Tri-Cities women shoot their way to NWAC basketball’s championship Final Four
For the second consecutive year, the Columbia Basin College women’s basketball team has advanced to the Northwest Athletic Conference Final Four.
CBC defeated Portland Community College 74-72 on Saturday in the first round at home; then the Hawks took down Shoreline of Seattle 70-60 on Sunday in the quarterfinals.
Next, the Hawks (25-2) will play Lane (28-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 16, in the semifinals. In the other semifinal, Walla Walla (22-7) will play Umpqua (27-4) at 5 p.m. Saturday.
The winners will meet in the championship game at 4:45 p.m. Sunday.
All contests in the championship tournament — both men’s and women’s — are played at CBC for the second consecutive year.
Here’s a look at CBC’s weekend:
CBC WOMEN 70, SHORELINE 60: Back in January, Hawks head coach Amy Sokaitis said one of her favorite things about this team is that anyone, on any given night, can lead CBC in scoring.
And the players tend to find the hot-shooting teammate when that happens.
“We’ve lived by that all year,” said Sokaitis. “We just plugged away in the second half.”
So it definitely was no surprise when a glance at the scoreboard in the fourth quarter showed every player on the court had at least 10 points or better.
Against the Dolphins, CBC had been locked in a tight battle for much of the contest. In fact, Shoreline led 31-30 at intermission.
But without about 6 minutes left in the third quarter, the Hawks started getting some stops and putting a scoring run together.
Leading 43-39, CBC went on an 8-4 run to finish the quarter and lead 51-43.
Chiawana grad Aniyah Heavens scored four points in that run.
A few minutes into the fourth quarter, the Hawks exploded for an 8-0 run, and that was the game.
In that 8-0 run, Trinidie Nichols and Kenzi Pedersen each had four points.
Pedersen led the way for the Hawks, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Pedersen scored 12 of her points in the second half, as Sokaitis decided to get the ball inside to her post player.
“I had to yell at her,” said Sokaitis. “I said ‘Stop! Stop looking to pass and start looking to bring it to the bucket.’”
Pedersen said she needed the wake up call from Sokaitis.
“Sometimes I tend to get inside my head,” Pedersen admitted.
Heavens and Nichols finished with 13 points each, while Lexi Heath added 12 points and Mikayla Robertson finished with 10.
It proved Sokaitis’ feelings about this team from the get-go. It did with Pedersen too.
“I think that’s nice,” said Pedersen. “It shows we have depth, that we’re able to share the ball, and that we trust on one another.”
CBC WOMEN 74, PORTLAND CC 72: With 8 minutes left to play in Friday’s game, and the Hawks trailing 57-53 to the Panthers, Nichols — CBC’s top scorer this season — had the pinky finger of her left hand pop out of joint.
“That,” she said after the game, “was a new kind of pain.”
The training staff would get the finger popped back in, and then everyone got to watch Nichols score CBC’s last 11 points.
The final two points came with just 0.8 seconds left. Nichols drove the left lane against a much taller opponent with the game tied at 72-72. She got the correct angle and let the ball carom off the backboard for a driving layup and the victory.
Nichols, with her left hand hurting, used her right hand on the game-winning drive.
“Trinidie is a special kind of player,” said Sokaitis. “I’ve saying all season that she’s one of the best players in this league.”
Nichols finished with a team-high 29 points and had six steals.
But Nichols couldn’t have done what she did if it wasn’t for Heavens, who came off the bench to scored 21 points.
“Aniyah played so well,” said Sokaitis. “We know when she locks in, she’s really good.”
NWAC MEN’S TOURNAMENT
At Columbia Basin College, Pasco
All games loser out
Wednesday, March 6
Game 1 — Columbia Basin 62, South Puget Sound 57
Game 2 — Portland 76, Peninsula 49
Game 3 — Green River 93, Spokane 57
Game 4 — Edmonds 72, Lane 66
Thursday, March 7
Game 5 — Skagit Valley 85, Linn-Benton 71
Game 6 — Lower Columbia 74, Walla Walla 60
Game 7 — Everett 86, Southwestern Oregon 76
Game 8 — Tacoma 87, Treasure Valley 70
Game 9 — Portland 86, Columbia Basin 82
Game 10 — Green River 81, Edmonds 61
Friday, March 8
Game 11 — Skagit Valley 66, Lower Columbia 61
Game 12 — Tacoma 88, Everett 80
Saturday, March 16
Game 13 — Portland (25-4) vs. Green River (25-6), noon
Game 14 — Skagit Valley (26-5) vs. Tacoma (22-9), 2 p.m.
Sunday, March 17
Game 15 — Championship, winner 13 vs. winner 14, 2 p.m.
NWAC WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT
At Columbia Basin College, Pasco
All games loser out
Friday, March 8
Game 1 — Umpqua 83, Yakima Valley 66
Game 2 — Peninsula 60, Centralia 35
Game 3 — Walla Walla 46, Clackamas 38
Game 4 — Lower Columbia 72, Bellevue 63
Saturday, March 9
Game 5 — Shoreline 54, Green River 53
Game 6 — Columbia Basin 74, Portland 72
Game 7 — Edmonds 67, Pierce 52
Game 8 — Lane 59, Treasure Valley 49
Game 9 — Umpqua 73, Peninsula 55
Game 10 — Walla Walla 71, Lower Columbia 54
Sunday, March 10
Game 11 — Columbia Basin 70, Shoreline 60
Game 12 — Lane 60, Edmonds 46
Saturday, March 16
Game 13 — Umpqua (27-4) vs. Walla Walla (22-7), 5 p.m.
Game 14 — Columbia Basin (25-2) vs. Lane (28-2), 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 17
Game 15 — Championship, winner 13 vs. winner 14, 4:45 p.m.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
