Bantam girls rout West Valley to finish unbeaten season

The performance wasn’t perfect. But the season was.

Using active defense to offset early offensive problems, Ashlyn Wallace and the rest of the Clarkston girls’ basketball team whipped West Valley 73-35 on Wednesday at Kramer Gym to cap an undefeated basketball season that left them asking, “What if?”

As in, “What if there’d been no coronavirus pandemic and Washington had staged a state tournament after all?”

The Bantams will never know, but they were happy to finish 14-0 in front of a home crowd and be crowned the champion of the Class 2A Greater Spokane League’s “culminating event.”

“This team went through so much, not knowing if we’re going to get a season,” said Wallace, who collected 21 points, seven assists and seven steals. “When we finally did, we performed the best we could.”

The Bantams shot 0-for-8 from 3-point range in the first quarter, but used ball-hawking defense to hold the Eagles scoreless until a minute into the second period. So Clarkston led 16-0 after a quarter, 27-9 at halftime and 37-9 after an decisive blitz early in the third.

Longtime Clarkston coach Debbie Sobotta was asked if, in lieu of a state tournament, she got the closure she was seeking.

“I have to take it, don’t I?” she said. “I have no choice. We got what we wanted out of this very unusual season.”

Wallace, a senior guard committed to the University of Idaho, shook off a slow start to drill four 3-pointers in the second half. Her freshman sister, Kendall, added 11 points and five steals, beating the halftime buzzer with a 22-footer to cap a snazzy Bantam display of around-the-horn passing.

Jacey Hernandez played CHS’ sharpest offensive basketball in the first half and wound up with 14 points, and Alyssa Whittle came off the bench for 11.

Clarkston posts had a quiet night offensively but Maggie Ogden tallied eight rebounds and four assists and Erika Pickett added seven boards.

Chloe DeHaro scored 12 points for West Valley of the Spokane area, whose only blemishes in a 10-2 season came against Clarkston.

“I was telling my girls in the locker room, I feel bad for them (the Bantams) because this team would make a good run at State,” Eagles coach Rick Jones said. “They would go deep, because they’ve got shooters everywhere. That’s a very good ballclub.”

Given Clarkston’s usual outside accuracy, the Eagles’ zone defense might have seem counterintuitive. But it lured the Bantams into indiscretions.

“I thought West Valley was very well-prepared — they always are,” Sobotta said. “They’re very well-coached. I just feel like we weren’t sharp enough at times in taking care of the ball.”

Even so, the lopsided final score was typical of the 2021 season for the Bantams, who outscored the opposition by an average of 43 points per game.

“It’s not an easy thing to go undefeated in any season,” Sobotta said, “and they pulled it off.”

WEST VALLEY (10-2)

Emma Price 0 0-0 0, Chloe DeHaro 4 4-4 12, Hannah Hawk 1 0-0 3, Tamia Skinner 0 0-0 0, Molly Fisher 0 0-0 0, Madison Moloney 1 0-0 3, Abbie Sicilia 3 2-3 8, Madison Carr 2 0-2 4, Rylen Palmer 0 0-0 0, Aliyah Henry 2 0-2 5. Totals 13 6-11 35.

CLARKSTON (14-0)

Kendall Wallace 4 0-0 11, Ashlyn Wallace 7 3-3 21, Avah Griner 0 0-0 0, Jacey Hernandez 5 1-1 14, Maggie Ogden 1 0-0 2, Alahondra Perez 0 0-1 0, Erika Pickett 2 0-0 4, Eloise Teasley 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Whittle 5 0-0 11, Samantha Chatfield 5 0-0 10. Totals 29 4-4 73.

West Valley 0 9 12 14—35

Clarkston 16 11 22 24—73

3-point goals — Hawk, Henry, K. Wallace 3, A. Wallace 4, Hernandez 3, Whittle.

Grummert may be contacted at daleg@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2290.