February 2015

by Paul Moseley

Now and then, a team emerges that has just the right mix of everything they need to be great - The skills, the attitude, the coaching, and the opportunity. The West Seattle Girls basketball team just may have found the recipe.

An eclectic group of athletes who spend time together on and off the court, the Wildcats have dominated the Metro League this year. They will put a period on their regular season Friday night as they take on Franklin at home for the season finale. If they win, they will finish the season with an undefeated 14-0 record in the Metro and an 18-2 overall record. Whatever the result of the final game, they are the regular season League champions going to the State tournament - and even though they won’t say it publicly - this team has the State Championship in their sights.

The Journey

by Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORESSPONDENT

Chief Sealth got two wrestlers on their way to Bellingham next weekend for the 3A girls regional tournament after having both junior, Makayla Dorn, and, freshman, LaShayla Early qualify in the subregional tournament hosted by the Seahawks Thursday.

"Got two in," said Maurice Dolberry, the Seahawks coach.

And, two did not qualify for regionals, but, the team's all underclassmen so that's nice to know for Dorn.
"Young group of girls, all back next year," said Dolberry, who coaches the girls' team and the boys' team for the Seahawks, with the boys' hosting regionals next weekend.

Dorn, a junior, made it to regionals last year, and, pretty nearly made it to state, being the second alternate. Dorn lost her first match before winning three matches, and, losing the fifth last season. And, this season, her goal was to get to state. And, it looked like she would not even get past this subregional meet, to her eyes. But, Dorn fought back after a first round loss, like, she did at regionals last year.

information from Pathfinder K-8

For two years running, Pathfinder School has been hard at work raising money to help fund a critical new playground for this K-8 school. Located in the old Cooper Elementary, the current small playground is only rated for K-3 and not appropriate for older students or students with large sensory movement needs -- as so many children require in the autism spectrum classrooms.

Fundraising began at the school auction two years ago, and last year, Pathfinder was awarded the Department of Neighborhoods Small and Simple Grant. That money funded public outreach, hired landscape architects, and led to the creation of a design, which will serve the needs of all students at Pathfinder K-8. We also used it to start Phase 1 of our playground revitalization by painting a large river that encircles the blacktop, adding color to the four-squares and United States outline, and the creation of a mural and the Pathfinder Compass. None of this would have been possible without the heavy support of the PTSA and an army of Capital One volunteers.

Phillip Tavel a West Seattle attorney and entrepreneur announced his candidacy for the new City Council District 1 position in a press release today.

He joins Chas Redmond, Amanda Kay Helmick and George Capestany in vying for the position.

In the release Tavel said:
He believes we need to manage existing projects more responsibly noting that "An immediate opportunity is correcting the course of the Alaska Way Viaduct replacement tunnel, which the state now says will make downtown commuter traffic worse when it is completed."

"Even beyond the current problems, the risks associated with continuing this tunnel and leaving the aging viaduct up are too great. The tunnel contractor has a well-documented history of not paying for cost-overruns and the potential costs to taxpayers are too high. Stopping the existing tunnel project is the most responsible decision we can make. The remaining project money should be used to increase transit and implement a lower-cost alternative that actually delivers on the promise to reduce traffic.”

BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer

Evergreen of White Center's deadly defense deflated Tyee 64-42 in boys basketball action in SeaTac on Mon., Feb. 2, to clinch at least a 2A third seed out of the 3A/2A Seamount League into the district tournament.

Currently, the Wolverines are tied with Lindbergh for the second 2A seed at 6-7 with one league match up left for both teams on Wed., Feb. 4. Evergreen travels to Kennedy Catholic while Lindbergh hosts Highline. If the teams end up in a tie, there would be a playoff for seeding purposes.

Leading 30-21 at the half, the Wolverines went on strafing runs to destroy their opposition in a 14-4 second half opening salvo to essentially break any resistance and speed through the gates to victory.

