Girls notebook: Virus saps game from Kentlake star

TACOMA — For senior point guard Courtney Thompson, Kentlake's second appearance at state has been anything but a joy ride.

Slowed by a virus for 2½ months, Falcons Coach Chris Carr estimates Thompson has been operating at 50 percent at state.

"I haven't been able to play like I want or play my best," said Thompson, who has been directed by her doctors to get 16 hours of rest a day, which caused her drop two classes.

"I feel like I don't have that extra thing that makes me, me."

Thompson, bound for Washington on a volleyball scholarship, was an all-tournament selection in Kentlake's first trip to state last season. Carr sees the frustration in Thompson's eyes.

"She's not the player she was at state last year," said Carr of Thompson, who has 28 points in three games for a 9.3 average. "She barely gets up in the morning. This kid is used to going nonstop. I look at her, and you can see the frustration on her face.

"It's like she's saying, 'I can't do things like I used to.' It hurts me as much as her."

A typical school day since January has seen Thompson go to her first period, go home to sleep during second and third periods, go to fourth and then rest as a teacher's assistant for Carr during fifth.

Thompson said it's most likely that she won't participate in spring sports so she can rest.

She was considering changing from fastpitch softball to tennis this spring and she left open the slim possibility of playing.

Friends and opponents

When Kennewick eliminated Lake Stevens yesterday, it was new friends saying goodbye to new friends.

The two teams stayed in the same Tacoma-area hotel and were friendly from the minute they checked in Tuesday night.

"We had a great time together," said Kennewick's Amy Hightower, who led the Lions with 17 points in the 36-27 win over the Vikings.

"We hung out and they were super-nice," Hightower said. "We even decorated the hallways together."

Hightower said the bond between the teams "made it an interesting game."

"I didn't want them to go home," she said, "but we wanted a trophy, baby."

Kennewick (24-4) will play for fourth place today. Lake Stevens' season ended with a 19-8 record.

Prairie player back

Prairie junior guard Rachel Stratton is just happy to be here. Her journey to Tacoma has been filled with bumps and bruises.

The Falcons' three-point specialist off the bench missed all of last season with a torn ligament in her right leg. She missed last Saturday's 51-50 loss to Kentlake in the West Central District championship game after a collision with a teammate broke a tooth two days earlier.

Stratton scored 10 points and hit both of her three-point attempts Thursday in third-ranked Prairie's 52-39 state quarterfinal win over Pasco.

State never tasted so good after not suiting and being reduced to the bench when the Falcons took second in 2002.

"I don't think I realized how fun this would be," said a smiling Stratton, who came off the bench for 8½ minutes of duty Thursday after making her state debut the day before. "It was very exciting to be part of the team. I liked sitting on the bench cheering last year, but this was more fun."

Soccer to unite duo

Yesterday Jefferson's Chelsea Hunt and Kentlake's Shuree Hyatt faced each other as competitors for the last time in high-school basketball.

The seniors will join forces next fall on the soccer field at the University of San Francisco. Hunt and Hyatt, both forwards in soccer, will be reunited as teammates after playing together for two seasons — under-13 and under-14 — in youth soccer.

"I'm really excited," Hunt said. "They have a new coach and they're trying to rebuild as a team. We should be good."

Enumclaw Coach Ted Carlson hated to have to say goodbye to his five seniors this way.

The season-ending 70-68 overtime loss to Pasco in yesterday's consolation-bracket game didn't sit well with an emotional Carlson, who blamed himself for the loss.

"It came down to decisions made by myself on the bench," said Carlson, fighting back tears. "I felt like I lost the game for us. I didn't have an answer when (Pasco) made their big run."

Notes

• Kentlake leading scorer Kristin Pasley bounced back from Thursday's 0-for-14 shooting — and an 0-for-18 stretch at state — with 10 points in yesterday's 48-36 loser-out win over Jefferson. Pasley made 4 of 9 shots.

• Sophomore guard Briann January of Lewis and Clark has already caught the eyes of many college recruiters with an unrivaled burst of quickness. January estimates that she has already received 25 letters of interest from colleges. The 5-foot-8 guard is averaging six points, five assists and 2.3 steals in three state games.

• A wheelchair exhibition game with boys and girls from Puget Sound-area high schools is set for tonight at 6 p.m. It will mark the second year of a wheelchair exhibition organized by Northwest Wheelchair Sports.

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• Kennewick became the first team to fail to score in a quarter in seven years at state but still won, beating Lake Stevens 36-27. The Lions didn't score in the third quarter. The last team to be held scoreless was Sehome against Kamiakin in 1996.

• Attendance at the tournament has included a half-dozen sparrows that flew into the building. They seemed more interested in crumbs and food scraps than in basketball.

Seattle Times staff reporter Sandy Ringer and correspondent Matt Massey contributed to this notebook.