Liberty Bell junior Madi Surface broke away to score 2 of her 13 points in the Lady Lions’ win over Lake Roosevelt.
The Liberty Bell High School girls’ basketball team decisively secured second place in the CW2B league with two wins last week, earning them a first-round bye and home-court advantage in the league tournament.
The Lady Lions easily handled Soap Lake, 68-22, on Feb. 4, then concluded regular-season play with a 58-46 Senior Night win over Lake Roosevelt on Feb. 7. The victories gave Liberty Bell a 14-2 record in league play, one game behind first-place Waterville-Mansfield, and 17-3 overall. They have won eight games in a row.
The Lady Lions get a pass in the first round of the league tournament, then host the winner of Thursday’s first-round game on Saturday (Feb. 15) at 6 p.m. If they win that game, they will play for the league championship on Feb. 18. No matter what happens in those two games, the Lady Lions will advance to district play on Feb. 21-22 in Quincy.
On Tuesday, Oroville and Bridgeport played in a tiebreaker game to determine who would face Brewster on Thursday in the first-round game. One of those three teams will be the Lady Lions’ opponent on Saturday.
Lake Roosevelt plays Tonasket in the other first-round game in the league tournament.
At Soap Lake, four Liberty Bell players put up double figures in scoring. Sophomore Jadyn Mitchell led the way with 15 points, pulled down 12 rebounds, had 4 assists and 3 steals. Senior Ali Palm had 14 points and 7 rebounds, senior Tommie Ochoa chipped in 12 points, 4 assists and 4 steals, and junior Sammy Curtis had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“We are playing really great team basketball, and my favorite stat is the assist — everyone on the team got at least one” against Soap Lake, Liberty Bell coach Stephanie Mitchell said.
The Lady Lions started slowly against Lake Roosevelt in the first quarter, failing to score for the first 4 minutes and not getting a field goal until senior Hailey Dammann scored with just under 3 minutes left. The defense held Lake Roosevelt in check. Ochoa, Palm and Mitchell scored on three close-in shots to make it 9-3 Liberty Bell at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams picked up the pace in the second quarter, and Liberty Bell went to the locker room with a 22-15 lead. After Lake Roosevelt closed to within 4 points, the Lady Lions built that margin to 41-30 through three quarters.
Liberty Bell extended its lead to 17 points, 52-35, about halfway through the final quarter. Lake Roosevelt made a run at the home team in the final few minutes, but couldn’t close the gap.
Junior Madi Surface had an active night with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 5 steals. Mitchell accounted for 13 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Ochoa had 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. Palm hit double-digits again with 11 points.
“It was a great night of basketball in the Lions’ Den for Senior Night,” coach Mitchell said.” The girls came out strong and ready to play. Great defense and team basketball won this game.”
Seniors honored at the game were Ochoa, Palm, Damman, Hannah Bakke, Naomi Carter, Maya Schrager, McKenna Ott and Shelby Vintin.
Liberty Bell 68, Soap Lake 22
Jadyn Mitchell 15, Tommie Ochoa 12, Sammy Curtis 10, Madi Surface 6, Caitlyn Cooley 4, Ali Palm 14, Hannah Bakke 7
Liberty Bell 58, Lake Roosevelt 46
LR 3 12 15 16 46
LBHS 9 13 19 17 58
Jadyn Mitchell 13, Tommie Ochoa 6, Sammy Curtis 2, Ali Palm 11, Hannah Bakke 5, Hailey Dammann 4, Madi Surface 13, Caitlyn Cooley 4
Scoring through 20 games
Jadyn Mitchell 319, Sammy Curtis 208, Ali Palm 208, Tommie Ochoa 124, Madi Surface 136, Hannah Bakke 83, Hailey Dammann 61, Caitlyn Cooley 33, Shae Taylor 31
