ACH girls have tournament to remember
SPOKANE — They call it March Madness for a reason and the uncertainty of tournament time is what makes basketball this time of year fun.
Title IX ushered in a new wave of greatness that led to NCAA women’s programs like UConn and Tennessee, giving young girls around the country the idea to dream big.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, the Almira/Hartline-Coulee girls did something incredible in their run to the Washington 1B Hardwood Classic championship game. It didn’t end with the big trophy, but it is as historic as any achievement as this small school has ever done.
What a run. By virtue of losing to Republic in the regional round, the Warriors (23-5) were thrust into the side of the bracket with 1B powerhouses No. 5 Tacoma Baptist and No. 1-seeded Colton, which had won eight straight 1B state championships. When you come from a working-class community there’s only one way to handle adversity, knuckle down and get after it.
The Warriors arrived in Spokane on Tuesday night because they had No. 14 Yakama Nation Tribal in the play-in game the following morning at 9 a.m. Just to put things in perspective, that meant they spent four nights in a motel away from home. Eating restaurant food, trying to find some sort of routine between games. They were like rock stars on the road.
Well, they handled Yakama Nation Tribal 59-36 to get into the tournament, then had the brutal schedule of playing a second consecutive 9 a.m. game on Thursday. ACH coach Mike Correia told me, “We don’t play well in the early games.” Perfect, let’s take on previously unbeaten No. 5 Tacoma Baptist, who rolled in with a 24-game winning streak.
Sometimes youth is a bliss. The Warriors, with their one senior in the lineup, handed Tacoma Baptist (25-2) its first loss of the season in the quarterfinals, only to draw the team that has set the 1B standard for the past 10 years, Colton.
While all this is going on, Republic (24-2) had the night off on Wednesday and beat Cedar Park Christian by 43 and Sunnyside Christian by 5 to get to the title game.
Greatness isn’t determined by what you do when times are good, but when you have to reach inside and find a way, find that reason to believe, trust one another with all your heart. The ACH girls did something no other Washington 1B girl’s basketball team has done in the past eight years — they upended Colton on the floor of the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Friday’s 50-46 victory should be etched in stone outside the Brick House in memory of the giant-killers.
The No. 6 seed that shouldn’t have even been there had it not been for acts of “Sheroism,” didn’t have anything left after their brutal tournament schedule. Even though one of Republic’s losses this season was to the Warriors in the district championship, the Tigers won running away against a team running on empty.
The Almira/Hartline-Coulee girls wore it well. They didn’t even have enough energy left to cry when it was all over. Disappointed? Of course, but if they are the only examples of their respective towns I ever meet, then I know great people live there.
What a run it was and thanks for the experience.