Trophy games: Columbia River boys finish fifth, Evergreen girls take sixth at state tournaments

The Columbia River Rapids, shown here the previous weekend at the state tournament’s Opening Round, won three consecutive games in the state tournament to reach the championship semifinals. The Rapids ended up losing Friday night in the semifinals and again Saturday in the third-place game to bring home the fifth-place trophy from the 2A state boys basketball tournament. Photo courtesy Heather Tianen

The Washington high school basketball seasons came to an end Saturday with trophy games, and the Columbia River boys (2A) and Evergreen girls (3A) made it to the final day of the season, earning some hardware to bring home to Vancouver

Paul Valencia
Clark County Today

For the second year in a row, the Columbia River Rapids are coming home with a trophy from the Class 2A boys basketball state tournament.

For the first time, the Evergreen girls basketball program has earned a trophy at state, as well.

Unfortunately for both teams, they found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard Saturday.

Still, they made it to Saturday, the final day of the season, and only six teams in each classification do that every year.

A day after falling in overtime at the buzzer in the championship semifinals in Yakima, the Rapids lost another close one, this time to Anacortes in the third-place game. The result meant the Rapids had to accept the fifth-place trophy this year.

In Tacoma this week, Evergreen reached the championship quarterfinals, lost that game, but then won in the consolation bracket to reach a trophy game. On Saturday, the Plainsmen fell to White River in the fourth-place game. That meant Evergreen took home the sixth-place trophy.

Here are some highlights:

Class 2A boys

Third-place game

No. 6 Anacortes 67, No. 11 Columbia River 63 — The Rapids started out hot, racing out to a big lead, but got cold in the second half.

Anacortes outscored the Rapids 18-6 in the fourth quarter.

Columbia River scored 27 points in the first quarter and 44 by halftime. Perhaps fatigued after playing two overtime games in the previous three games, the Rapids shot 26 percent from the floor in the second half of the trophy game.

Still, what a run for the Rapids. The 11-seed made it to the championship semifinals and came a “nanosecond” away from advancing to the finals.

In the third-place game, Luca Phillips led River with 19 points. Alex Pont had 15 points. Josh Paxton made three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points. Kellen Clary added 11 points.

Anacortes’ Micah Dickenson had 26 points.

This is River’s first back-to-back placing at state since the 2004 and 2005 seasons, according to WIAA archives.

Class 3A girls

The Evergreen girls basketball team, shown here Friday at the Tacoma Dome, lost Saturday in a trophy game. But still, the Plainsmen reached a trophy game for the first time in program history, taking home sixth-place from the Class 3A state girls basketball tournament. Photo courtesy Heather Tianen

Fourth-place game

No. 12 White River 56, No. 7 Evergreen 44 — It was not the result the Plainsmen wanted Saturday morning, but they still got to bring home a trophy from the state tournament.

According to WIAA archives, that is a first for the program.

White River led by eight after the first quarter and extended the margin to 11 at the half. Maggee Schmitz led White River with 22 points to take home the fourth-place trophy.

Evergreen ended up with the sixth-place trophy.

Amaya Paschal led a balanced Evergreen attack with 13 points. Kimora Ross added 11 points and eight rebounds. Courtney Neal also scored 11 points.

The Plainsmen hope this is the start of something special. The team only has two seniors.