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White River boys squeak past Cardinals, girls annihilate

Published 3:20 pm Monday, January 9, 2023

The White River High gym was home to a Friday night doubleheader between the Hornets and the visiting Franklin Pierce Cardinals. White River won both ends, the boys in a squeaker and the girls in a blowout.
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The White River High gym was home to a Friday night doubleheader between the Hornets and the visiting Franklin Pierce Cardinals. White River won both ends, the boys in a squeaker and the girls in a blowout.
The White River High gym was home to a Friday night doubleheader between the Hornets and the visiting Franklin Pierce Cardinals. White River won both ends, the boys in a squeaker and the girls in a blowout. In these boys’ photos, Jacob Du (1) drives past a Cardinal defender. Photo by Kevin Hanson
Ally Green (23) gets fouled during a drive to the hoop. Photo by Kevin Hanson
MacKenzie Hinson (3) pushes the ball upcourt and Ally Green (23) gets fouled during a drive to the hoop. Photo by Kevin Hanson
Rylan Ramos (13) passes to an open teammate. Photo by Kevin Hanson

First on the scorecard was a hard-fought, come-from-behind victory. Then came an absolute blowout.

That was the storyline produced Friday night when White River High’s basketball programs hosted Franklin Pierce in a boys/girls doubleheader.

First to take the court were the boys and the visiting Cardinals immediately made life tough on the Hornets. After scoring just six points during the second quarter, White River headed to the locker room on the short end of a 35-20 halftime score.

The second half was an entirely different story, however, with the home Hornets erasing the deficit and eventually claiming a 66-62 victory. After tying the contest at 62-62, White River used a key bucket and a pair of Colin Schmidtke free throws to secure the four-point win.

The Hornet offense was largely the product of three scorers. Greg Schmitz and Rylan Ramos poured in 18 points each while Schmidtke added 17 (including a perfect 9-for-9 from the free-throw line).

The dramatic victory pushed the Hornets’ record to 6-1 in South Puget Sound League 2A play.

Friday’s nightcap provided the exact opposite from a competitive standpoint. White River’s girls posted 20 points in the opening quarter while the Cards mustered only a 3-pointer near the end of the period. It only got more lopsided as Franklin Pierce went scoreless during the entire second and third quarters and White River pushed its advantage to 58-3.

In the end, coach Chris Gibson was able to make liberal use of his bench and saw 11 players crack the scoring column. Morgan Greene led the way with 14 points; joining her in double figures were Vivian Kingston with 11 and Dakota Sprouse with 10.

The easy victory pushed the White River girls to 5-0 in SPSL 2A play.

Monday of this week brought a much-anticipated doubleheader showdown between the boys’ and girls’ squads from White River and Enumclaw. The hoop version of the Battle of the Bridge was played in the White River gym. Results came too late to be included here.

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