2A EvCo Girls Basketball: Waring, Vadala Hit Career Milestones

By Eric Trent

etrent@chronline.com

CHEHALIS — With the game out of hand early on, W.F West’s 68-19 2A Evergreen Conference victory here Friday was better summarized as a night of statistical milestones for a couple Bearcat seniors.

Annika Waring topped 700 career points and Maddie Vadala passed 300 career assists as the seventh-ranked Bearcats (12-4, 5-1) easily upended the Tigers (4-12, 1-5) to run their win streak to six games.

“It’s definitely a goal I’ve been trying to get to,” said Waring, who finished with 11 points on the night. “It’s awesome to see it happen but we still have a lot of work to do.”

Vadala entered needing just one assist to pass 300 for her career. It came with 5:27 left in the second quarter when she hit sophomore Lexi Roberts, who drained a 3-pointer to put the Bearcats up 18-2. Vadala, who already owns the girls’ career school record, finished with a game-high seven and is just 39 assists away from breaking W.F. West’s boys’ record.

Sophomore sensation Drea Brumfield continued her reign of terror over the 2A EvCo, pumping in a game-high 19 points, five steals and two blocks in 3 ½ quarters of play.

For Centralia, it was a night of poor shooting and few open looks as the Bearcats’ formidable defense hounded the Tigers, holding them to single-digit scoring in every quarter, including just one point in the first quarter.

“They fly around the place and they’re so tall and lanky it makes it difficult with our size,” Centralia coach Doug Ashmore said. “They just collapse on the ball so quickly.”

Tigers’ senior Carissa Kaut was the lone bright spot, tallying 10 points and pulling down nine boards against the Bearcats’ man-to-man defense. But W.F West’s defense was too stout, highlighted by 15 steals on the night. Seven of Centralia’s 19 points came in garbage time against the Bearcat’s bench.

W.F. West’s first-year coach, Kyle Karnofski, said the team makes it a point to be pestering on defense.

“We try to make sure we make other teams uncomfortable,” Karnofski said. “We try to make sure we’re putting pressure on them, flying around and trying to be really active. That’s one of the things we try to make an identity for our program.”

Meanwhile, the Bearcat’s offense was on fire.

The 6-foot-2 Brumfield came out to the perimeter and drained three of her four 3-point shot attempts. Sophomore Lexi Robert’s came off the bench and sank two 3s, finishing with 10 points.

“Offensively they just move the ball so quickly that they forced us out of position,” Ashmore said.

W.F. West has now won six-straight games, and will be tied with the winner of Friday’s Tumwater-Black Hills matchup for first place in the conference with four league matches to go. The Bearcats travel to Rochester for a 7 p.m. game on Tuesday.

Centralia is no a three-game losing skid and trails Rochester (10-6, 3-3) by two games for the fourth and final district playoff spot with four games to go. The Tigers host Tumwater at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Tigers will look to focus mainly on one aspect of their game next practice, Ashmore said, though he did credit Madlinn Corwin and Jayden Hawley on their play Friday.

“Keep working on shooting and doing the things that we need to get better at as a coaching staff,” Ashmore said. “Scoring is definitely where we need to focus our practices on.”

For the Bearcats, Karnofski doesn’t take their No. 7 WIAA RPI ranking too seriously.

“Ranking are great, but you’ve got to make the wins count,” Karnofski said. “It’s a league win. You always want a league win against Centralia.

“It’s a good win in the right direction. We’ve got a lot of league games and basketball left. We’re not worried about rankings. We’re worried about what we can do next.”

Sederberg-Jones Paces Warriors in Win Over Aberdeen

ROCHESTER — The Warriors couldn’t get much separation early on, but turned up the intensity in the second quarter to beat Aberdeen, 56-33, here Friday in Evergreen 2A Conference girls basketball action.

Lexie Jones-Sederberg scored 21 points, going 8 of 10 from the foul line, with 10 rebounds to lead Rochester.

The Warriors went on a 17-2 run in the second frame to break open a game that was tied at nine after a quarter.

“We just came out a little flat, so they knew they needed to get going in that second quarter,” Rochester coach Davina Serdahl said. “We got the ball inside, and turned things around a little bit.”

Paige Winter scored 11 of her 15 points in the second frame, and Kortney Kerbaugh added eight points and 10 boards for the Warriors.

Freshman Lauren Rotter came off the bench to add six points and played well, Serdahl noted, and Winter and Kerbaugh were solid.

“They just work so hard down low,” she said. “They work well together.”

The Warriors (10-6, 3-3 league) host W.F. West for senior night festivities on Tuesday.