Saturday, December 30, 2017

Hulls combine for 45 points in Central Valley rout



spokesman.com, December 29, 2017

Lexie Hull scored 23 points with seven rebounds, Lacie Hull added 22 and tournament host Central Valley (8-0) crushed Stanwood (5-3) 71-34 on the second day of the Cam Jam Clash for Cancer on Friday.
For the second game in a row against a highly-rated opponent, CV held its foe to fewer than 10 points in three of four quarters. The Bears led 21-9 after the first stanza – with Lexie Hull leading the way with 11 points – and had a 20-point cushion at intermission.
Central Valley entered play rated sixth in state 4A RPI, while Stanwood was rated 22nd in 3A.
Central Valley finishes up its holiday benefit tournament against Woodinville on Saturday at 2:15 p.m.

Friday, December 29, 2017

Lexie Hull, Central Valley ace first test, rout Bellarmine Prep by 36 points

Dave Nichols, nwprepsnow.com, December 28, 2017

Nobody wanted to call it a “statement game” this early in the season. But a 36-point difference between two of the top teams in the state – no matter who is rating or ranking – will certainly raise some eyebrows.
Lexie Hull scored 24 points – the first 10 of the game and 22 in the first half when it mattered – and Central Valley avenged its only loss of last season with a resounding 67-31 win over Bellarmine Prep in the final game of the day in the inaugural Cam Jam Clash for Cancer at Central Valley HS on Thursday.
Bellarmine Prep, of Tacoma, entered play sixth in the WIAA RPI ratings, while Central Valley was eighth.
The Lions ended Central Valley's 52-game winning streak in the quarterfinals of last year’s 4A state playoffs. This win can’t make up for the sting of losing at state, but the Bears (7-0) have had this one circled on the calendar for a while.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” said Hull, last year’s 4A Gatorade player of the year. “We were excited for this game. Happy to get it over with.”
CV coach Freddie Rehkow was especially happy with the defensive effort. The Bears limited Bellarmine (7-1) to single-digit scoring in each of the first three quarters, just three points in the third.
“I’m happy with the way we played tonight,” Rehkow said. “We got after it. That’s the team I know we can be right there. The defensive pressure was just smothering. We were on the floor for so many balls tonight. Any coach would be happy with that.”
CV still outscored Bellarmine 16-12 in the fourth when the Bears’ backups played together over the final six minutes. It was a bit of a surprise a game that had so much hype finished with Rehkow coaching his second team – hard – at the end of the game.
“That’s what every coach should be doing,” Rehkow explained. “All those kids are important. Every day when we go against each other (in practice) – we coach them up. For them to get out there against a good team like that, it’s only going to be good experience for them.
“Any time your second group gets to go out there and play those kind of minutes, that’s a good time.”
The Bears raced out to a quick 10-0 lead. Well, Hull did anyway, picking up three inside baskets, one with a foul, and a 3-pointer. Lacie Hull’s 3-pointer a couple of minutes later made it 14-2 and CV led 18-8 after one.
“I think everyone was just ready for this game and we came out full-strength,” Lexie said.
“I like it. She came out,” Rehkow said. “She’s gotta do that. When you have a Division I athlete, going to Stanford, state player of the year, she’s got to come out and basically step on that floor and knowing that they’re going to get their very best, so why not her give her very best?”
But CV turned on the full-court press and Bellarmine got into trouble. Turnovers and fouls became quick baskets or free throws for the Bears – in a hurry.
Lexie Hull hit a short jumper off a turnover.  Lacie drained a 3-pointer next time down, then Lexie made a parade to the free throw line, hitting six straight to end the quarter, with the Bears up 38-16.
Lexie finished the half with 22 points.
“We had to come out (with the press),” Rehkow said. “One of the problems you run into, you can either come out and just hope that things work or you can go out and make them work. I told them before we came out today there was no Xs and Os on the board. It all came from within, If they wanted it bad enough, go out and get it.”
They got it alright.
Lacie Hull finished with 10.
Central Valley plays Stanwood on Friday at 6 p.m. on Day 2 of the Cam Jam.

Friday, December 22, 2017

Hull's Game Recaps




nwprepsnow.com, December 21, 2017

Central Valley stays undefeated, beat Mead 68-34 behind Lacie Hull’s 19 points

Lexie Hull had 16 points with eight rebounds and the Central Valley Bears (6-0, 5-0) defeated the visiting Mead Panthers (3-5, 1-5) 68-34 on Thursday in a Greater Spokane League game. Lacie Hull had a game-high 19 points.


spokesman.com, December 19, 2017
Central Valley 75, Ferris 10: 
Lexie Hull had 20 points with 13 rebounds and the visiting Bears (5-0, 4-0) defeated the Saxons (0-7, 0-4). Lacie Hull added 11 points with seven steals for the Bears.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Hull's Last Week


POST FALLS GIRLS HANG WITH CENTRAL VALLEY BEFORE FALLING

Mark Nelke, cdapress.com, December 17, 2017

For most of the game, the Post Falls Trojans, one of the best girls basketball teams in Idaho, more than held their own against the Central Valley Bears, considered the top team in Washington.
But a few sketchy stretches proved costly for Post Falls, and Central Valley seized the opportunity, went on a couple runs and finished with a 59-48 victory over the Trojans on Saturday night at Central Valley High in a matchup featuring five college signees — four in Division I.
Lexie Hull, half of the Stanford-bound Hull twins for Central Valley, scored 11 of her game-high 24 points in the third quarter, including back-to-back baskets inside to put the Bears up 30-26. That was the start of a 13-2 run, and CV never trailed again.
Lacie Hull totaled 11 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocked shots.

