First, the good news: both White River High basketball teams earned a berth in the state Class 2A tournament staged last week in Yakima.
And the bad: each squad entered into a loser-out round and that was exactly their short-lived fate. Both the Hornet boys’ and girls’ teams dropped tournament openers on March 12 and saw their 2021-22 hoop campaigns come to a disappointing close.
The location was the Yakima Valley SunDome where eight teams moved on from regional competition and joined four frontrunners in a 12-team battle for statewide 2A supremacy.
In the end, it was the Lynden High boys taking championship honors (defeating Pullman) while, on the girls’ side, Ellensburg bested Burlington-Edison to capture the title.
WHITE RIVER BOYS
The Hornet boys were the higher-ranked of the White River duo, entering Yakima play as the No. 6 seed. That didn’t matter to the No. 14 Prosser Mustangs of the Central Washington Athletic Conference, who survived a late Hornet rally to win 72-67.
The Hornet boys can look back at a subpar first half that largely determined the outcome. Prosser enjoyed a 26-19 lead by the end of the first quarter, then stretched its advantage to 14 points, leading 35-21 midway through the second period. White River turned things around and outscored the Mustangs during the second half (36-33) but it wasn’t enough.
A handful of statistics leap off the page and make clear why Prosser walked off the court on top. Chief among those was the contribution of the Mustang bench, which outscored White River’s nonstarters 25-2. And, as a team, Prosser drained nine 3-point shots while the Hornets were good on only three of 15 attempts beyond the arc.
In the end, the Mustangs held the lead for 29-plus minutes of the 32-minute game.
Despite trailing for nearly the entire contest, White River mounted a spirited charge. Commanding the paint, the Hornets chipped away at the halftime deficit and sliced the Mustang advantage to 56-53 by the close of the third period. Inching closer by the minute, White River climbed to within a single point (68-67) when Rylan Donovan nailed a jump shot with 1:35 on the clock. That was it for the Hornet scoring, however, as Prosser was good on four crucial free throws in the final 24 seconds to secure the victory.
Carson Voellger had an impressive stat line, scoring 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field; he was good on five of six free-throw attempts and led the team with eight rebounds. Dane Goudy also posted 19 points, hitting seven of 15 field goal attempts and three of his four shots from the free-throw line.
The loss took White River’s final, overall record to 19-5 for the season, a mark that included a perfect 14-0 run through South Puget Sound League 2A play.
WRHS freshman Vivian Kingston making a shot during the Hornet’s final state match against Washougal. Photo courtesy Northwest Sports Photography
WHITE RIVER GIRLS
On the girls’ side, White River took its No. 10 seeding to the SunDome floor against No. 7 Washougal. The Hornet girls didn’t take a great deal of offense, though, managing single-digit scoring in every quarter on the way to a 47-31 loss at the hands of the Panthers from the Great St. Helens League. It marked the second-lowest scoring output of the season for White River.
Coach Chris Gibson noted how experience often plays a role in state tournaments. For example, Washougal had three players battling the Hornets who were on the varsity roster when the Panthers won the state championship in 2019; against White River, all three scored in double figures. By contrast, the Hornets’ state roster had just two seniors (one being a starter), a lone junior, seven sophomores and a freshman.
The loss can be traced directly to the Hornets’ shooting woes. The squad hit just six of 25 shots from the field while falling behind 14-4 after eight minutes and 27-13 by halftime. The effort included connecting on just one of five from 3-point range and missing all four free throws.
The shooting improved just a bit in the second half, but the team went 0-for-7 from beyond the arc. Freshman Vivian Kingston paced the Hornet offense with 10 points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds.
With the loss, the Hornet girls finished the season 20-5 overall. That included a 13-1 mark in South Puget Sound League 2A play and a share of the league title. The Panthers, who finished second in their league, improved to 17-5 overall with the win.
WHITE RIVER BOYS
Prosser: 26-13-17-16 – 72
White River: 19-12-23-13 – 67
White River scoring: Carson Voellger 19, Dane Goudy 19, Ashtin Harris 11, Rylan Donovan 10, Colin Schmidtke 6, Tyce Donovan 2.
White River shooting: 12-27 first half, 15-27 second half, 27-54 total (50 percent).
Prosser shooting: 14-28 first half, 12-29 second half, 26-57 total (45.6 percent).
WHITE RIVER GIRLS
Washougal: 14-13-6-14 – 47
White River: 4-9-9-9 – 31
White River scoring: Vivian Kingston 10, Morgan Greene 8, Dakota Sprouse 7, Ava Bright 6.
White River shooting: 6-25 first half, 8-26 second half, 14-51 total (27.5 percent).
Washougal shooting: 10-26 first half, 6-18 second half, 16-44 total (36.4 percent).
WRHS senior Carson Voellger attempts a layup during the Hornets’ final state game against Prosser. Photo courtesy Northwest Sports Photography
White River’s Lexie Banks attempts a drive to the basket around a Washougal player. Photo courtesy Northwest Sports Photography
