Clarkston Bantams split League doubleheader with West Valley Eagles

The Clarkston girls and boys basketball teams got their first looks at Washington 2A Greater Spokane League competition this season when the West Valley Eagles of Spokane traveled to Kramer Gym to play the Bantams on Tuesday.

The Clarkston girls prevailed 81-36 and the boys stumbled against the Eagles despite a late-game push, 61-51.

For the Bantam girls, Friday’s game served as an early reminder to the rest of the league that they’re the benchmark. And the boys were able to show heart while still being in the process of finding their identity against arguably the best boys team in the 2A GSL.

“I think my first takeaway (from this loss) is that I love coaching my players — they compete hard,” Clarkston boys coach Justin Jones said. “We’re trying our best and figuring out what we have to do. The next thing I’d takeaway is that we need to put four quarters together. Especially that first quarter. The level of intensity it takes to win in this league is high, so we need to figure out how to do that.”

Here’s how Tuesday’s doubleheader shaped out:

Successful migration for the Eagles

The opening quarter of the nightcap between the Clarkston (6-5, 0-1) and West Valley (11-0, 1-0) boys was the deciding one, despite the 24 minutes of regulation that followed.

The Eagles were quick in their shot attempts and were often successful. They also employed a full-court press out of the gate that the Bantams struggled against.

The early pressure forced Clarkston out of its element and it committed several turnovers. The team was whistled for four fouls to West Valley’s one with 4:05 remaining in the quarter, putting the Bantams in a precarious position that could potentially get out of hand early.

The second quarter was a better defensive outing for Clarkston. It held the Eagles to just over half of its offensive output from the first quarter, but the Bantams offense couldn’t match the pace with their defense and foul troubles persisted. At one point, they were whistled for three fouls in a row on West Valley’s side of the court. Clarkston went into halftime trailing 35-19.

Things got worse before they got better for the Bantams. With Carter Steinwand (who eventually fouled out), Ian Moore and Josh Hoffman all facing foul trouble, the Eagles went up by as many as 25 points in the third quarter.

Clarkston made a late rally and cut its deficit down to 15 going into the fourth. The rally came on the backs of Moore, Hoffman and Steinwand. All of them found their way under the basket on several plays and earned and-one calls to help slow the opposition’s momentum while kick-starting some of their own.

The rally continued and several late 3-pointers by Marcisio Noriega and Xander Van Tine, the last of which coming with eight seconds left in the game from Noriega, helped bring the final margin down to 10.

Jones’ statements after the game about figuring out how to put four quarters together has been a common theme for the Bantams throughout the season. Jones went on to say that trying to find a consistently balanced offense will be the key for Clarkston to play its best basketball.

“It’s really important for us that we’re a balanced scoring team,” Jones said. “Our goal is to have four guys in double figures (each game). We almost did today. So that’s always our goal. We have to be able to expose our size against some teams and we also have to be able to make shots outside. ... We’re not going to be this really pretty basketball team to come watch. I’ve had those teams. This program has had some really good players over the years and it’s been really pretty to watch. We’re not necessarily going to be pretty, but I think we’re going to be effective once we get to that point (of being balanced).”

All Bantams in matinee

The Clarkston girls played in the matinee and put up their largest margin of victory so far this season against West Valley.

The Bantams (11-0, 1-0) needed a little while to get going. Their only deficit of the game was a 2-0 disadvantage to the Eagles (4-7, 0-1) with 6:07 left in the opening quarter.

From there, Clarkston was firing on all cylinders.

The Bantams’ inside game couldn’t be stopped, the 3-pointers fell frequently (8-of-22 as a team), they shared the ball well (20 assists), forced turnovers (19 steals) and their fastbreak offense left West Valley scrambling.

By the end of the first quarter, Clarkston led by 15 and never let the Eagles get closer than that. The Bantams continued to bolster their lead for a season-best 45-point final margin.

Almost every single Clarkston player that got playing time scored a bucket. Eight of the 10 players to see the court had at least four points and Ella Leavitt, Kendall Wallace and Eloise Teasley all reached double figures with 18, 17 and 12 points, respectively.

Jaelyn McCormack-Marks helped the team in all-around play-making, putting up four points and leading the team in both assists (seven) and steals (five).

“We eased into it,” Clarkston coach Debbie Sobotta said. “That first minute-and-a-half, a little bit slow. I’d like to get that pace from the beginning. But, we accelerated into the pace we were trying to set. We were trying to get a high-tempo game, and we kept it there. So I was pleased with that.”

Players of the game

Ben Fried led West Valley with a game-high 27 points, 21 of them coming off seven 3-pointers. Carter Steinwand led the Clarkston boys with 13 points, most of them coming while facing foul trouble.

Ella Leavitt led the Bantam girls with 18 points to go with seven rebounds and Chloe DeHaro accounted for 58% of the Eagle girls’ offense, putting up 21 points.

BOYS

WEST VALLEY (11-0, 1-0)

Brody Hart 0 1-4 1, Parker Munns 2 7-8 12, Noah Gadd-Lewis 1 0-0 3, Will Busse 1 3-5 6, Nikita Oberemok 2 2-3 6, Brice Abbey 0 0-0 0, Ben Fried 9 2-4 27, Brandon Spunich 0 0-0 0, Nathan Zettle 0 0-0 0, Trey Raiford 1 4-6 6. Totals 16 19-30 61.

CLARKSTON (6-5, 0-1)

Marcisio Noriega 2 0-0 6, Nate Somers 1 0-3 2, Xander Van Tine 4 1-2 12, Nico Ah Hi 0 0-0 0, Carter Steinwand 4 4-4 13, Josh Hoffman 2 5-10 9, Jason Rinnard 0 1-2 1, Ian Moore 2 4-7 8. Totals 15 15-28 51.

West Valley 23 12 13 13—61

Clarkston 12 7 14 18—51

3-point goals — Fried 7, Munns, Gadd-Lewis, Busse, Van Tine 3, Noriega 2, Steinwand.

———

GIRLS

WEST VALLEY (4-7, 0-1)

Chloe DeHaro 5 9-9 21, Cassie Kappen 0 0-0 0, Avery Spunich 0 2-2 2, Addison McIntyre 1 1-2 3, Willow Burrill 1 2-4 5, Brooklyn Adamson 0 1-2 1, Brynlee Ordinario 0 0-0 0, Macy Osborn 2 0-0 4. Totals 9 15-19 36.

CLARKSTON (11-0, 1-0)

Jaelyn McCormack-Marks 1 2-2 4, Kendall Wallace 7 0-0 17, Olivia Gustafson 1 0-0 2, Prelee Dempsey 4 0-0 9, Ryann Combs 0 0-0 0, Aneysa Judy 0 0-0 0, Eloise Teasley 4 4-4 12, Ella Leavitt 8 1-1 18, Alahondra Perez 3 0-0 7, Joey Miller 2 0-0 4, Lexi Villavicencio 3 0-0 8. Totals 33 7-7 81.

West Valley 8 10 6 12—36

Clarkston 23 22 21 15—81

3-point goals — DeHaro 2, Burrill, Wallace 3, Villavicencio 2, Dempsey, Leavitt, Perez.

Kowatsch can be contacted at 208-848-2268, tkowatsch@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @Teren_Kowatsch.