YAKIMA – Prosser girls basketball head coach Jessica Huntington and assistant Tamara Jones are hardly of back-in-my-day age.

But the two have cachet many coaching staffs won’t have this week as the Class 2A state tournament gets rolling in the Yakima Valley SunDome. 

They’ve both been there, and they’ve both won.

Huntington was a freshman on coach Jack Cleveland’s 2002 East Valley championship team. After his passing, she starred her last three seasons for another Hall of Fame coach, Robi Raab, and the Red Devils placed sixth or better each year.

Jones is the all-time leading scorer for Mustangs, after she led Prosser to its last CWAC championship in 2011, and cut down the SunDome nets as tournament MVP.

Both went on to stellar college careers – Huntington at Eastern Washington, Jones at Southern Mississippi – and will lead the Mustangs into Thursday’s quarterfinal at 12:15, where they’ll meet Wednesday’s winner between No. 12 Port Angeles and fifth-seeded Archbishop Murphy.

“I feel like when I walk into the SunDome, I still remember what it was like as a player,” said Huntington, who learned plenty from her prep coaches.

“The biggest thing is their love for competition,” she said. “They were great basketball minds.”

The third-seeded Mustangs (22-3) have won 14 straight games, all by at least 11 points, and the latest a 71-54 victory against No. 6 W.F. West at Grandview High School.

Huntington said focusing on the day-to-day rather than a winning streak has been key.

“I feel like the lack of thinking about 13 or 14 straight and sticking to that 0-0 mentality kept the pressure off,” she said.

CWAC MVP Herbie Wright leads the offense, topping the conference in scoring for a second straight season. The junior poured in a Yakima Valley-record 57 points in a mid-January game.

Senior all-CWAC first-teamer Deidra Phillips gave Prosser a 1-2 punch that helped them finish 15-1 in the rugged conference. 

“I think our league is the best in the state,” Huntington said. 

A victory Thursday puts the Mustangs in the semifinals a fifth straight year.

Seventh-seeded Ellensburg (20-5) recorded the biggest upset of the round of 16, at least seeding wise. Junior standout Bella Standish scored 35 points, the second-most of her career, and the Bulldogs upended No. 2 Deer Park to advance to the quarterfinals for the sixth straight tournament.

Beating the Stags continued a late-season push by Ellensburg, which has won eight of nine, its only loss to the Mustangs.

The Bulldogs – finalists in fourth straight tournaments, champions in 2022 and 2023 – will meet the winner of Wednesday’s play-in between No. 9 and eighth-seeded Selah in a quarterfinal at 2 p.m. Thursday.

It’s the first state trip in 45 years for the Vikings (19-8), and CWAC coach of the year Ray Navarro. Selah received a protected top-eight seed, but were paired with two-time defending champ and top-seeded Lynden.

The Lions rolled past the Viks, 67-45, on their home court.

Selah’s third-seeded boys will look to rebound after scoring a season-low against Northwest Conference district champion Anacortes. 

Despite their struggles, the Vikings (21-4) still had a chance to tie the score or take the lead in the final seconds, but a deep 3-pointer by conference MVP Oliver Pepper fell short.

Columbia River, seeded 11th, awaits the Vikings at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, the winner advancing to play No. 4 Pullman in a quarterfinal at the same time Thursday.

Seventh-seeded Grandview also will try to stay alive against No. 15 Foster.  The Greyhounds stymied unbeaten No. 2 seed R.A. Long, but couldn’t get their offense going, falling 49-38.

Grandview (18-7) and the Bulldogs meet at 5:30, the winner playing top-seeded and defending champion Bremerton at the same time Thursday in a quarterfinal.