FRIDAY NIGHT BASKETBALL

Girls Basketball

White River 57, Yelm 55

The White River High girls earned a chance to play for the West Central/Southwest bidistrict championship with a Friday night victory over Yelm at Auburn High School. The Hornets will play at 8 p.m. Saturday, again at AHS, against Kennedy High, which defeated Prairie 67-54 Friday.

White River and Kennedy met in the first round of postseason play, with the Lancers getting the better of the Hornets.

The Hornets had guaranteed themselves a berth in the March 11-14 state tournament last week and are now playing for seeding. The state tourney will take place in the Tacoma Dome.

Friday’s victory over Yelm didn’t come easy, as White River trailed 43-40 after three quarters and needed a 17-12, fourth-quarter rally to pull out the win. Yelm used a 7-0 run late in the game to erase a Hornet lead and hold a slim 55-54 lead with less than a minute to play. White River won thanks to a Megan McKune turnaround jumper with 35 seconds on the clock. Brooke Paulson added a free throw with 11 seconds remaining to polish off the game’s scoring.

Kendall Williams paced the White River offense with 16 points and McKune added 12.

Enumclaw High defeated Auburn Mountainview

Bonney Lake High lost to Hazen

The Hornets won their Friday night game at Clover Park, gaining entry into the March 11-14 Class 3A state tournament in the Tacoma Dome. In an earlier game, Bonney Lake fell to the Hazen Highlanders.

For seeding purposes, Enumclaw will play Hazen at 4 p.m. Saturday at Auburn High. The winner goes to state as the No.4 seed from the West Central/Southwest bidistrict tournament while the loser goes as the No. 5 seed.

Bonney Lake was forced into a 2 p.m. Saturday game against Auburn Mountainview. The winner will go to state as the bidistrict’s No. 7 seed while the loser is eliminated from further play.

Boys Basketball

Union 55, Enumclaw 53

The Enumclaw High boys had previously wrapped up a berth into the March 11-14 Class 3A state tournament in the Tacoma Dome and were playing Friday for seeding. With the loss, the Hornets will play Foster High at 6 p.m. Saturday at Puyallup High School; the winner will head to state as the West Central/Southwest bidistrict’s No. 3 seed while the loser goes as the No. 7 seed.

The Hornets had trouble with Union’s defensive press all night and found themselves trailing by eight points after three quarters of play. A 19-11 rally brought the contest to a tie, but Union’s Chris Morgan hit a tough scoop shot as time expired to give his team the win.

Riley Carel and Jayson Lewis led the EHS offense with 15 points each.