per game) and assists (3.2 per game).

Wilks hopes his Lady Vikings (3-2) can come out on top with many of his players contributing in the opener.

“An other key approach to this tourney is to make sure your players have enough gas left in their tanks for the final day,” Wilks said. “So the second day it is important to get players into the game with fresh legs that can do some positive things for your team and help you play for some ‘hardware’ on the last day.”

Tournament admission is, $12 for a tournament pass, $5 for adults for a day, $4 for senior and high and junior high school students, while ages 10-and-under are admitted free.

The title game is scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m.

Full schedule:

Friday, Dec. 18:

Quarterfinals, 1 p.m.: Centrailia CC vs. Everett CC; 3 p.m.: Chemeketa CC vs. Treasure Valley CC; 6 p.m.: Edmonds CC vs. Grays Harbor CC; 8 p.m.: Big Bend CC vs. Portland CC.

Saturday, Dec. 19: Consolation Semifinal No. 1 - Loser of Everett/Centrailia vs. Loser of Chemeketa/Treasure Valley, 1 p.m.; Consolation Semifinal No. 2 - Loser of Edmonds/Grays Harbor vs. Loser of Big Bend/Portland, 3 p.m.

Semifinal No. 1 - Winner of Everett/Centrailia vs. Winner of Chemeketa/Treasure Valley, 6 p.m.; Semifinal No. 2 - Winner of Edmonds/Grays Harbor  vs. Winner of Big Bend/Portland, 3 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 20: 4th Place Game — (Consolation Final) Winner of Consolation Semifinal No. 1/Consolation Semifinal No. 2, 11 a.m.; 3rd/5th Place Game — Loser of Semifinal No. 1 vs. Loser of Semifinal No. 2, 1 p.m.; Championship Game — Winner of Semifinal No. 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal No. 2, 3 p.m.