黑料福利社

TACOMA聽鈥� Davis coach Akil White calls it "The Full Pirate Experience.'"

Unselfish offense. Merciless defense.聽Pressure and press so unforgiving it will pluck the ball away and put it through the hoop faster than you can say "back-to-back champs."

Prep Sports

Tourney tracker: State basketball updates from Yakima, Tacoma and Spokane

• 黑料福利社

For No. 8 Sumer, it was an experience it won't remember fondly. Especially the experience of a downright dominating first half.

The 4A No. 1 Pirates sailed to a second consecutive state championship on the strength of its first 16 minutes Saturday for a deceptively close 62-51 victory, beating the Spartans for a second straight season in the state title game and the third year in a row on trophy day in the Tacoma Dome.聽

"Everything; they get our press, they get all of our energy, that's what we brought today," Hull said of the 'experience'. "We've worked so hard for this all year, and we come out here and it shows."

The Pirates nearly controlled the tempo nearly from the opening tip, which they didn't contest. Instead, they let the Spartans have first go and sprung a half-court trap for a turnover, took the lead on a Kobe Johnson 3-pointer and never deviated from their championship course.聽

"I dialed up Kobe right from the start, and I told her it was going to happen," White said. "I told her 'you're going to knock this down and we're going to go on a run.'"

After an Isa Garcia bucket broke a 3-3 tie and gave Davis a lead it never lost, Cheyenne Hull scored the next eight Davis points while using her long arms and quick reflexes to disrupt the flow of Sumner's offense.聽

Her final bucket of the first quarter started a 7-0 Davis run that forced Sumner coach聽Katie Hyppa to call time out to regroup. It did little good as the Spartans failed to get across halfcourt. Johnson hit another three and converted a fast-break basket off a Parrish steal to push the Pirate advantage to 13.聽

"Kobe was on fire," said Hull, who posted her seventh double-double in 11 Tacoma Dome games with 17 points and 11 rebounds. "They didn't know about her, and it really showed."

It can be easy to miss the unassuming Johnson among the other Davis stars, and the junior seems happy to keep it that way. The 5-foot-9 guard is often tasked with guarding a taller defender against the state's top teams, and she helped hold 6-1 Division I talent聽Raymiah Jackson to 1 of 7 shooting in the first half.聽

It's all the sweeter for Johnson, who missed last year's tournament run after knee surgery.

"It feels great getting to contribute to help my team, it's such an amazing feeling," Johnson said after finishing with 15 points. "Especially coming back from a hard setback, being out nine months was really hard. Being able to be in the game and actually contribute, it's a surreal feeling, and I'm so grateful."聽

Davis ended the first half on a 19-5 run, turning 13 Spartan turnovers into 17 points. Coming back out for the second half with a 16-point lead, the Pirates were laughing and chatting and seemed content to all sit on the bench and pass the time until prompted to go and get warm.

Any concerns about a lack of focus were extinguished with an 8-0 run that included Parrish's first bucket.

The senior's contributions go well beyond her scoring, which is often not not needed alongside Hull and Garcia聽鈥� who poured in a game-high 20. The Eastern Washington signee chipped in seven points while stacking up four rebounds, three assists and three steals聽鈥� her sixth Tacoma Dome game with at least three steals in seven tries.聽

Parrish and top reserve Ella Craig were the lone seniors on a Pirates team that seems primed to bring a third gold ball back east, and she said White challenged them to give everything they had in their final game.

"It was me and Ella's last run, so we just put our hearts into it," Parrish said "It feels phenomenal. I don't even have words to explain it, just cause I love the game, and the whole team loves it; it's a great feeling."

Parrish joined the Pirates after winning a pair of trophies with Wapato before the retirement of longtime coach Joe Blodgett, and she's not shy about having high expectations when she made the move.聽

"I knew we had at least one (championship)," Parrish said. "And when we won that first one, I knew we would come back even stronger and better. So after the first one I knew we were going to get a second one."

She got to begin the celebration on the bench with her fellow starters after the final basket of her high school career put Davis up 61-42 in a mostly even second half before Sumner cut down the margin against reserves. Kahewi Borden led the Sparts with 17 points, Jackson added 10 and Portland State signee Olivia Colins was held to eight. Collins, a senior, lost to Davis on the last game of each of her final three seasons of prep basketball聽鈥� falling to Davis in the third-place game in 2024.聽

White's Pirates are now 44-1 against in-state foes the last two seasons, with the lone blemish against Sumner in the opening round last season. The Spartans and Pirates have become rivals of sorts, meeting six times in the last three tournaments, with Sumner winning twice in the opening round before Davis took the first matchup this season.

As for a third title, White is thinking more about the nationally ranked out-of-state opponents he wants to face during Hull, Garcia, Johnson and Averie Brandt's senior season, bemoaning a 74-71 December loss to Tualatin (Ore.) that he believes cost his team more national attention.聽聽

"This group is once in a generation. I don't want to waste that."

厂鲍惭狈贰搁听鈥� Kawehi Borden 17, Raymiah Jackson 10, Collins 8, F. Nadeau 3, Reed 3, Hughes 2, Isabell 1, Cocke 0, E. Nadeau 0, Neely 0.

顿础痴滨厂听鈥� Isa Garcia 20, Cheyenne Hull 17, Kobe Johnson 15, Deets Parrish 7, Craig 2, Jones 1, Brandt 0, Wheeler 0, Dimer , James-Teeias 0, Gasseling 0, Perez 0.

厂耻尘苍别谤=9=7=18=17=鈥�=51

顿补惫颈蝉=13=19=18=12=鈥�=62

3-point goals: Sumner 6-15 (Nohr 2-3, Borden 1-3, Jackson 1-2, Reed 1-1, F. Nadeau 1-1); Davis 6-21 (Johnson 3-11, Garcia 2-4). Rebounds: Sumner 26 (Collins 8, Jackson 6,); Davis 35 (Hull 11, Parrish 4, Johnson 4, Garcia 4). 础蝉蝉颈蝉迟蝉:听Sumner 6 (Borden 3); Davis 12 (Garcia 4, Parrish 3). Steals:聽Sumner 7 (Collins 3, Cocke 2, Borden 2); Davis 11 (Parrish 3, Hull 3, Garcia 2). Turnovers: Sumner 15; Davis 14. Fouls: Sumner 10, Davis 20. Fouled out: None. Technical foul: Hull (Davis).