BLOGS

Stayin’ Alive. Regional still in site. The loss to Walla Walla didn’t help; but the Panther girls (17-5) still have two more opportunities to reach the Eastern Regional. Friday they take on Richland. A victory over the Bombers and they’re in and will play Saturday to determine third and fourth seeding. A loss to Richland also brings a Saturday game, the winner to get the fifth seed and for the loser the season is over. Friday and Saturday games are at home.

This will be the second meeting with Richland (16-6) this season. On December 5 Wenatchee won 58-51 in a non-league encounter on their home floor. RHS finished the league season tied with Walla Walla for second with a 10-4 mark in the Columbia Division. And familiar foes they are. The Panthers have faced the Bombers more than any other team…they have competed 77 times. The last two games have gone to WHS, but overall RHS is up 54-23 and also leads in the Apple Capital 23-12. As coach, Ron Stone has but 5 wins in 22 games with Richland.

Sweet 17. With 17 victories the young ladies have tied a school record for most wins in a season. Four times previously this total has been achieved. The first time was in 1991-92 when Mark Lutzenhiser’s squad made it to state where they won one game and finished 17-11. In 1995-96 team under Bill Groogan got two games into the regional tourney and completed the season 17-8. Two seasons later in 1997-98 the Groogan coached Panthers finishing 17-8 after playing three regional games. And in 2003-04 Ron Stone led his team through three regional games and a final mark of 17-9.

New record. Dani Hallberg has set another WHS record. She has now scored in double figures in 23 consecutive games. The mark of 22 she topped was set in 1985-86/1986-87 by WHS athletic director BJ Kuntz when she was a star athlete for Wenatchee. The current streak is the fourth time in her career she has had a run of 10 or more games in double figures. She went for 13 games as a freshman, 10 as a sophomore and 16 as a sophomore and junior. Dani is the seventh Panther to accomplish his feat. Glenna Carter did it 12 times in 1977 and Donna Regan 11 times the same year. Mary Bradford had 17 in 1979, followed by Cathy Kuntz with 11 in 1983 and 14 in 1984. BJ then got her 22 and Kim Preston had 12 straight in 2004.

Streaks stopped. The Blue Devil loss brought to an end a couple of Panther win streaks. Prior to Tuesday they had won 10 consecutive games, the second longest win streak since the program started in 1973-74 and the longest streak since the current league began in 1975-76. Also they had been triumphant in 7 in a row at home, a string that ties for fourth among “friendly confine” win streaks.

A Peek at Hoops History

$64 question. Would you pay 129 times more to see a game in Wenatchee than some folks did in the past? If you sit courtside tonight for the Globetrotters you did. Courtside seats are 64 and half bucks. On the other hand if you would have been toward the front of the line at the “Junior High School Gym” in 1940 you could have mingled with the Globetrotters for 50 cents. And that was if you forked over your half-buck at the door. If you planned ahead and purchased your ducat in advance you would have been right there for a mere 40 cents. Students (no definition) were admitted for 20 cents with an advance purchase and two-bits at the “gate”

In poking around for my research I find all kinds of things and an interesting item from the Wenatchee World a few years back mentions a visit the Globetrotters made to the Apple Capital 70 years ago on January 29, 1940. The quintet of Inman Jackson, Babe Pressley, Ted Strong, Bernie Price and Sonny Boswell took on none other than the Wenatchee Chiefs. I don’t know how many total times they have played here, but from what I’ve read and heard, it is quite a few.

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