By Don Nelson
The Liberty Bell High School girls’ basketball team ran its win streak to five with two victories over the holiday break that gave the Lady Lions the championship in the Entiat Tournament.
Liberty Bell beat the host team, the Entiat Tigers, 62-40, on Dec. 27. They then followed with another convincing win over Pateros, 50-30, on Dec. 28 to take the tournament trophy. Entiat and Pateros are both 1B teams, and the Lady Lions beat the Nannies earlier in the season, 53-35.
The previous week, the Lady Lions traveled to Soap Lake and came home with a 60-26 win in league play. Liberty Bell’s record is 7-3 for the season, 4-2 in the league standings.
At Soap Lake, the Lady Lions jumped out to a 17-6 first quarter lead over the Eagles and never looked back. “We played good defense, and outrebounded them 59-26,” Liberty Bell coach Stephanie Mitchell said.
Jadyn Mitchell led the Lady Lions’ scoring with 17 points and cleaned the glass for 18 rebounds. Sammy Curtis added 10 points and five rebounds, Madison Surface contributed 11 points, six rebounds and four steals, and Hannah Bakke had eight rebounds to go with six points. Tommie Ochoa handed out five assists.
“The girls came out slow and let both teams stay with them in the first quarter of each game, but they pulled away in the second quarters,” coach Mitchell said of the Entiat tournament. “Tommie Ochoa and Madi Surface shared the job of playing great defense on both Entiat’s Faith Southard and Pateros’ Aleeka Miller-Smith.”
In the Entiat game, Jadyn Mitchell again topped all scorers with 19 points and added five boards. Surface chipped in 10 points and six rebounds, while Curtis was also in double-figures with 12 points. Bakke picked up seven rebounds, and Ali Palm was responsible for five assists.
Against Pateros, Curtis scored 20 points to lead the way. Mitchell had another double-double with 11 points and 18 rebounds. Ochoa disrupted the Pateros offense with six steals and contributed five assists. Palm and Bakke each had three steals.
Liberty Bell hosts Lake Roosevelt on Thursday (Jan. 3), tipping off at 6 p.m. The Lady Lions travel to Oroville on Saturday (Jan. 5), then are off until Jan. 11 when they host Waterville-Mansfield.
Liberty Bell 60, Soap Lake 26
Jadyn Mitchell 17, Sammy Curtis 10, Madison Surface 11, Hannah Bakke 6, Destiny Ferreira 5, Ali Palm 4, Tommie Ochoa 4, Hailey Damman 3
Liberty Bell 62, Entiat 40
Jadyn Mitchell 19, Tommie Ochoa 5, Madison Surface 10, Destiny Ferreira 2, Sammy Curtis 12, Ali Palm 4, Hannah Bakke 8, Shae Taylor 2
Liberty Bell 50, Pateros 30
Jadyn Mitchell 11, Tommie Ochoa 7, Destiny Ferreira 4, Sammy Curtis 20, Ali Palm 4, Hannah Bakke 2, Hailey Damman 2
Scoring through 10 games
Jadyn Mitchell 146, Sammy Curtis 123, Tommie Ochoa 52, Ali Palm 48, Madison Surface 46, Hannah Bakke 44, Destiny Ferreira 32, Hailey Damman 30, Shae Taylor 8, Mckenna Ott 2
