The 2022-23 basketball season came to an end Saturday afternoon (Feb. 18) at West Valley High School near Spokane as the Mountain Lion boys and girls both lost their District 6-7 crossover matchups.
In the early game, the Northwest Christian Crusaders outlasted the Liberty Bell boys, 47-39, while the Colfax Bulldogs coasted to a 59-14 win over the Mountain Lion girls.
“We knew Saturday’s game was going to be tough,” said girls’ coach Korrie Bourn. “Unfortunately Colfax came out ready to play and ended the first quarter with an insurmountable lead.” The Bulldogs grew the 30-2 first quarter lead to a 44-8 halftime advantage.
Sandra Hernandez led the Mountain Lions with 6 points.
“Offensively, we weren’t able to get anything going,” said Bourn. It was evident from the start that Colfax was just bigger, quicker, more experienced, and probably wanting to send a message back toward the Okanogan area ahead of the WIAA state tournament.
Bourn, ever the optimist, and looking toward the future, was able to draw some good stuff out of the trip to Spokane. “Playing in regionals against an undefeated team was a great experience for our team,” she said. “We talked a lot this past week about wanting to take on the best teams and win, and we plan to keep that mentality moving forward.”
The Mountain Lion girls finished the season with an overall record of 5-17, 3-7 in league play.
For the boys it was a closer game, as the No. 4 CW2B Mountain Lions hung with NE2B No. 3 seed Northwest Christian for most of the game. The Crusaders led 13-10 at the end of the first quarter, expanding that to a 21-16 lead at halftime. Team scoring leader Remi Paz was held to just four points in the first half.
Liberty Bell gained two points in the third quarter, outscoring the Crusaders 11-9, but Northwest Christian closed out the game with a 16-point fourth quarter.
Paz led all Liberty Bell scorers with 17 points. Isaiah Stoothoff was the only other Mountain Lion in double figures with 12 points. Stoothoff did manage a double-double, gathering 10 rebounds.
The Mountain Lions finished the season at 14-9 overall and were second in the CW2B standings at 8-2.
When the seedings for the 2B girls state tournament came out Sunday, Colfax was tabbed as the No. 1 seed ahead of Okanogan. The CW2B girls league only managed to advance one team to the state tournament. On the boys’ side, the CW2B league qualified two teams for state, Lake Roosevelt and Brewster.
