By Don Nelson
The Liberty Bell High School girls’ basketball team matched the boys’ team with a home win over Manson, 51-38, on Jan. 13, but dropped two road games later in the week.
Despite a strong effort, the Lady Lions lost at Lake Roosevelt, 48-39 on Friday (Jan. 16). On Saturday (Jan. 17), Liberty Bell fell to Soap Lake, 49-30.
Against Manson, the Lady Lions played without freshman starter Katie Labanauskas, who had the flu. “Everyone else stepped up,” coach Ed Smith said of Liberty Bell’s team effort.
Lauren Ochoa, another freshman, lit up Manson for 17 points. Sophomore Lauren Fitzmaurice added 11 points and senior Ashley Watson nine. Sarina Williams, a senior veteran, had nine rebounds. Fitzmaurice and Ochoa each had eight rebounds.
At Lake Roosevelt, the Lady Lions’ scoring was evenly distributed: Watson and Fitzmaurice had seven points, Ochoa, junior Monica Chavey and sophomore Exie Romero had six points each, senior Erin Knight added 4 points and senior Baylee Canedo contributed three points.
Fitzmaurice led the scoring at Soap Lake with 13 points, followed by Williams with six, Labanauskas with five, Ochoa with three, Chavey with two and Romero with one.
The Lady Lions were scheduled to host Tonasket on Tuesday (Jan. 20) and Lake Roosevelt on Thursday (Jan. 22), then hit the road again for a game on Friday (Jan. 23) at Oroville.
Standings, North Central Washington 2B North
Conference Overall
Okanogan 8-0 13-0
Oroville 5-2 8-5
Lake Roosevelt 5-2 6-3
Brewster 5-4 6-7
Liberty Bell 2-5 2-7
Manson 2-6 5-9
Tonasket 2-7 2-9
Bridgeport 2-7 3-8
Source: cwbathletics.com
