Liberty Bell’s Shae Taylor (No. 25), Jadyn Mitchell and Ruby McCarthy (No. 15) harassed an Entiat player in the Mountain Lions’ 59-32 home court win over the Tigers.
Mountain Lion basketball returned last week after a one-week hiatus, traveling to Manson on Friday (Jan. 21) and then entertaining the Entiat Tigers on Saturday (Jan. 22) in the Lions’ Den.
The girls began anew with a two-game winning streak, defeating the Trojans 47-36 and turning back the visiting Tigers 59-32. The boys dropped a 60-46 decision at Manson and beat the COVID-depleted Tigers 63-21.
At Manson, senior Jadyn Mitchell got back on track after having her streak of double-doubles broken at Okanogan on Jan. 4, scoring 27 points and snagging 15 rebounds. Ruby McCarthy pumped in 8 points and Shae Taylor added 6 of her own.
The girls defeated Entiat in their first home game since mid-December. Mitchell again led all scorers, hitting for 23 points and cleaning up the boards with her second consecutive 15-rebound game. Caitlyn Cooley scored 16 points and Joslyn Rispone came alive from the three-point line, scoring 13.
Scoring and statistical data are not available for the boys’ game at Manson. Saturday the Mountain Lions took on Entiat, easily taming the Tigers. It was the Lucien and Remy Paz show as the brothers teamed up for 34 of the Mountain Lions’ points. Freshman Lucien poured in 20 points and eighth-grader Remy added 14. Freshman Morgan Spellman led the rebounding effort with 6, Remy Paz nabbed 5 boards and three others had four each.
Entiat brought only six varsity players to Liberty Bell, missing three from their normal roster.
On Monday (Jan. 24), the Mountain Lion girls and boys headed to Tonasket to play rescheduled games. COVID issues in the Tonasket program forced the delay. The boys dropped a 73-62 decision to the Tigers, and the girls’ score has not been reported as of Tuesday (Jan. 25).
Lake Roosevelt visited the Den on Tuesday after this week’s deadline. Upcoming games include a home date rematch with the Okanogan Bulldogs this Friday (Jan. 28), a road trip to Republic on Saturday (Jan. 29) and a return to home to face Tonasket on Tuesday, Feb. 1.
Wrestling update
Liberty Bell only took two wrestlers to Kittitas High School near Ellensburg this past weekend, both coming home with tournament champion trophies and capturing third-place team honors.
According to coach Joe Downing, senior grapplers Noah Holston and Cody White each pinned their way through the tournament to earn first-place honors in their weight classes, and scored enough points to place third in tourney, even with just two wrestlers.
Cassidy Jones-Mowen went east to Othello to participate in the Othello Lady Huskie Invitational where she placed fifth overall in the 18-wrestler bracket at 135 lbs. She was seeded high enough to draw a first-round bye, then pinned Trisha Bradley of Burlington-Edison (3:26; second round), pinned Nayeli Leal of host Othello at 1:08 into the match before losing a 9-1 semi-final decision to Ruby Clark of Toppenish.
Clark entered the tournament 20-3 on the season, one of the top wrestlers in the state 1A classification. Jones-Mowen brought home a fifth-place trophy in what Downing described as a traditionally very tough and competitive tournament.
The Mountain Lions were headed for Omak on Tuesday (Jan. 25), and then it’s on to district tournament time on Feb. 5, with the regional meet slated for Feb. 12 and the State Mat Classic in the Tacoma Dome on Feb. 18-19.
