White River had experienced a tough 64-58 setback to reigning WIAA Class 2A state roundball championship Clover Park earlier in the week on the Warriors’ parquet and was eager to redeem itself against an average Steilacoom contingent in front of the Hornet faithful, but got off to a slow start in doing so as the score at the end of the initial frame of hoop action was knotted at 12 apiece.

Sharpshooting senior guard, Billy Kiel, put an explanation point on a vastly better played second quarter though, when he drained a three point buzzer beater from beyond the top of the key, to send the Hornets sprinting into the locker room at intermission with a 26-19 advantage.

The momentum from Kiel sinking the bomb just before the break, carried over into the third period, as WRHS did a superior job of passing the ball around, hitting the opened man and rebounding.  The quickly played third quarter ended with Hornet senior guard Jason Tyler flashing through the paint, alertly receiving a bounce pass assist from fellow backcourt threat Alex Sayler and deftly alluded a defender as he flipped up an underhanded shot that caromed neatly off the backboard for the deuce.

The final period got underway with Steilacoom trailing 45-30 and the winged warriors of WRHS only improved as the contest wore on, as White River’s blue collar guys, vied for Mr. Windex honors when Brandon Dove, Lyle McCarragher and Scott Anderson repeatedly cleaned the glass to a high sheen after the Sentinel’s tried to shrink the White River upper hand with failed three point field goal attempts.

“The boys really picked up the pace in the third and fourth periods. We told them to get back out there and play Hornet basketball the rest of the way and I think they did the best they could against a pretty darn good Steilacoom bunch, as we never really let SHS back into the contest in the second 16 minutes,” exclaimed White River coach Rick Tripp, who saw his squad’s overall record swell to 3-1 with the triumph over Steilacoom.