Girls basketball, slowpitch softball teams head into post-season play with wins in their final games
Alan Burgos gets off a shot against Gonzaga Prep's Joe Few in the Blackhawks loss to the visiting Bullpups last Tuesday.
CHENEY - A pair of Blackhawks wrestlers, Jackson Showalter and Dylan Straley, earned Greater Spokane League titles at the district championship meet June 9. Also wrapping up the regular season on a high note were the Lady Blackhawks basketball and slowpitch softball teams, both earning wins in their finales.
Boys basketball
The Blackhawks wrapped up their regular season with a pair of losses, 76-48 at home June 8 to Gonzaga Prep and 70-46 June 10 on the road at University High.
Cheney hung with the visiting Bullpups for a while in the first half, trailing by three at 14-11 at the end of the first quarter and 36-23 at the break. An 18-8 third quarter gave G-Prep some more breathing room en route to their win.
Josh Whiteley scored a season-high 21 points to lead Cheney, going a perfect 7 for 7 from the free throw line. Senior Trinidad Richardson added 11 points, shooting 7 of 8 from the charity stripe. Overall the Blackhawks shot just over 91% from the line, 21 of 23.
Against the Titans last Thursday it was a different story. The hosts shot to an 18-8 first-quarter lead, stretching it to 38-21 at the half.
Cheney rallied in the third, outscoring U-Hi 20-15 to pull within 12 at 53-41, but faded in the fourth. Henry Browne led Cheney with 11 points while Richardson added nine.
The Blackhawks fall to 0-7 in Greater Spokane League play and 0-10 overall under first-year head coach Tierre Warren. Cheney wrapped up their season Tuesday, June 15, with a first-round playoff game at Ferris (3-4, 4-8).
Girls basketball
The Lady Blackhawks wrapped up their regular season with a mini two-game winning streak. Cheney withstood a late rally by Gonzaga Prep to edge the visiting Bullpups, 48-47, on June 8, and executed their own rally to knock off University on the road June 10, 42-40.
The Lady Blackhawks trailed 17-14 at the end of the first quarter against G-Prep, but turned that around in the second for a 27-24 halftime advantage. The Bullpups (2-5, 4-7) outscored Cheney in both the third and fourth quarters, but not enough to overtake the hosts.
Emma Evans led Cheney with 15 points, hitting three, 3-point shots. Lexi Deatherage also hit a pair of bombs from behind the arc, scoring seven points with Avery Stark adding another seven.
Evans hit five 3s at University (2-5, 4-7) , helping Cheney rally from a 36-31 third-quarter deficit to outscore the Titans 11-4 in the final eight minutes for the win. Evans led all scorers with 25 points, with Deatherage adding another eight.
Cheney improves to 4-3 in GSL play, sitting in fourth place at the end of the regular season, and 4-6 overall. The Lady Blackhawks traveled to Central Valley Tuesday night, June 15, to take on the top-seeded, league-leading Bears (6-1, 9-2) in first round playoff action.
Gymnastics
Senior Lauren O'Callaghan was named to the All-GSL second team for the bars event after her performance at the league championships on June 9 at Mead Gymnastics Center. O'Callaghan scored an 8.275 in the event.
Slowpitch softball
The Lady Blackhawks earned a split in their final two games of the regular season. Cheney dropped its regular-season home-finale to Mt. Spokane, 13-3, on June 8 but knocked off fourth-place Ferris on the road, 6-4, on June 10.
The third-place Wildcats (7-3, 7-3) banged out 21 hits against Cheney pitching last Tuesday. The Lady Blackhawks managed just eight hits, with Pyper Cagle, Parker Cagle and Maddie McDowell each going 2 for 3 at the plate.
Thursday at Ferris, senior Bella King went 3 for 3 with a pair of home runs and four RBIs to lead Cheney offensively. Pyper Cagle was 3 for 4, scoring three runs while sophomore Lilly Barlow also smacked a pair of singles.
Sophomore Ashlynn Scott got the win in the pitching circle, giving up 10 hits to Saxon hitting. Cheney's defense committed three errors.
The Lady Blackhawks finish the regular season in fifth-place in the GSL, 6-5 in league and overall. They opened playoff action Tuesday, June 15, against a familiar foe from their Great Northern League days - eighth-seeded East Valley (6-6, 6-6).
Wrestling
Cheney qualified four wrestlers for the GSL Championship Finals held June 9 at Mead's Union Stadium. Jackson Showalter and Dylan Straley brought home league titles at 160 and 170 pounds, with Showalter earning a 3-2 decision over University's Kyler Anstrom and Straley a 9-7 decision over Central Valley's Jared Clark.
Joe Showalter and Blake Seubert each placed second, Showalter at 126 after a pin by University's Tyler Walker and Seubert at 182 after losing a 9-7 decision to University's Connor Larsen.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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