Federal Way's Walton helps 4A girls roll to victory

SEATAC — About an hour before Saturday's tipoff, the Class 4A girls basketball all-stars met each other for the first time and talked strategy.

The 4A coach, Danny Beard, who leads Lewis & Clark of Spokane and has 34 years of coaching experience, has seen all-star games get ragged.

So, he asked his team if they wanted to approach the "fun" game seriously or just have fun. He was glad when the response was somewhere in the middle.

Turns out, they were able to accomplish both.

Federal Way's Talia Walton, headed to the University of Washington, had fun and got things done, piling up 17 points and eight rebounds as the 4A squad overwhelmed the 3A all-stars 102-75 in the Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association (WIBCA) Senior Girls All-State game at Seattle Christian School.

"It was fun, and (future UW teammate Aminah Williams of 3A), we were talking and messing around some," said Walton, who had 10 points in the second half as the 4A team pulled away and led by as many as 28 points. "When we first came in here as a team in the back gym to talk, we asked each other, 'Do we want to just come shoot from halfcourt and mess around or actually have some seriousness and play hard to get the win?'

"We did both at the same time."

Walton still has the Northwest Shootout Washington-Oregon game at Chiles Center in Portland on April 2 and that will conclude her high-school career like many others did on this night.

Moses Lake's Jordan Loera, a University of Oregon signee, was named the game's Most Valuable Player after putting up 14 points and five assists.

Loera, Walton and 4A teammate Kat Cooper of Auburn Riverside and 3A's Kari Luttinen of Seattle Prep will all play in the Northwest Shootout game.

Cooper scored 10 of her 16 points after halftime as the 4A team's serious attitude put them in control of the contest.

Class 2A/1A State 78,

Class 2A/1A City 65

Prosser guard Tayshia Hunt had 12 points and six assists to earn MVP honors and Ilwaco's Kenzi Wirkkala added 14 points to lead State.

Lynden's Hannah Shine, who will play at Central Washington, added 11 points for the State team.

Tumwater's Mackenzie Copper led City with 11 points. Bellevue Christian's Maren Haines, Granger's Italia Mengarelli and White River's Brooke Paulson added 10 points each.