Liberty Bell High School activities took a breather last week along with the rest of the student body for the mid-winter break. Spring sports fired up this past Monday with practices opening for track and field, softball, baseball and tennis.
The remaining snow cover has most practice activities relegated to indoor spaces, as is typical for the Mountain Lions every early spring. The Methow Valley News will be previewing Mountain Lion spring sports in coming issues.
Local flavor at state
The 2022 WIAA Hardwood Classic is back this year after a one-year COVID break, with several performances of local interest in regional play last weekend.
Quincy Scott, who spent much of his childhood playing with the Methow Mustangs, ripped the nets Saturday in the regional round, leading the Columbia (Burbank) Coyotes with a game-high 29 points as the Finley, Washington, school defeated highly regarded Ilwaco in first-round action, 80-64, at Richland High School.
Scott’s grandparents, Jill and Pete Scott of Carlton, were in attendance and are headed to Spokane for the four-day championship tourney, which gets underway this Wednesday (March 2) in Veterans’ Memorial Arena.
Also in the regional boys’ tournament, No. 4 seed Brewster, one of two North Central 2B representatives, defeated No. 5 seed Morton-White Pass, 59-50, earning a first-round bye. Meanwhile, No. 9 seed Lake Roosevelt easily got past River View, 80-42, setting up a Wednesday first-round match-up with Coupeville.
In the girls’ 2B, three NCW2B teams qualified for the regional round. No.15 Tonasket was eliminated by No. 10 Wahkiakum, 59-40, after traveling to Mark Morris High School in the Longview-Kelso area on Friday. No. 6 Lake Roosevelt lost to perennial state participants Colfax, 70-50, but still moves along to Wednesday action in Spokane versus No. 11 Rainier. The No. 4 Okanogan Bulldogs outlasted Raymond, 65-56, gaining a first-round bye in Spokane. They will play the winner of the Lake Roosevelt-Rainier game on Thursday.
Going to a tournament? Look also for officials with a local connection. Juleah Buckner (Okanogan County) will be working the courts in the 1B and 2B girls’ tournaments in Spokane, Tim Lewis (Liberty Bell 2013) will be patrolling the floors in the Yakima SunDome for the 1A and 2A boys, and Josh Lloyd (Okanogan County) will be working the 3A/4A boys’ tournaments in the Tacoma Dome. All basketball tournaments run from Wednesday morning through Saturday evening. Tickets are available on line at WIAA.com.
