Jackson’s Kingma, Meadowdale’s Jones earn all-state honors
Published 11:04 pm Thursday, March 27, 2008
SEATTLE — Two do-it-all guards from the Western Conference South Division were named this week to the Associated Press All-State high school girls basketball teams.
Jackson High School senior Kristi Kingma made the Class 4A first team, and Meadowdale senior Eryn Jones received 3A first-team honors in voting by sports writers and editors from around the state.
Kingma, a University of Washington recruit, averaged 23.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 3.5 steals per game. She was named The Herald’s All-Area Girls Basketball Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Jones, who will play for Portland State University, averaged 19.2 points, 5.5 assists and 8.2 rebounds in four games at the 3A state tournament. She helped lead Meadowdale to fifth place. For the season, Jones averaged 21.8 points per game.
Three other local players received honorable mention: Lindsey Newman of South Whidbey (2A girls), and King’s teammates Erich Fuhlendorf and Dylan O’Neil (1A boys).
The most prestigious honors went to DeAngelo Casto and Ashley Corral, who were voted the AP basketball players of the year.
Corral, a senior at Prairie just outside of Vancouver, was a near-unanimous girls choice, easily outpacing Kingma and Auburn Riverside’s Katie Grad in voting. Corral also was named the 4A girls player of the year.
Casto was named the 4A boys player of the year, but the voting was much closer. Six players received votes for state player of the year, with Casto edging out teammate Shawn Stockton.
Casto was the dominating center on Ferris’ record-setting squad that won its second straight 4A championship and will carry a 58-game win streak into next season. Casto averaged nearly 20 points per game in the playoffs and set a state record for blocked shots.
Corral, headed to the University of Southern California next year, averaged 16 points and was an all-around force for Prairie. She led the Falcons to a third-place finish at the 4A tourney and was named a McDonald’s All-American.
In 3A, both Grad and Rainier Beach’s Reggie Moore were overwhelming selections as players of the year. Both led their teams to state titles. Grad capped her career with a second straight title for the Ravens.
In 2A, Ellensburg’s Kayla Standish repeated as girls player of the year after leading the Bulldogs to a second-place finish at the state, their highest placing in school history. On the boys’ side, Ephrata’s Daniel Simon was the player of the year after the Tigers won their first state title behind Simon and his brother Patrick, who was a first-team selection.
Whatcom County was well represented in 1A, where Nooksack Valley’s Rich Skillman and Lynden Christian’s Brianne Ryan were selected as players of the year. In 2B, both players of the year came from the Yakima area, with Riverside Christian’s Chris Pynch and La Salle’s Jasmine Stohr taking honors.
And in 1B, Joel Koopmans of Sunnyside Christian and Clara Hull of Pateros were selected as players of the year.
In all, 13 players repeated as first-team selections from 2007: Casto; Avery Bradley (boys 4A, Bellarmine Prep); Kavario Middleton (boys 3A, Lakes); Kevin Komstadius (boys 2A, East Valley-Yakima); Chase Ramey (boys 2B, Northwest Christian-Colbert); Jones; Standish; Sophie Russell (girls 2A, River Ridge); Brittany Janz (girls 2A, Anacortes); Ryan; Stohr; Megan Spence (girls 2B, King’s West); and Hull.
