Panthers, Bears streak into 4A girls title game

Published 10:54 pm Friday, March 4, 2016

TACOMA — It’s been almost three months since the Central Valley or Snohomish girls basketball team — the two squads that play in Saturday’s 4A state championship game — last lost.

The two teams have combined to win 49 consecutive games — the Bears are 27-0, and the Panthers have won 22 straight after losing their first three games of the season.

The streaks are impressive, but neither one will matter come Saturday.

“That’s not what it’s about right now,” Snohomish head coach Ken Roberts said.

After starting the season 0-3, the Panthers have flown under the radar much of the season. They reeled off win after win, but didn’t crack the Associated Press 4A state rankings until the final poll of the season — and even then they were ranked 10th.

“I’m aware of (the Snohomish winning streak), but the girls aren’t and we won’t talk about it,” Bears coach Freddie Rehkow said. “They are just our next opponent. Streaks are streaks and one of our streaks (is) going to end, whether it’s ours or theirs. We won’t talk about that. We’re going to talk about their personnel and what we need to do to get the job done. We’ll put it in the hands of the teenagers and let them go play.”

Both schools have played for the state championship in recent years. The Panthers reached the title game the last time they made it to Tacoma in 2009, finishing second. The Bears made it to the championship in 2012, falling on a heartbreaking buzzer-beater to Skyview.

“I don’t want those kids to feel what we felt that year,” Rehkow said. “We led the whole game and then lose on a buzzer-beater. I want these kids to get this because they’ve worked their tails off to get this — so has Snohomish.”

Both coaches had nothing but praise for the opposing team.

“They’re very skilled,” Roberts said. “They’ve got some good length. All their kids can handle the ball and pass the ball. They’re quick. They’re ranked No. 1 for a reason.”

Rehkow likes the way the Panthers share the basketball on offense.

“They’re very athletic,” Rehkow said. “Their bigs are solid. (Madison Pollock) can handle the ball really well. They do a real good job of working the ball. Their ball movement is really good.”

Defense has been a key for both teams. They have been so good, Rehkow said, that they might offset each other on Saturday.

“It’s the same thing with us, we pride ourselves on our defense,” Rehkow said. “It’s just going to be the team that probably shoots the best on the third day.”

Roberts and his coaching staff went to work on a plan to slow the Bears, who are led by sisters Lexie Hull (18.1 points per game) and Lacie Hull (9.3 points per game), right after the Panthers’ victory over Bothell in the semifinals.

“We’ve got to figure out what is best for us, we do a lot of different things defensively and we just have to figure out what might work against them,” Roberts said.

“I have about three or four things,” Roberts added. “We had about three or four things today (against Bothell) and we only had to use one, which was nice. Yesterday (against Lewis and Clark) we had three things ready and we used two of them. Tomorrow we’ll have two or three things that will be Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. I always tell the kids, ‘It’s nice if you guys just take care of it and Plan A happens to be the one.’”

The Bears have a chance to do something not many high school teams get to do, finish a championship season undefeated.

The key word for Rehkow is “championship.”

“We haven’t talked about being unbeaten one time this whole year,” Rehkow said. “And we won’t. If we can take care of business tomorrow, we’ll talk about it, otherwise it doesn’t matter.”

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.