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Down goes No. 1! Emerald Ridge stuns top-seeded Mount Si, rolls to 4A semis

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Mount Si was the No. 1 seed in the 4A state tournament, but it felt like No. 7 Emerald Ridge wasn’t clued in to that fact. Considering how fast the Jaguars came out of the gate on Thursday, the energy felt as carefree and loose as a January game in South Hill.

Emerald Ridge wasn’t afraid or intimated by the number next to Mount Si’s name. The Jaguars started fast, leading 36-31 at half and controlling the action for most of the game. When Mount Si finally rallied in the fourth quarter, it was too little, too late.

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Emerald Ridge hung to win, 67-62, stunning the top-seeded Wildcats.

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“It’s a huge win,” said guard Jordan Bennett, who scored 15 points. “Nobody believed in us coming into this and we just knocked off the No. 1 seed. That shows how much we’ve built as a program and built as a team.”

The fast start was key, according to Jaguars coach Pat Mullen.

“We wanted to make sure that we were the first ones — we didn’t want to react to them, we wanted to make sure we were the ones making them react to us,” Mullen said. “We didn’t want to play on our heels, we wanted to make sure we were playing downhill. Our guys did a good job of that.”

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Emerald Ridge 6-foot-7 forward Jamaize McGriff, the team’s heartbeat, went to the bench early in the second quarter after picking up his second foul, but Emerald Ridge never skipped a beat.

“Next man up, basically,” Bennett said. “We know we can’t play the whole season. Maybe an injury happens. So we know we can’t play that game, just next man up.”

Bouncy Mount Si forward Latt Ford had his moments and scored 23 points, but Emerald Ridge’s guards kept pace. Bennett scored 15, Ellis Mosley scored a team-high 19, Mychal Turner scored 13 and Darius Alexander scored seven. McGriff added nine.

Even before Thursday’s game tipped off, Emerald Ridge had already made history. Wednesday’s win over Redmond was the first state tournament win for the program. Now, new heights, again.

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An entirely different challenge awaits: Defensive-minded No. 5 Gonzaga Prep, the defending state champion, which defeated Puyallup in double overtime in the game before Emerald Ridge’s game.

“Probably one of the top three programs in the state in the last 10 years,” Mullen said. “They’re solid, they do things the right way, they make you work for every possession. So it’s another great challenge for us. We’ve just gotta get ourselves down to earth and come out the way we play.”

Emerald Ridge faces Gonzaga Prep at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday in the semifinals at the Tacoma Dome.

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Monday gallop to shape Gin Twist’s 2026 campaign

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The decision on whether Gin Twist forges ahead to another start or enters a spell phase hinges on her performance in a track gallop.

Lindsay Park’s two-year-old filly is a potential runner in Saturday’s Listed Redoute’s Choice Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield, contingent on a satisfying showing in Monday’s gallop.

She was the hot favourite dispatched in the Group 3 Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1200m) at Flemington March 28, leading early before stopping to take third.

Ben, Will and J D Hayes prepare Gin Twist, who was accounted for by more than three lengths by the Sydney mare Satono Glow.

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Ben Hayes mentioned optimism surrounds the filly’s readiness for Saturday, as she exhibits no adverse aftereffects from the race.

“We’ll make a decision on Monday whether she runs or not after she does some work,” Hayes said.

“We feel that one, she raced a bit fresh last week and two, she didn’t handle the heavy track, but she has pulled up fine.

“It is a good opportunity for her and if she doesn’t work well, we won’t run her, but if she works well, we’ll run her.”

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The filly had previously claimed the Listed Festival Stakes (1000m) victory at Flemington on February 28, and was next in line as third emergency for Group 1 Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill on March 21.

Lindsay Park refrained from interstate travel for her, aware a start was improbable.

Hayes is of the view that Gin Twist copes with 1200m and merits another attempt on a good track.

“I think she is a very fast horse, and 1200 metres is her limit,” Hayes said.

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“But it is hard to judge her off that run over 1200 metres, which was down the straight, and on a heavy eight (track).

“We can find out if she can the trip and then we’ll know how to place her next prep.”

Secure the best value with betting sites offering markets for the Redoute’s Choice Stakes.

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Liv Morgan breaks character to discuss her relationship with Rhea Ripley

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Liv Morgan broke character to comment on her relationship with WWE star Rhea Ripley. Both Ripley and Morgan will be challenging for major titles at WrestleMania 42.

In an interview with Esteban Ramirez, Liv Morgan broke character to comment on her relationship with Rhea Ripley. The Judgment Day star noted that she knew her former rival was going to be a star while they were in NXT together and left Ripley her locker when she got called up to the main roster.

“Rhea and I have quite a bit of lore. I remember back in the Performance Center when I saw her, I knew that she was gonna be a star. It was just very evident to me. So when I had gotten called up to the main roster, I had left Rhea my locker. I told her, ‘You can have my locker, you can move your stuff into my locker.’ She didn’t even have a locker yet,” said Morgan.

The Women’s Royal Rumble winner added that they will always be connected and compared their rivalry to Batman and The Joker.

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“I came back on the Liv Morgan Revenge Tour and took everything that she loved including Dominik, the Judgment Day and the Women’s World Championship. So I feel like we are both the heroes and villains in each other’s stories. She is the Batman to my Joker, and I am the villain in her hero’s story, and she is the villain in my hero’s story,” she added. [H/T: WrestleTalk on X]

You can check out the interview in the video below:

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Morgan will be challenging Stephanie Vaquer for the Women’s World Championship at WrestleMania 42.

Liv Morgan comments on recent WWE injury

WWE RAW star Liv Morgan recently discussed her injury last year that caused her to miss several months of WWE television.

In an interview with Brad Gilmore, the 31-year-old noted that the injury was devastating for her last year as she was on an upward trajectory. The WWE veteran added that she was upset about the situation during her hiatus last year.

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“I do feel like in the moment that I got injured, I was on a very upward trajectory. And so the injury obviously devastated me. I was very, very angry the whole entire time I had off time,” she said.

Liv Morgan says she was “angry the whole time” when she was recovering from shoulder injury: “I was mad the whole entire time,” Morgan said. “I got injured in a moment [when] I had multiple things going on for me. I was really enjoying and loving what I was doing. So to have all

Only time will tell if Liv Morgan can defeat Stephanie Vaquer to become champion once again at WWE WrestleMania.