Class 4A matchups a reprise of 2007

Published 11:29 pm Sunday, February 24, 2008

RENTON — Warm up the DeLorean. It’s time to go back to the future.

The six area high school teams that qualified for the 2008 Class 4A state boys and girls basketball championships are the same ones that made it last season: Snohomish, Edmonds-Woodway and Mariner for the boys; Jackson, Lake Stevens and Snohomish for the girls.

The teams’ coaches and players learned Sunday at the state-tourney draws in Renton who they’ll play Wednesday in the first round of the four-day championships at the Tacoma Dome.

The sense of deja vu is strongest for the boys teams from Snohomish and Edmonds-Woodway. They’ll play the same first-round opponents as last year, but they hope for different results.

Snohomish (20-3 overall), the District 1 champion, plays Decatur (20-6) at 9 a.m. Wednesday. In last year’s tourney Decatur edged Snohomish by three points in the opening round.

“That’s not what we were hoping for. That’s going to be tough,” Snohomish coach Len Bone said of the rematch against Decatur, which features high-scoring guards Marcus Tibbs (18.4 points per game) and Michael Hale (16.0 ppg).

“I know they’re very talented in the perimeter and they’ve got (6-foot-5 senior forward Darious Walker) back inside,” said Bone.

District 1 runner-up Edmonds-Woodway (19-4) once again starts off against Kentridge (21-5), which blasted the Warriors 63-42 on Day 1 of the 2007 tourney and advanced to the title game.

“That’s just the way the draw goes. That’s what happens when you get into a tournament with the best teams in the state,” E-W coach Gail Pintler said.

Unlike last season, E-W didn’t get the dreaded 9 a.m. tip-off time. The Warriors, led by forward Connor Donaldson and guard James Conti, play District 3 No. 3 seed Kentridge at 3:30 p.m.

Mariner, the other local team in the boys tourney, opens against Lincoln (22-4), District 3’s top seed. Mariner (18-6) won three state loser-out district games to return to Tacoma.

“We had to go through some adversity to get back. I think overall it helped us in the long run,” Marauders coach Dexter Griffen said.

Third-ranked Jackson girls get favorable draw

Fresh off its district-championship victory Saturday night, the surging Jackson girls basketball team got decent news Sunday. The Timberwolves (22-1), who have won 21 consecutive games and are ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press 4A poll, don’t have either of the state’s higher-ranked squads in their half of the bracket.

Jackson, led by University of Washington recruit Kristi Kingma, plays Moses Lake (21-5) at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the first round. If it can win its first three games this week, Jackson won’t have to deal with No. 1 Lewis &Clark (25-0) or No. 2 Prairie (18-3) until the championship.

“We were excited to see our name pop down to the bottom bracket,” Jackson coach Jeannie Thompson said, “but obviously down there you have Kentwood (21-4). … You have to beat good teams to win the title, so hopefully we can win day-by-day and push through.”

Lake Stevens (21-2), which lost against Jackson in the District 1 final, will battle District 3 No. 2 seed Mount Tahoma (21-5) at 9 a.m. Last year Mount Tahoma beat Lake Stevens 73-59 in a loser-out state-tourney contest. Mount Tahoma also knocked out the Vikings in 2006.

“I’ve seen them every year,” third-year Lake Stevens coach Randall Edens said, “so obviously we should be prepared for their style of play.”

Meanwhile, the Snohomish girls squad, the only team to beat both Jackson and Lake Stevens this season, has a noon first-round tip-off versus Bellarmine Prep (23-4). The District 3 No. 3 seed, Bellarmine poses problems because of its quickness and excellent defensive intensity, Snohomish coach Ken Roberts said.

“Coming in, there were two teams I said that we didn’t really want to match up with: Lewis &Clark and Bellarmine,” Roberts said.

“Bellarmine’s really quick,” he added. “They press all over the floor.”

Darrington boys back in 2B tourney

For the second consecutive year, the Darrington boys basketball team is in the 2B state tournament. The Loggers (20-5) will play 17-6 Northwest Christian of Lacey at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the first round at Spokane Arena. Darrington, which has won 10 of its past 11 games, placed sixth last season.

Also, the King’s boys squad of Shoreline is in the 1A state tourney in Yakima. The 20-5 Knights clash with Connell (20-3) 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.