Kingco Championships: February 23 (Wed) all games at 7:30PM: Game 1) @Garfield (20-1) 101 Franklin (9-12) 35 Game 2) @Skyline (15-6) 70 Woodinville (15-6) 68 (OT) Game 3) @Redmond (16-5) 59 LW (10-11) 35 Game 4) Roosevelt (11-10) 44 @Inglemoor (16-5) 40  February 26 (Sat) all games at Juanita HS: Game 5) Woodinville (16-6) 52 Franklin (9-13) 43 (loser out) Game 6) LW (11-11) 56 Inglemoor (16-6) 48 (loser out) Game 7) Garfield (21-1) 61 Skyline (15-7) 38 Game 8) Redmond (17-5) 59 Roosevelt (11-11) 43 March 1st (Tues) at Juanita HS: Game 9): Woodinville (17-6) 58 Roosevelt (11-12) (loser out) Game 10): Skyline (16-7) 70 LW (11-12) 47 (loser out)  March 4th (Fri) at Juanita HS  Game 11):Skyline (17-7) 51  Woodinville (17-7) 41  (loser out) Game 12): Garfield (22-1) 75 Redmond (17-6) 58 (winner Kingco Champ,to State) March 5th (Sat) at Juanita HS 6PM: Game 13): Redmond (18-6) 66 Skyline (17-8) 63 (winner to State, loser out). You can also follow District results for all classifications in the State with the WIAA website.

It is safe to say the Mustangs are at ease as they head into the 4A Sea-King District tournament, and it was evident last night in their 59-35 first-round win over Lake Washington. Neither team scored for the first four minutes, but once Redmond (16-5) got it going the players might as well have been Shelby Mustangs with the horsepower they displayed. A 14-0 run ensued to begin the second quarter, aided by 0-for-13 field-goal shooting by the Kangaroos during the eight-minute stretch. Lake Washington scored one point in the quarter and committed 17 turnovers in the half. Redmond led 32-11 at the intermission despite shooting 1-for-14 behind the arc. The one was an inadvertent bank 3 by Mackenzie Flynn, who finished with 13 points and six steals, which was interesting considering her brother Marcus recalled her saying she was never lucky enough to bank a shot from deep. With 1:30 left, Bangasser put his seniors back in to finish their final home game. "I explained to Lake Washington's coach, there was no disrespect, but it's the only time all five seniors have been on the floor together this year," he said.

Lake Washington - Phippard 5, Rondel 7, Ferguson 8, Allen, Haywood 2, Sander, Cryder, Sacco 9, Fox 4.
Redmond - Isherwood 3, Ball 3, Perugini 2, Tews, C. Fishel 2, Ihnot, Corby 4, R. Fishel, Radtke 3, Flynn 13, Betteridge 7, Dowling, Olson 8, Edwards 10, Leuning 4.

Lake Washington  10  1  6 18 - 35
Redmond          16 16 14 13 - 59

Game 2 Feb 26: KIRKLAND -- Colleen Betteridge scored 21 points and Mackenzie Flynn added 17 as the Mustangs (17-5) set up a winner-to-state showdown against Garfield on Friday. "We played them pretty tough," Redmond coach Pat Bangasser said, recalling a 62-49 loss to Garfield at Redmond on Feb. 11, "but we have some things we can work on. They outrebounded us by 18 last time, and that's been an area of emphasis for us, and we've got to stop their penetration. "We thought we might be playing them again," Bangasser said. Sophomores Ariel Evans (14 points) and Mackenzie Argens (11) led the Roughriders (11-11), who play Woodinville on Tuesday night at 6:30 in an elimination game.

Redmond - Isherwood, Ball, Perugini 2, Tews 2, C. Fishel, Corby, R. Fishel, Radtke 7, Flynn 17, Betteridge 21, Olson 1, Edwards 9, Leuning.
Roosevelt - Wright 3, Capeloto 3, Mohler, Koerner 2, Boyd, Harris, Kirkwood, Torrance, Mo Boyd, Reiman 8, Evans 14, Argens 11, Sholand, Griswold 2. 

