Girls notebook: Redmond savors end despite losses

TACOMA — Their perfect season had a perfectly disappointing ending, but Jamie Edwards and Ashley Graham still wore grins.

The Redmond Mustangs lost their final two games to finish seventh at the Class 4A state girls basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome, and the two seniors didn't want their final team photo to look sad.

"We wanted to enjoy the moment," Graham said after the Mustangs fell 60-54 to Garfield, a team they had beaten three times earlier in the season. "We're still proud of our season."

Edwards agreed. "It felt good to play one more game with everybody," she said.

Coach Pat Bangasser shared the sentiment, too, relishing the 25-0 start.

"It's been a fun ride," he said. "They have a lot to be proud of. They're winners."

Garfield's got milk

Garfield's young Bulldogs finished third and had fun on the final day of the tournament. Sophomore Malia O'Neal and freshman Lacale Pringle donned rub-on tattoos of a milk moustaches above their upper lips in the consolation game.

"Got milk?" said O'Neal, who grabbed the tattoos at a booth set up by the Dairy Farmers of Washington, the title sponsor of high-school state championships. "We were underdogs in this tournament. We had nothing to lose."

Garfield Coach Joyce Walker got maximum mileage out of a team that had only two seniors and was essentially six deep.

"I think we milked what we had as a team as far as we could take it," Walker said.

Prairie letter perfect

Prairie girls are wearing the traditional "HTR" written on their upper left arms this year. Midway through the season, they added a "J" on their upper right arms.

The "J" is in memory of Jack Weber, the school's long-time announcer who recently died of cancer. Prairie coaches wear buttons with the acronym "JACK" — Jack's Attitude of a Champion will Keep you winning. Players and community members also received the buttons, a gift from Jack's three children, two of whom played for Coach Al Aldridge.

"HTR" stands for Hold The Rope. Coaches emphasize teamwork by telling players if they were hanging by a rope off a cliff, who would she like holding the rope? The answer is she'd want the entire team holding it.

Notes

• Chris Carr isn't planning to drive off into the sunset just yet, although the Kentlake coach admits it's a possibility. Carr is working on getting his administrative credentials and said he isn't sure what the future holds.

"I'm approaching it like I'm going to be back and ready to go," Carr said after Kentlake finished eighth with a 41-40 loss to Lewis and Clark of Spokane. "Something would have to land in my lap, something I can't refuse."

• The back of Kentlake's warmup T-shirts proclaim: "We're smart, too; Team GPA 3.81."

• All four Eastern Regional qualifiers placed in this year's tournament, which is the norm. Central Valley played in the title game, while Pasco took fourth, Lewis and Clark fifth and Kennewick seventh. Three of the four placed last year, with Richland eliminating Kennewick.

• Kentlake's Courtney Thompson, one of the state's finest all-around athletes, has been to state six times in three different sports. She also plays softball and volleyball. Kentlake's basketball team placed eighth this year and sixth in 2002, the volleyball team won three straight state titles, and the softball team was second in 2001.

• Despite heavy graduation losses, Central Valley should have a shot to make an eighth straight state appearance next season, especially with junior point guard Reagan Pariseau back. Auburn has the girls 4A record for consecutive appearances with nine, from 1987 to '95.

• A few minutes after beating Central Valley 44-39 to win the state championship last night, Prairie players formed two lines and performed a brief, synchronized hip-hop dance routine. "We had put it together for district, but then we got beat by Kentlake in the final and never got to do it," explained junior Brittany MacGregor.

Seattle Times correspondent Matt Massey contributed to this notebook.