The White River High girls wrapped up South Puget Sound League 2A play with a key contest Tuesday night against Sumner and now prepare for subdistrict action.
The Hornets’ entry into subdistricts was undecided through games of last week and was to be determined Tuesday; results of that home game against the Spartans were not available at press time.
White River entered Tuesday’s game with a league mark of 11-0 and Sumner was 10-1. A Hornet victory would give White River the league title and No. 1 berth into subdistricts; a Spartan victory would result in co-champions and a coin flip would determine the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds into subdistricts.
Either way, White River is slated to play Friday night at Foster High School. If the Hornets advance as the SPSL 2A’s No. 1 seed they will play at 5:30 against the top entry from the Seamount League. The No. 2 entry will take the court at 7:30 against the Olympic League’s top seed.
The Hornets also will play Saturday night at either 5:30 or 7:30 at Foster High, depending upon Friday’s results.
The Hornets put themselves in position to capture the league crown with three victories last week. First came a 76-66 win over third-place Eatonville on Feb. 1, followed by a 59-30 triumph Thursday over Franklin Pierce and a 52-40, Saturday night decision over the Fife Trojans.
The victory at Fife came on the strength of the first and fourth quarters, as the Trojans outscored White River 21-18 during the second and third periods. An 18-9 advantage during the game’s first eight minutes got the Hornets off on the right foot.
White River scoring was led by the senior trio of Brook Paulson and Rani Wiegand, who scored 14 each, and Sabra Sproul, who added 10.
Thursday’s victory over Franklin Pierce was all about the inside play of Wiegand, who outscored the entire Trojan roster, totaling 33 points on the night. Sproul chipped in with 12.
The Cardinals tried to make things interesting during a ragged second quarter, trailing only 27-18 at intermission. The Hornets turned things around in the second half, outscoring their guests 32-10 to run away with the win.
Coach Chris Gibson was pleased with the way his crew responded to the adversity of traveling to Eatonville to challenge the Cruisers. A quick 24-14 advantage following the first eight minutes put White River on top and a 31-point fourth quarter provided the final margin.
Paulson poured in 24 points to lead all scorers, Wiegand added 22 and Sproul finished with 16.
Paulson continues to lead all SPSL 2A scorers with an average of 16.8. With 69 points in last week’s three games, Wiegand moved into the No. 2 spot with an average of 16.2.