Redmond          14 20 16  9 - 59
Roosevelt        10  9 13 11 - 43

Game 3 Mar 4:  KIRKLAND — They scurried off the court in tears last year at the Tacoma Dome while another team accepted the trophy many believed would be theirs. That moment stuck with the Garfield girls basketball team. And if the top-ranked Bulldogs seem a bit sharper these days; credit that second-place state finish for some of it. Last night, Garfield earned a chance to erase those memories altogether, punching its ticket to the Class 4A state tournament with a 75-58 victory over Redmond in the championship game of the Sea-King 4A District tournament at Juanita High School. The win marked the 13th in a row for the Bulldogs (22-1), ranked sixth in the West region by USA Today. They return to state for the third straight year, having finished third and second, respectively.

"What it did for the girls, it got them more mentally focused," said Garfield coach Joyce Walker of her team's 55-52 championship-game loss to Roosevelt last year. "It made them meet some challenges in the gym, the day-to-day grind, when you're practicing and you may not want to practice as hard, or you might want to find an excuse. We had less excuses this year." Garfield looked every bit the state's top-ranked team last night, leading by double digits most of the second half, placing four players in double-figure scoring, and winning its second consecutive conference championship. Junior Samantha Tinned led the charge with 20 points. Malia O'Neal added 19, Vivian Frieson 13 and Chanieka Williams 10. "I feel like this is one of the best teams I've ever played on," Tinned said. "We could have a different starting five every game because everybody can play."

Redmond (17-6) meets Skyline (17-7) in a loser-out game today at 6 p.m. at Juanita for the district's No. 2 seed to the state tournament. The two East Division foes split their regular-season series. Redmond won the most recent matchup, 79-62, on Feb. 4.The Mustangs missed state last year after five straight appearances that yielded four state trophies. "They were the class tonight," said Redmond coach Pat Bangasser of Garfield. "It was a good game; they're a good team." Jackie Olson and Colleen Betteridge both scored 15 points for the Mustangs. Garfield never trailed, but needed work to shake Redmond, which lurked one or two points off the lead for most of the first quarter. The Bulldogs started to pull away early in the second period, however, with a 9-0 run The burst pushed their lead to double digits, 27-17, for the first time. Continued pressure, and a buzzer-beating three-pointer by O'Neal, resulted in a 39-27 Garfield advantage at the intermission.

Garfield - Williams 10, Bates 4, Pringle 4, S Tinned 20, J Tinned 5, Frieson 13, O'Neal 19.
Redmond - Perugini 2, Tews, Radtke 8, Flynn 12, Betteridge 15, Olson 13, Edwards 8, Leuning. 

Garfield         18 21 17 19 - 75
Redmond          15 12 12 19 - 58

Game 4: KIRKLAND — Redmond's girls refused a repeat performance in the Sea-King 4A District winner-to-state game. Trailing by one with 1:15 to play, the Mustangs, led by Mackenzie Flynn, hit six straight free throws for a 66-63 victory over Skyline last night at Juanita High School for the district's third and final berth to this week's state tournament in Tacoma. Redmond (18-6) returns to state for a fifth time in six years after falling by one point last year in the same loser-out game. Flynn scored a game-high 23 points and made 15 of 17 free throws. Teammate Tanna Radtke sank a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left — the eventual winning points — and Flynn calmly sank a pair with 7 seconds for a three-point edge. "We weren't going to lose again," Radtke said. "I was pretty much blank when I shot those free throws. Our team has a lot of poise." Skyline, which scratched back from a 17-point first-half deficit, got a shot at the buzzer, but Madison Maloney's desperate throw missed the backboard, thanks to tight defense from Radtke and Colleen Betteridge. Redmond's tradition of emphasizing free-throw shooting in practice paid off as the Mustangs made 24 of 28. Tasha Dickey scored 20 points, Maloney had 18 and Jazmin Dickey scored 14 for Skyline. Betteridge and Erika Edwards scored 13 and 12, respectively, for Redmond.

