By Don Nelson
The Liberty Bell High School girls’ varsity basketball team continued to close the gap, but not nearly enough as the Lady Lions dropped two games last week.
Liberty Bell dropped a 50-25 decision at Omak on Dec. 9, and fell to Tonasket, 43-31, in the Lady Lions’ first home game on Friday (Dec. 11).
Coach Ed Smith said Liberty Bell was done in by too many turnovers and defensive mistakes against Omak. Smith said the Lady Lions might have fared better if they played at a slower pace, but he wanted to use the game to help the players’ early-season conditioning.
Against Tonasket, Smith said, “we had our chances but didn’t perform up to expectations.”
The Lady Lions were without Monica Chavey for the Tonasket game. Chavey was held out because of a possible concussion. Smith said she has been cleared to play and will likely be back in action later this week.
Lauren Fitzmaurice led the scoring at Omak with nine points. Katie Labanauskas added four, Carlynn Treise three, Monica Chavey four, Haley Bakke two, and Lauren Ochoa three. Playing but not scoring were Nadine Treise, Emily Paul, Exie Romero and Amanda Dwinell.
Fitzmaurice, who has been the Lady Lions’ top scorer in each of their games this year, put up 10 points against Tonasket. Labanauskas scored seven, Carlynn Treise one, Romero two, Lauren Ochoa eight, and Bakke three. Playing but not scoring was Nadine Treise.
Liberty Bell traveled to Oroville on Tuesday (Dec. 15) and will host Brewster on Friday (Dec. 18) at 6 p.m. Pateros visits Liberty Bell on Monday (Dec. 21) in a 3:30 p.m. game.