Central Valley 55, Lewis and Clark 25:
spokesman.com, December 14, 2017

Lexie Hull scored 16 points for the Bears (3-0, 3-0) and they defeated the visiting Tigers (3-4, 2-1) in GSL play. Hull also recorded 16 rebounds. 

Thursday, December 07, 2017

Central Valley’s Hull twins are twice as nice


Dave Nichols, spokesman.com, December 7, 2017

On most nights, Central Valley’s second five is probably as good, if not better, than many of the other Greater Spokane League’s first teams.
What’s the old saying? It’s not bragging if you can back it up?
“In recent years it’s been like that,” CV senior wing Teammate said. “The other teams in the GSL maybe aren’t as strong as our bench players, or in some cases our JV players.”
Case in point: a league- and season-opening 63-18 win over Mead on Tuesday, including 26 points from 2016-17 Gatorade girls state player of the year Lexie Hull.
Still, CV’s veteran coach Freddie Rehkow doesn’t think his team deserves to be ranked first in state at this point, citing that they didn’t finish last season atop the chart.
“Honestly, I don’t think we should be No. 1,” Rehkow said. “At this point, we gotta earn that No. 1.”
Teammate wasn’t sure she agreed with her coach’s logic.
“(Coach) doesn’t think we deserve to be No. 1,” she said. “He knows we’re good, but we didn’t get first last year so why should we be (this year)?
“People know that we’re good so, why not put us No. 1? I kind of feel we should be No. 1. But again, we have to prove it.”
That chip on the collective shoulder of the Bears might stem from falling 56-55 in a State 4A quarterfinal to Bellarmine Prep last season – which ended a 52-game winning streak. CV won the state title in 2016 and is 54-1 over the past two seasons.
“We lost one game. To lose where we did, absolutely disappointing,” Rehkow said. “Not disappointed in the team or the season, but just disappointed that for one night we didn’t play our very best and that we didn’t coach our very best and that we came up short.”
So is redemption the theme for the new season?
“I think it’s more making sure that type of game doesn’t happen again,” senior 6-foot-2 forward Lexie Hull said, referring specifically to the single loss. “Preparing so that one game doesn’t determine how our season finishes.”
Twin sister Lacie concurred.
“We want to win the state championship, come back better than ever and to prove we shouldn’t have lost last year and that we’re a better team because of it,” she said.
This is a program that has bred excellence in recent years, so much so that Rehkow said turnout for the freshman team this year was low because of some girls being intimidated by the skill level and success.
“We’ve got kids that are working extremely hard (in the program), because they want to continue the success that the teams before them were having,” Rehkow said.
It might be an embarrassment of riches for the program, but it’s also a source of pride for the school and the players involved.
“It’s a lot of fun winning and having such high stakes every game,” Teammate said. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, we’re expected to win.’ We have to win. We want to keep our record. I think it’s just among us all, we want to keep winning because it’s a sense of pride for ourselves.”
“Our team is so well-rounded and diverse that the 10 people on our team are just as good as the majority of the teams we end up playing,” Lexie said. “Just being able to practice against them every day is helping us get better.”
The Hull twins are working to get better, of course, for college basketball. Stanford, and the Pac-12, to be exact. It hasn't been a secret – the two orally committed in 2016 and signed letters of intent in early November.
And that’s not all. There’s a third Division I player on the Bears,  Teammate signed on to play for Idaho.
“It’s not that I get lost, but we just have so many great players that maybe one night I don’t score,” Teammate said. “But I was helping out on defense and doing a lot of other stuff. Points-wise, yeah, maybe I get lost sometime, but other ways I’m helping the team.”
Teammate acknowledges that it’s an unusual situation for one girls high school program to send three players to college basketball’s highest level.
“We’ve always been good players and we’ve played on the same team for a while,” she said of the twins. “Having three people that can go to a D-I school is super unique and unheard of. It’s great we get to practice against each other and play with each other on the court.”
“Sometimes people see the scores and they don’t understand that there is that gap between some of the athleticism that some of (the CV) kids have,” Rehkow said. “When you have three Division I athletes, they’re used to running. They’re used to playing. It’s hard to shut that competitiveness down.”
Rehkow thinks this might be the smartest team with which he’s been associated. The Hulls both boast 4.0 grade-point averages.
“The thing people don’t realize with this group is they are two-time academic state champions,” Rehkow said. “And their basketball IQ is ridiculous.
“I don’t think there’s a team around here – boys or girls – that picks up things faster.”
“Everyone on our team has such a high basketball IQ that if one’s not seeing something there are nine other people that are and can help that person,” Lacie said.
Whatever else they do this season will all be judged by whether they avenge last year’s single defeat and win a second state title in three years. That’s just the way it is for this program.
“Last year we wanted it and unfortunately we lost, but I think this year we want so badly to win state,” Teammate said. “That’s our goal.”

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Lexie Hull’s 28 points lifts Central Valley to big win over Mead



Dave Nichols, nwprepsnow.com, December 6, 2017

Central Valley's Lexie Hull led all scorers with 26 points as the Bears beat Mead 63-18 in a game at Mead.  Hull's points came on 8 field goals, 1 three pointer and 7 of 8 free throws during the game. 
Mead fell to 2-1 overall while Central Valley improved their record to 1-0. 

Friday, December 01, 2017

BROWN ALL-USA PRESEASON

Five-star signee makes 20-person list

gostanford.com, December 1, 2017

Stanford signee Jenna Brown is one of 20 players on the All-USA Preseason Girls Basketball Team for 2017-18. The team was selected by USA TODAY Sports' Jim Halley in consultation with various recruiting analysts and high school coaches.