Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
T:o girls
Tekoa-Oakesdale girls avenge last year; end 15-year Sunnyside Christian state berth streak
It wasn’t yet close to midnight, but there was something lurking in the dark.
It was a yellow school bus parked outside Eisenhower High School last Friday night with the words “Sunnyside Christian” painted on the side.
Their girls’ team again had the No. 1-seed from the Greater Columbia Gorge League which meant that Tekoa-Oakesdale would play them in a re-match in the regional playoffs from last year.
In that game, played in Walla Walla, Sunnyside Christian won 57-51 and continued on to state, losing only to Colton in the championship game.
This year it was different.
At halftime, as the Tekoa-Oakesdale band played “Thriller,” under the direction of Cart Nelsen, the local Nighthawks led 22-20.
Leading up to that point, at the start of the second quarter, T-O began to press as Sunnyside Christian took an 18-14 lead.
Nighthawks’ senior forward Mattie Jo Johnson then scored on the inside to cut it to 18-16 and two minutes later, Kim Groom hit a three-pointer from the corner to keep Tekoa-Oakesdale within a point.
In the second half, after Nelsen and the band followed with “Paint It Black,” Olivia Pakootas drove and scored to put T-O up 24-22.
S.C. kept responding though, re-taking a lead before Tekoa-Oakesdale’s Cassandra Mendoza passed to Johnson for a step-and-turnaround shot.
With Sunnyside Christian leading by seven, Mendoza hit a turnaround three-footer for 32-27.
The Nighthawks kept working.
Pakootas missed a three-pointer and Johnson followed it to put the score at 32-29.
Tekoa-Oakesdale freshman Jacey Johnson then hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 32-32 with 1:03 left in the third quarter.
It remained that after S.C.’s Stormee Van Belle slapped a Kim Groom shot out of bounds.
Opening the fourth quarter, Jacey Johnson hit another three-pointer followed by her sister Mattie Jo with a two-footer. When Pakootas scored on a jump shot from the baseline, Tekoa-Oakesdale led 41-36.
Sunnyside Christian started to press.
With 3:46 left, Van Belle missed a free throw and T-O took the ball down the floor.
“Motion!” yelled coach Dan Brown.
Mattie Jo found Mendoza under the basket for a six-point Nighthawks lead.
With 2:24 left, S.C. called a time out and T-O senior guard Alexa Lindgren came out afterward and hit a three-pointer.
Van Belle then stole the ball from Pakootas and scored to cut the Nighthawk lead to three.
On the next possession, Pakootas went to the line for two shots. She made both to put T-O back up five, 45-40.
With under a minute left, Van Belle followed with a drive and 10-foot shot for 45-42.
Van Belle then struck again, tipping a Mendoza pass away, taking possession but her team couldn’t score.
Instead, they later fouled Lindgren, who went to the line to make two, putting T-O back up by five with 45 seconds remaining.
The Knights inbounded and Van Belle took the ball the length of the floor but missed the shot at the end.
Then, after Mendoza bounced out a one-and-one, Sunnyside Christian’s Annie Brouwer later made two free throws to cut T-O’s lead back to three.
Next, they fouled Groom and she went to the line and missed.
Sunnyside Christian got the rebound and still had time.
Van Belle worked for a quick three-pointer, but it hit only air and the ball bounced out of bounds.
With 12 seconds left, Mattie Jo went to the free throw line for T-O and made one. On the second shot, Mendoza came down with the rebound, was fouled and made both to seal the victory.
“Amazing,” said Matti Jo Johnson after the game. “It’s our turn. Senior year, we finally made it. I think we just really wanted it.”
Johnson and her team would advance to state while Van Belle and the Knights came up short.
“She’s definitely strong,” said Johnson, of battling Van Belle under the basket.
The loss ended a 15-year state tournament streak for Sunnyside Christian.
Matti Jo Johnson led Tekoa-Oakesdale with 15 points on the night while Pakootas added 14 on 5-for-8 in field-goal attempts.
Van Belle, a senior, led her team with 15 points in her last game, as a standout career turned to – as the song concludes – a corpsic shell.
STATE FIRST ROUND GAME: Tekoa-Oakesdale will play Neah Bay at 3:45 p.m. Thursday at Spokane Arena.
If they win, they advance to play the winner of Tahola and Mount Vernon Christian in the state semifinal game.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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