The White River High girls basketball program spent a successful three days at the San Diego Classic, with the varsity and junior varsity squads combining to win seven of eight games.
White River has made a recent habit of heading to sunny Southern California shortly after the final school bell of the academic year. This year’s Classic was staged June 27-29.
Hornet head coach Chris Gibson and his varsity team competed in the 2A division, the largest of the tourney with 20 programs entered.
The team first hit the court Friday afternoon and quickly defeated the Calexico Dawgs 50-15. Moving on to Saturday play, the Buckley bunch whipped the Vaqueros 73-33. That set up a quarterfinal showdown with North High from Arizona, a contest that saw White River leave the floor on the short end of a tough, 51-49 overtime loss.
The following day, Gibson’s varsity crew bounced back and handily defeated High Tech High (San Diego) 62-46.
White River’s JV squad, headed by Megan Turner, swept its four opponents on the way to a Division 1A title.
The team opened tourney play Friday with a 45-18 victory over Next Level Hoops, an Arizona program. The following day started with a close, 46-42 defeat of La Costa Canyon and ended with a lopsided 57-8 thumping of the Vaqueros.
Sunday’s championship game had White River squaring off against Los Lunas, a New Mexico team. The Hornets made a 20-point championship statement with a 42-22 victory.
White River High has, in recent years, been a Classic force. A year ago, both the Hornet varsity and JV teams earned championships. The varsity team also won tourney titles in 2022 and 2017. The junior varsity squad has now captured first-place honors three years in a row.
SUCCESSFUL SUMMER FOR THE HORNETS
The San Diego trip brought an end to a successful summer campaign for the White River crew. Playing in four tournaments the Hornet junior varsity squad captured three championships and the varsity took two tourney titles.
Especially noteworthy were the Napavine tournament (played in Centralia) and White River’s own tourney. In those, both the Hornet varsity and JV took top honors.
