Reardan wins big in Winterfest finale

REARDAN - A handmade poster in the high school's gymnasium labeled the building as The Drop Zone in a nod to the paratroopers of World War II's Screaming Eagles, with whom the school identifies. That's what it was when the Screaming Eagles dropped 91 points on Davenport in their 91-43 Winterfest game on Friday, Dec. 13.

As the grand finale of Winterfest week, the teams played with energy and emotion in front of a packed house. Reardan seniors Jakari Singleton and Rysen Soliday fed off that emotion to play exceptional games, both recording double-doubles. Singleton played above the rim with several dunks and blocked shots. He scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked three shots. The Gorillas were unable to stop Soliday from scoring inside the paint. He scored 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Behind this duo, Reardan jumped to a 19-12 lead after one quarter.

"We were a little tight at the start of the game but then started doing what we do," Singleton said. "The key to this win was getting comfortable."

The Screaming Eagles outscored Davenport 25-10 in the second quarter to take a 44-22 lead at halftime. Davenport's Cage Colbert scored 10 points in the half followed by Kyler Davenport's eight points.

In the second half, Reardan's high octane offense put 47 more points on the scoreboard while their defense held the Gorillas to 21 points, enroute to the 91-43 win.

With Maveric Sobotta unable to play for Reardan due to sickness, his teammates picked up the slack with eight of the 10 players scoring.

Justin Vaughn was Mr. Outside, scoring 12 of his 14 points from beyond the 3-point arc. Zander Thornton and Evan Krupke played solid games, each scoring 12 points. Thornton also proved to be stingy by recording four steals. Fred Frolov scored seven points and grabbed four rebounds. Bryson Flaa and Hunter Flaa scored four and two points, respectively. Hunter Flaa also had three rebounds and two steals.

Colbert paced the Gorillas with 14 points and three blocked shots. Kyler Davenport hit three long-range shots and scored 11 points, followed by Bennett Wagner, who scored eight. Tommy Furman and Jacob Furman scored six and four points, respectively. Tommy Furman also led the Gorillas in rebounds.

Singleton was pleased with his team's effort but said there was room for improvement.

"We need to make sure that we start each game by being in the right head space," he said. "We need to stay disciplined on defense and not take the easy way out."

Reardan assistant coach Preston Wynne was pleased with the game's outcome but less complimentary about his players' execution.

"We need to be way better at defense, way better," he said. "Giving up 43 points is unacceptable for how we practice. These guys practice too hard to allow a team to do whatever they want. Our team is very athletic and took care of the ball tonight. We had some mental lapses and need to stay locked in better. Jakari (Singleton) was emotional tonight and played a great game. We challenged Zander (Thornton) and Rysen (Soliday) in the locker room and they came up big for us. We start each game slow but fire our guys up at halftime. We want to crush teams in the third quarter. If we are going to play well the rest of the season we need to get locked in from the get-go."

The win improved Reardan to 4-0. The loss dropped Davenport to 1-4.

Reardan's next home game is Friday, Dec. 20 against Kettle Falls. Davenport plays three consecutive road games before playing Chewelah at home Saturday, Dec. 21.