Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
The Davenport bench celebrates a Reardan offensive foul during the Gorillas' victory in the annual rivalry match.
Davenport senior Darby Soliday drops off a pass against the Reardan defense. Soliday scored 20 points in Davenport's victory.
Davenport's Tennesee Rainwater drives baseline against Reardan.
Reardan's Ayden Krupke drives against the Davenport defense of Darby Soliday and Ellie Telford.
Reardan's Logan Flaa converts a floater in the key against Davenport.
Boys game gets chippy after Davenport builds first-half lead
REARDAN-It was a rivalry game, after all. That just didn't show until the second half, after Davenport jumped out to a 35-11 halftime lead and held on for a 67-38 final victory over the rival Reardan Indians.
"It was our defense. We were able to get out and be a little more aggressive and limit them to one shot," Davenport head coach Matt Henry said. "We knew what was going to come (in the second) half and were able to stem that tide a little bit."
The game got physical and somewhat tense in the second half. Tennesee Rainwater, who tied Brenick Soliday for a team-high 17 points, drew four fouls on a fast break that merited controversy from the Gorilla fans but were approved by the Reardan side.
Henry and the Davenport crowd yelled at Reardan head coach Brian Graham to reprimand his players for what they claimed were dirty fouls while Rainwater, who often plays above the rim, was airborne on the fast break. Graham responded by saying they'd stop fouling Rainwater if he made his free throws, while some Reardan fans lobbied some gentle heckles Henry's way.
No hard feelings were held over between the teams, as the two coaches shook hands after the game and attributed the physicality to the nature of a rivalry game and the fact that there were only two referees instead of the usual three.
"That was part of a rivalry game. No one wants to lose on their home court or anywhere to a rival, so that's just two teams going at it and being tough," Henry said.
Davenport's apparent response to "dirty" play by Reardan were, however, mentioned in brief at the Davenport school board meeting May 24, as superintendent Jim Kowalkowski heralded the Gorillas for what he felt was good poise after dirty fouling by Reardan.
"It's a rivalry game. We know there's a lot of emotions. It got heated, and it got physical," Graham said after the game. "Having a two-man crew was tough. The officiating was inconsistent, but it was inconsistent both ways. They've got some talented young players, and they did a good job."
Reardan is still in search of its first victory after losses to Liberty and Asotin in the past week. Next up for the Indians is a trip to Spangle to take on Upper Columbia Academy Thursday, May 27.
Davenport girls allow three second-half points
REARDAN-The Indians held a 9-8 lead and were challenging for what would've been a big upset in their rivalry game against the Lady Gorillas after eight minutes. Davenport then decided that was enough, outscoring Reardan the rest of the way 37-8 en route to a 49-17 victory.
Davenport didn't allow a point in the third quarter and gave up just three points in the fourth quarter after switching to a 1-2-2 zone defense. Meanwhile, the Lady Gorillas scored 14, 11 and 16 points in the final three quarters.
"We were all just kind of mad at how we were playing. We couldn't grab the ball, couldn't catch it, couldn't shoot it," Davenport senior Darby Soliday said. "We were just frustrated with how we were playing...and my mom wasn't too happy either."
Soliday's mother, Davenport head coach Stacia Soliday, saw better results in the final three quarters as Darby finished with 20 points, eight steals, five rebounds and five assists. Ellie Telford absorbed a double-team for much of the game and managed 12 points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
"We started moving more for each other so we could get open," Darby Soliday. "They were playing more on Ellie than everybody else, so we all had to step up and do more because she was double-teamed."
Davenport shot 45.5% from the field and forced 19 turnovers while holding Reardan to 11.9% shooting. Davenport narrowly outrebounded Reardan 31-29.
"We're trying to learn how to trust each other as a team. We have a lot of young girls on the team, and some more experienced," Reardan head coach Justin Flaa said. "They're a good team and they took advantage of our mistakes, so we'll learn to take care of the ball and trust our teammates."
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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