The Titans are heading to state.
Led by Chris Morgan’s game-high 29 points, Union blew by Kennedy, 92-79, on Friday evening in a 3A bi-district tournament contest at Auburn.
With the victory, Union will make its second consecutive trip to the Class 3A state tournament.
The Titans will continue play in the bi-district tournament on Tuesday, taking on Lakes at 6 p.m. in Kent.
“It’s huge,” Union coach Maco Hamilton said. “This year, we set a goal to make it back to state and we accomplished it.”
Morgan added six assists for the Titans (14-8), who set a season high with 92 points.
“(Morgan) had a great all-around game and really got things rolling for us in the first half,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton stated that a week spent watching game tape showed that Kennedy (14-8) struggled in transition defense. As a result, Union pushed the ball every chance it got. The Titans jumped out to a 27-14 first-quarter lead and never looked back.
“We charged out,” Hamilton said.
Union piled on in the second period, taking a 56-26 advantage into halftime.
But while the Titans avenged a recent tough loss to Hudson’s Bay for the 3A Greater St. Helens League title, Hamilton said Kennedy’s ability to outscore Union 53-37 in the second half showed there is still much to be accomplished.
“We still have things that we can work on,” Hamilton said.
Evergreen-Seattle 63, Prairie 50 — The Falcons led 34-24 at halftime, but were unable to hold their lead in a loser-out 3A bi-district tournament game.
Adam Herman scored a game-high 21 points to lead Prairie (11-11), while TJ Williams and Karl Pavelic scored 10 points apiece.
Evergreen of Seattle bounced back to outscore the Falcons 19-9 in the third quarter and 39-16 in the second half.
The loss ended Prairie’s season.
Lake Quinault 49, King’s Way Christian 40 — A strong fourth quarter helped close the gap for King’s Way, but the 31-15 halftime margin to Lake Quinault (17-9) was too much to overcome in the fifth-place semifinal game at the 1B state tournament in Yakima.
Sean Russell had nine points for the Knights (10-14), and Andrew Willson added eight.
Girls basketball
Elma 73, Hockinson 54 — Trailing 30-9 after the first quarter, the Hawks were not able to recover during a first-round matchup in the 2A district tournament.
Ashley Haden and Amanda McCarty scored a co-team high 21 points for Hockinson (7-14).
Despite trailing 64-27 after the third quarter, the Hawks did not give in. Hockinson rallied to outscore Elma (17-4) 24-9 in the final period.
The Hawks play Woodland at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Kelso High School in a loser-out game.
Black Hills 71, Woodland 60 — The Beavers kept it close in the first half before losing Kaitlyn Moses to a knee injury and Black Hills (12-9) won the 2A district playoff game.
Taylor McCullough led the Beavers (14-7) in scoring with 13 points and also had seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Moses had 10 points before exiting, and Emily Smith had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Kylie Moses also had 10 points.
Tumwater 54, Ridgefield 42 — Shelby Williams’ 12 points and 10 rebounds were not enough for the Spudders, who fell to Tumwater in a first round 2A district tournament contest.
Nichole Kates scored a team-high 16 points for Ridgefield (13-8), while Penny Hughes added six.
Down 15-9 after the first quarter, the Spudders closed in to 39-35 heading into the final period.
Ridgefield will play W.F. West on Tuesday.
Neah Bay 63, King’s Way-Seton 22 — The Knights first trip to the 1B state tournament ended with the fifth-place semifinal loss to Neah Bay (23-1) at Yakima.
After leading 4-2 midway through the first quarter, the Knights gave up 22 unanswered points to the Lady Reds.
King’s Way-Seton (8-15) shot just 19 percent compared to Neah Bay’s 41 percent.
Edrienne Chan was the top scorer for the Knights with seven points. Cheyenne Cunning had 10 rebounds.
Time change for Evergreen
The one-game, bi-district playoff for a berth to the Class 4A state girls basketball tournament at Evergreen High School has been changed to a 7:30 p.m. tipoff tonight.
Evergreen, the District 4 champion, will host Issaquah.
The Plainsmen also got some tough news regarding leading scorer Justine Joudrey, who injured her right arm late in Thursday’s win over Skyview.
Joudrey is unlikely to play tonight after being diagnosed with a severe bruise on the elbow. She was wearing a splint Friday and did not practice.
