Two Area Teams Win Trophies At 4A State Basketball Tournament

Share

By Keith Leventhal

Story Published: Mar 8, 2010 at 10:51 PM PST

The 4A state basketball tournament wrapped up on Saturday night.

We had one local boys team that brought home a trophy this year.

The Walla Walla Blue Devils lost their quarterfinal game on Thursday, but bounced back with 2 straight wins to bring home the 4th place trophy.

A big reason for their success this year was their senior leadership.

9 of the Blue Devils 12 players were seniors this year, including 2 future D-1 players, Michael Weisner and Gary Winston.

And the team was happy to send these seniors off with a state trophy.

Walla Walla head coach John Golden says, "You know, its just a, its been a great year, its been a great 4 year run with gary and these seniors and, you know, I can't think of a better way for these guys to go out."

Walla Walla senior guard Gary Winston adds, "Our goal at the beginning of the season was to get here and not just get here but with a trophy and 4th place, I mean, we'll take it, but we could have done better, but, right now, that's good, 4th place is real good."

We had another local team win a trophy in Tacoma on Saturday.

The Chiawana girls ended their first season by winning the 7th place trophy.

Their story is the exact opposite of Walla Walla's.

Unlike the Blue Devils, the Riverhawks don't have a single senior on their roster.

The team does have 8 juniors, 1 sophomore, and 3 freshmen.

And that's why there weren't a lot of tears after they lost Saturday and ended up in 7th place.

All 12 of those players will be back next year.

And the team told me if they all work hard in the off-season, they should be in good shape to make a run for the state title in 2011.