Normally, the teams with winning records steal all the headlines.
But we’d like to take some time out to celebrate the effort of some teams who show their winners by simply stepping onto the court.
This season has been a struggle for the King’s Way/Seton Catholic girls basketball program.
Numbers have always been an issue for the Knights — or is it the Cougars? The CougarKnights? The Knighted Cougars?
This is the second season that King’s Way Christian and Seton Catholic have combined to form one girls basketball team, taking advantage of a WIAA rule that allows them to do that.
But even with the combined program, the team still struggles to fill out its roster. That has allowed King’s Way/Seton to take advantage of another rule that permits 1B schools to use eighth-graders on the varsity to complete its roster.
So on Friday, King’s Way/Seton got its second win of the season, beating Chief Leschi of Puyallup 45-30 with the help of eighth-grader Sarah Ferguson.
But Ferguson wasn’t just taking up space on the court. She was making serious contributions. She scored a game-high 16 points.
King’s Way/Seton will play St. Paul in the St. Paul (Ore.) Tournament tonight and meet Jewell or Open Door Christian of Troutdale, Ore., on Tuesday.
And then there’s the Fort Vancouver girls basketball team.
The Trappers are 0-8 this season. In five of those eight games, they have had just six players appear in their games, and they have not had more than eight players appear in the box score.
On Friday against Camas, again they only had six players in uniform. During the game, one player was injured and another fouled out, forcing the Trappers to finish the game with four players on the floor.
And yet, Fort only lost to Camas 51-42.
How did the Trappers keep it so close? Well, they made the most of their opportunities when no one was allowed to guard them (i.e. free throws).
Fort Vancouver converted 20 of 28 free-throw attempts against Camas.
And we conclude with the Vancouver Christian girls basketball team.
The Light got their first win in two seasons when they beat Chief Leschi 49-31 on Saturday night.
Kim Morris had a huge game with 28 points, 14 rebounds, eight blocks and three assists to lead the Light to their first win since beating Morton on Jan. 27, 2009.
Congratulations, Light ladies.
• • •
For a “light” week on the prep schedule, this week is actually pretty busy.
That is especially true for the Prairie boys basketball team.
The Falcons will start their holiday “break” with a game at 2 p.m. today against Skyview. On the schedule it looks like just another non-league game. But today’s game won’t be played at Skyview or Prairie. It will be played at the Rose Garden in Portland.
The Falcons and Storm will play each other on the same NBA court that the Trail Blazers will meet the Milwaukee Bucks a few hours later.
Tickets are still available (my advice, check out StubHub.com) for tonight’s Blazers game. So, get some Blazer tickets, then go see the Falcons and Storm and make a day of it.
For many teams, a game at the Rose Garden would be enough for the week of Christmas. But not the Prairie boys.
On Tuesday, the Falcons will head north to Lacey to play in the St. Martin’s Tournament, opening at 6:30 p.m. against Lakes of Lakewood. Lakes is ranked fifth in Class 3A by the Seattle Times.
Depending on Tuesday’s outcome, Prairie will face Federal Way — No. 7 in Class 4A — or host River Ridge on Wednesday.
But the Falcons aren’t the only team who have three games on the schedule this week.
The Hudson’s Bay and Columbia River boys basketball team will take part in the eight-team North Marion Tournament in Aurora, Ore.
River opens the tournament at 2:45 p.m. today against Roosevelt of Portland. The Chieftains will face Horizon Christian of Tualatin, Ore., or Molalla on Tuesday.
Bay opens against Hidden Valley of Grants Pass, Ore., at 4:30 p.m. today. The Eagles will face either Yamhill-Carlton or host North Marion on Tuesday.
And, of course, the possibility remains for a River-Bay championship game on Wednesday.
The Hudson’s Bay girls also have a busy week on the schedule. The Eagles will face Aloha, Ore., at noon today at the South Salem Winter Classic.
Bay would face Reynolds of Troutdale, Ore., or host South Salem on Tuesday. The tournament concludes on Wednesday.
And not every local team will have to travel to play in holiday tournaments this week.
The girls basketball teams at Camas, Ridgefield, Columbia River and Battle Ground are playing in the Battle Ground Tournament today and Tuesday.
Camas faces Ridgefield at 5:30 p.m. today to open the tournament. The Battle Ground-Columbia River game will follow.
Winners and losers from today’s game will play Tuesday night as the tournament concludes.
Tim Martinez is the assistant sports editor/prep coordinator for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-735-4538 or e-mail at tim.martinez@columbian.com