KIRKLAND -- A first-quarter flashback helped prevent a potentially epic collapse by the Redmond girls basketball team. Skyline committed 10 turnovers in the first quarter, but it was a controversial traveling call against Tasha Dickey with 50.8 seconds remaining in the game that seemed to shift the momentum back to the Mustangs in their 66-63 win Saturday in a 4A Kingco Tournament loser-out game at Juanita High. ``That one is a hard one for me to answer,'' said Skyline coach Jodi Sackville, who refused to say whether she felt the call was correct. ``You can't blame the game on one call.'' For most of the evening, it did not appear that the game would come down to one call. Redmond (18-6), which advances to the state tournament for the sixth time in seven years, led 15-7 entering the second quarter and 34-17 at halftime against its Eastern Division foe. ``That was a story of two halves,'' said Redmond coach Pat Bangasser, who directed his team to second place at state in 2001. ``I'm proud. They showed poise in the last two minutes.'' Skyline (17-8) used a 22-12 run in the third quarter to cut the Mustangs' advantage to seven points entering the final period. The deficit finally vanished on a layup by Spartans' sophomore Jordan Pelluer that gave her team a 61-60 lead with 1:16 left. ``It wasn't enough, though,'' Sackville said. ``It's hard to come back that far. It's not supposed to end that way.''

It never got better for the Spartans. Redmond regained the lead, 62-61, on a pair of free throws with 1:05 remaining by Mackenzie Flynn, who had a game-high 23 points. Dickey then was called for traveling on the ensuing possession, and Redmond's Tanna Radtke hit a pair of free throws to increase the lead to 64-61. Bangasser said the call against Dickey was crucial. ``If she scores on that, it's a different game,'' he said. Radtke agreed: ``It got frantic, and we handled it. We knew from there (we would win).'' Dickey then scored an uncontested layup, but Flynn hit two more free throws to bring the score to its final with 7.2 seconds remaining. Skyline's Madison Maloney, who scored 18 points, attempted a 3-pointer at the buzzer that went wide right of the rim. Dome sweet dome

The win gives the Mustangs the No. 2 seed out of Kingco at the 4A state tournament, which begins Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome. Redmond's opponent will be determined during today's drawing at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association office in Renton. ``It feels awesome,'' said Radtke, a senior. ``Last year we didn't go, and that was a huge upset. This year we knew we were going.'' Redmond helped its cause by converting 24 of 28 free throws during the game, with Flynn making 15 of 17 from the line. ``Mackenzie took charge and drove the ball to the hoop,'' Bangasser said. ``She was money.'' It comes with practice. ``Every kid in our program has to make 10 free throws in a row every day,'' Bangasser said.

Skyline also had its share of players step forward. Tasha Dickey scored 22 points, and Jazmin Dickey added 12. The Dickey sisters won't be back next year, because their father, Charlie, who was the offensive line coach at the University of Washington, accepted a coaching position at the University of Utah. But the Spartans should be solid next year with Maloney and Pelluer, who scored nine points, both returning. ``I think we can,'' Sackville said when asked if the Spartans can reach the state tournament for the first time since 2002 next year. ``But that doesn't make me or any of the girls feel better.''

Redmond - Perugini 2, Tews, Radtke 9, Flynn 23, Betteridge 13, Olson, Edwards 12, Leuning 7.
Skyline - Angel, Johnson, Dickey J. 14, Brockman, Mathews, Maloney 18, D'Errico 2, Jobe, Dickey T. 20, Barney 9. 

Redmond          15 19 12 20 - 66
Skyline           7 10 22 24 - 63