Devils win senior night against Eagles
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 months, 1 week AGO
Aiden Galindo, a senior for the Devils, runs onto the court wearing a fur coat during pregame warmups getting ready for his senior night game against the Eagles. Galindo went on to be the top scorer of the night with 12 points.
CALEB PEREZ/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Eagles freshman Mark Sushik leaps in for the layup during Thursday’s matchup against the Devils.
Wilson Creek senior Aiden Valline leaps up to go for two agaisnt Soap Lake during Thursdy’s game.
Xavier Ewing, a senior from the Eagles, rushes past Isaias Alvarez, a senior from the Devils during Thursday’s senior night at Wilson Creek.
Nazar Goloborodko, a freshman from Soap Lake, looks to get past Trevor Sackman, a junior from Wilson Creek Thursday evening.
Devils senior Wiley Kimble shoots for three in Thursday’s victory over the Eagles.
WILSON CREEK — The Wilson Creek Devils finished the regular season with a 60-31 victory over the Soap Lake Eagles on Thursday evening. With this win under their belts, the Devils begin to prepare for their postseason push.
“It was a good night for us, seniors got a lot of playing time,” said Devils head coach Caleb McMillan. “Our seniors started the game off pretty strong, they came out here scored some baskets and played some good defense.”
Wilson Creek was hot on offense right from the tip with Wiley Kimble and Aiden Valline both scoring three’s, Reece Kane shooting four and Aiden Galindo putting up five in the first quarter. The Eagles worked to keep up with Andres Lopez, Xavier Ewing and Nazar Goloborodko, each putting up scores for a combined seven points.
Soap Lake put in a strong performance in the second quarter as Andres and Mark Sushik each put up threes in the 10 points scored. The Devils were held to 11 points in the second quarter, but maintained the lead to go 26-17 into the half.
After halftime, the Devils went into high gear as they had their highest scoring quarter in the third with 18 points scored, including threes from Landon McMillan and Valline. Goloborodko scored a three for the Eagles, but the Wilson Creek defense held back Soap Lake’s push to lessen the score differential.
The flow of the game remained consistent through the fourth quarter as the Devils added another 16 points to the scoreboard while holding the Eagles to seven, ending the game at 60-31.
“We got all of our seniors buckets tonight, so it was a good night,” said McMillan.
Galindo was the top shooter for the Devils, scoring 12 points total, followed closely behind by Kane and Landon with 10 points. Golodobordko was the top-scoring player for the Eagles with nine points total.
The Devils coach said this was a great way to end the regular season, as it gives the seniors Aiden Galindo, Isaias Alvarez, Reece Kane, Wiley Kimble, Aiden Valline and Travis Shearer a solid victory before heading into postseason play.
“It’s a good feeling on senior night to get a big win,” he said. “Everyone’s feeling good, the morale’s good, just need to keep up the energy and roll right into playoffs.”
The seniors have been an integral part of the Devils’ success over the past years and McMillan said that each of them has put in an impressive amount of hard work. The efforts from this senior class will be remembered in the program for years to come.
“They worked very hard for me and it showed the younger classmen what to do and how to do it, so I thank them greatly for that,” said the Devils coach.
Eagles head coach Mingo Scott said this was a rough matchup for the team as they entered their final game of the season with only seven players, as many of their starters were unable to attend. Despite this, the matchup served as a great learning experience for the freshmen on the team, as it gave them good playing time in a varsity matchup.
“The whole game was just, let’s learn about time and situation, let’s run our plays, let’s try to stay in the system because this is exactly what we’re trying to do moving forward,” said Scott. “For them, it was really good to get on the floor because they’re all good ninth graders and that’ll pay dividends in the future.”
The Eagles coach said it was a rough season overall for the team, as they ended the season with only two seniors, Lenny Campos and Xavier Ewing, on the team. Ewing was in his first season on the team and found success in his season and Campos had been with the beginning and has shown hard work and consistency since the beginning.
As Soap Lake concludes its season, Scott said it was a good rebuilding year for the team and has prepared them for future seasons.
McMillan said it’s looking to be a level playing field amongst the other 1B teams heading into the postseason, and it will all come down to getting prepared for each upcoming opponent.
“Everyone we’re going to play we’ve already played, so we’ve got a game plan against them,” he said. “We’ll just fine-tune some stuff and get after it.”
BOX SCORE:
SPLK: 7-10-7-7: 31
WCRK: 15-11-18-16: 60
Eagles freshman Mark Sushik leaps in for the layup during Thursday’s matchup against the Devils.
Wilson Creek senior Aiden Valline leaps up to go for two agaisnt Soap Lake during Thursdy’s game.
Xavier Ewing, a senior from the Eagles, rushes past Isaias Alvarez, a senior from the Devils during Thursday’s senior night at Wilson Creek.
Nazar Goloborodko, a freshman from Soap Lake, looks to get past Trevor Sackman, a junior from Wilson Creek Thursday evening.
Devils senior Wiley Kimble shoots for three in Thursday’s victory over the Eagles.ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ
Sushik comes full circle ahead of first season at BBCC
MOSES LAKE — The next step in Liana Sushik’s athletic journey has led her to play for the Big Bend Community College Vikings volleyball team this fall after a successful career with the Soap Lake Eagles. Joining the Vikings is something she feels has deepened her love for the sport, she said. “I fell in love with the fact that there’s more than just high school volleyball; there’s another level,” said Sushik. “It’s like a whole new chapter and I’m so excited to see what I have next because there’s a lot that I’ve been through to get here.” Despite her success on the court, Sushik said she didn’t initially start out as an athlete.
Building a community at Desert City Fitness
EPHRATA — The city of Ephrata welcomed its newest athletic club earlier this summer with Desert City Fitness setting up along Basin Street. Since their grand opening June 6, the club has worked to become a strong contributor to the community in Ephrata. “We just opened our doors and whoever comes in, that’s how we do it,” said Bryan Boney, owner of Desert City Fitness. Boney, who owns the club alongside his wife Tracy Fillion, decided to open Desert City Fitness to keep himself active after retiring six years ago. Boney said he has invested all his money from retirement into purchasing the property, remodeling and getting the equipment necessary to open his fitness center.
Grid Kids expands opportunities this season
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Grid Kids football program is gearing up for the start of its 26th football season this fall. This year, alongside their tackle football program, the Grid Kids have expanded their flag football options. “It’s one of those things that you just don’t really know how well it’s going to go, but right now we’re looking pretty strong,” said Brian Gwinn, the Gird Kids administrator and communications contact. The tackle opportunities remain the same for third through sixth grade with third and fourth graders playing together and fifth and sixth graders separately from the younger players. The format for third and fourth grade will remain at a regular 11-man game, but for fifth and sixth grade there is consideration for moving down to an eight-on-eight format.