Defensively, Evergreen forced turnovers to gain high percentage shots. Offensively, crisp passing produced numerous back door layups as the Wolverines led by as much as 24 points in the quarter before cruising in the final quarter on the way to the key win.

BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer

TACOMA - It was a myriad of second half turnovers that finally undid the Seattle Christian Warriors boys basketball team in a Nisqqually 1A League 56-52 loss at the Charles Wright Academy on Wed., Feb. 2.

Having frittered away a 16-point lead from the third quarter, the Warriors had rallied back to lead 52-50 on Trent Siedenburg's 3-pointer from the corner with 21.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

After the Warriors were unable to cash in on three consecutive inside shots, Cooper Griffin's inside bank shot put the Tarriers ahead 54-52 as 5.6 seconds showed.

Seattle Christian had a chance to score on an inbounds pass behind their own basket, but the turnovers that plagued it the entire second half (18 in total) eventually had one more added to their total.

With 8.7 seconds remaining, SCS inbounded from behind its own offensive basket after having a shot blocked.

BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer

TACOMA - Seattle Christian achieved its third consecutive key victory with an emphatic 52-24 Nisqually 1A League girls basketball triumph at the Charles Wright Academy in the Chuck Wright Gymnasium on Tues., Feb.3, to take over second place in the standings at 4-3.

In a previous 44-35 home loss to the Tarriers, the Warriors were missing three important players. This time, half of CWA's dynamic guard tandem, Majestic Moler, was unable to play, resulting in a Warrior domination.

Several possible scenarios exist, including a three-way tie for second behind Cascade Christian, but a Seattle Christian win at Bellevue Christian on Tues., Feb 10, guarantees the Warriors a No. 2 seed to the District 3 tournament and a host game on Feb. 13 against Olympic League No. 3.

As of this date, Port Townsend and Chimacum are tied for third, one game behind Klahowya.

By Gwen Davis

After nine months of back-and-forth labor disputes, James McKenna, president and CEO of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) publically announced in a video on Wed. that an offer was made to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) to raise full-time worker wages to $160,000 a year, up from the current $147,000. Pensions will be raised by 11 percent to $88,800 per year. Health care will continue to be covered, which includes all premiums, copays and deductibles. The registered workforce will be guaranteed 40 paid hours per week.

The PMA is making the offer and salary information public in order to put pressure on the ILWU to settle.

Last May, labor contract talks between the PMA and ILWU began, since the contract was to expire in July. However, no deal was reached. By October, months after the deadline, the ILWU instigated worker slowdowns. According to McKenna, vessel productivity went down by 40 to 60 percent.

Lafayette Elementary students parterned with the Admiral Menchie’s frozen yogurt outlet for the annual Walk-A-Thon this year. Menchie's pledged to treat any student raising over $200 to a day-time Menchie’s party.

Over 120 students raised $200 or more for Lafayette Elementary School for more than $24,000 in pledges. Menchie's donated over 1,000 ounces of yogurt.

By Anastasia Stepankowsky

The No. 3 West Seattle Wildcats (17-2) put on a clinic Wednesday night, schooling the Seattle Prep Panthers (9-10) in girls basketball action Wednesday night.

West Seattle scored first off of a shot from Lexi Ioane. It was followed by the first of Prep senior Olivia Morrow’s four three-pointers of the night to give the Panthers a 3-2 lead. Prep kept it close for the first half, but the Wildcats took command in the second half to claim a lopsided 52-29 victory.

Both Ioane and junior Lydia Giomi were solid shooters for the Wildcats all night with Ioane making two 3-pointers with a total of 11 points while Giomi netted a total of 19 points for the game.

Seattle Prep kept within striking distance largely because of the aggressive rebounding and ball thievery of sophomore Chinwe Ezeonu and senior Andraya Flor. Prep trailed only 12-10 after the first 8 minutes.

“I knew that this would be a tough team. They’ve had a lot of close games and have won some games,” West Seattle head coach Sonya Elliott said following the victory.