Charles Wright’s boys basketball team wasn’t expected to win the league championship last year but they put together a 22-6 season and won the state championship anyway.  Today the News Tribune predicted they’ll finish third in the league this year behind expected state championship contenders Vashon and Cascade Christian.  With that sort of competition in their own league, the Tarriers will have to work hard to make it back to the state tournament in Yakima, but exceeding expectations is quickly becoming a Charles Wright tradition and one the girls squad is clearly hoping to emulate. 

Monday night, the varsity boys squad won their first league game of the season against Orting by a score of 44-33.  In the first two weeks of December, the Tarriers played five non-league games resulting in a 3-2 record.

The team is led by three returning starters – Eric Knowles, CJ Dale and Jordan Hand.  Knowles scored 17 points in the team’s first game of the season, a one-point non-league loss to University Prep.  Dale scored 12 points against U Prep and matched that performance when the team faced Mt. Rainier Lutheran, a game they won 44-18.  Hand is shooting and rebounding well.  He scored 18 points against Steilacoom in CWA’s 53-67 loss, and had 12 rebounds against Christian Faith and 11 against Tacoma Baptist.

Brandon White is also playing very well this season.  He scored 19 points against Steilacoom and 20 against Orting.

The match-up with Orting was the Tarriers’ first league game of the season.  At half-time Orting led 20-11, but the Tarriers came back strong and held the Cardinals scoreless in the third quarter while racking up 12 points of their own to take a three-point lead.  In the fourth quarter, Charles Wright out-scored Orting 21-13.  White led the team in scoring.  Hand contributed 10 points and six rebounds to the victory.

The boys basketball program at Charles Wright shows great promise for future years as well.  The JV team is 3-2 so far with victories over Christian Faith, Mt. Rainier Lutheran and Orting.  Last year they had just six wins all season.  There are 16 players on the JV team this year.

Charles Wright’s girls basketball team also looks extremely promising.  The team has a new coach this year.  Molly (Wilcox) Pennell, a 1995 graduate of the school who played on the first CWA girls squad to make a state tournament appearance, has become the varsity head coach after two seasons coaching Middle School girls.  The team is 4-3 so far and 1-0 in league after beating Orting on Monday.  The team is just one win from matching their performance last season and perhaps even more impressively two of their three losses this year were nail-biters in which they came within three points of victory.

The News Tribune predicted today that the Tarriers will improve significantly from their 5-15 season last year and ranked them fifth in the league behind Seattle Christian, Vashon, Cascade Christian and Chimacum.  They are ranked ahead of Orting and Life Christian.

So far, the girls squad had been led in scoring by Fallon Staples and Jackie Kirschner, both of whom can consistently turn in double-digit numbers.  Staples scored 19 points against University Prep, her highest point total so far this season, in a 47-50 loss for Charles Wright.  Staples has scored 102 points in the first seven games of the season.  Against Forest Ridge, Kirschner scored 19 points of her own.  CWA won that game 56-49.  Laura Doman has also shown great ability.  She scored ten points against Northwest in the team’s 41-35 win and 12 points against a tough team from Steilacoom, 40 percent of the points scored by the Tarriers in a 53-30 loss.  CWA also lost to Washington, 43-46.

Staples also leads the Tarriers on defense in many games.  Against Northwest she had 12 rebounds and nine steals.  She also had 12 rebounds against Washington and 16 against Forest Ridge.  Rachael Williams had seven steals against both Washington and Forest Ridge.

In their first league game of the season, the Tarriers beat Orting Monday night 51-45.  They led 16-8 at the end of the first quarter and 33-21 at the half.  The Cardinals closed in on the Tarriers in the second half, outscoring them 13-7 in the third quarter and 11-1 in the final quarter, but Charles Wright hung on for the six-point win.

The girls JV team has a 2-3 record thus far.  They beat Northwest School 42-22 and Washington 31-29, but fell to University Prep by one point, 22-23, Tacoma Baptist 30-37, and Orting 25-32.

All Charles Wright’s Upper School teams have one game left to play in 2008.  On Friday, December 19, the Tarriers will travel to Chimacum.  At 5:15pm, the girls varsity and boys JV teams will play.  The boys varsity and girls JV teams are up at 7pm.

The Middle School has four athletic seasons and boys basketball and girls soccer are currently competing.  The boys varsity team is 3-2 with five games left to play.  They lost their first game to Showalter, 41-43.  The came back strong to beat Life Christian 37-29.  Nate M. led all scorers with a game-high 15 points.  According to their coaches, “the tenacious Tarrier green wave washed the Eagles right out of the building” that night.

The Tarriers also beat Tacoma Baptist, 41-31.  Calvin C. was the player of the game showing fierce intensity and scoring 12 points, racking up 12 rebounds and three blocks.  Nate M. also had 12 points and 8 boards in that game.  In was another outstanding performance for the entire team as all 15 players had significant playing time and seven of them scored.

The Tarriers lost to Seattle Christian, 51-33, but won their most recent game against Cascade Christian, 39-37.

The Middle School JV boys basketball team lost to Showalter in a very close game, 28-31.  They beat Life Christian in a thrilling double overtime see-saw affair which saw the Tarriers finally wear down their opponents and pull out the victory, 32-26. Patrick V. led the team in scoring while Jack S. dominated the paint.

CWA beat North Tapps “C” 30-10.  Wunmi O. had a game-high 10 points in that game but there were a number of contributors, according to their coaches.  In the team’s 25-14 victory of Seattle Christian, Patrick V. scored ten points.  The Tarriers lost to Cascade Christian, 23-30.

The Middle School teams face Showalter at home tonight and Life Christian on the road Thursday, before the winter break.  They’ll play their final three games of the season when they return in January.

Middle School girls soccer is the school’s lone outdoor winter sport.  CWA’s team is 5-1 with four games left to play.  Their game this week was rescheduled due to the extreme cold and ice on the grass.  They’ll play three games in January.  The Tarriers beat Showalter 5-0 with goals scored by Minah C., Malia K. (2), Erin F. and Lauren F.  They lost to North Tapps then beat Hawkins 5-0 with goals by Malia K. (2), Katie M. Shelby F. Erin F. and Destiny S.  Malia K. and Lauren F. scored against McMurray for their third victory.  Against Cascade Christian, Charles Wright won 1-0.  The Tarriers’ goalie never once touched the ball.  Katie M. scored the lone goal.

The JV team is 1-3-1.  They tied 0-0 against Showalter at the start of the season.  They lost to two different teams from North Tapps and beat Hawkins 2-0.  Clare B. and Destiny S. scored in that game.

Click here to open all the school’s winter sports schedules.