Coach of the Year Korrie Bourn, center, counseled her two All-League athletes, Helaina Remsberg (left) and Ruby McCarthy (right) during a timeout.
Bourn and Surface are Coaches of Year
Kyler Mitchell heads a list of five Liberty Bell High School basketball players receiving All-League honors for the 2022-23 season.
Mitchell was named to the first team of the Central Washington 2B League. Second-team nominations went to Ruby McCarthy for the girls and Remington Paz for the boys, with Helaina Remsberg and Riley Lidey earning Honorable Mention accolades.
League Player of the Year honors went to Okanogan freshman guard Jacey Boesel and Brewster’s senior sharpshooter Kelcen Gebbers.
Korrie Bourn was named Girls Coach of the Year by the league, and Ryan Surface shared that honor on the boys’ side with Lake Roosevelt Coach Jeremy Crollard. This was the first full season for Bourn and Surface as head coaches.
Bourn led the girls to a sixth-place tie in the league’s regular season, earning the sixth and final district tournament seed. The Mountain Lions wouldn’t come up victorious in the district tournament, but making the top six was a victory for the team, which was decimated by graduation last year and loaded with inexperienced freshmen and sophomores.
Liberty Bell Activities Director Michael Wilbur pointed to several factors leading to the recognition of both Bourn and Surface.
“The growth that we saw in that team was truly remarkable and reflects the commitment of the girls, fostered by really exceptional coaching,” Wilbur said of Bourn. That improvement happened, according to Wilbur, “because of Korrie and assistant coach Liam Daily.”
Under the direction of Surface, the Mountain Lion boys placed second in the league’s regular-season standings with a record of 8-2. They would win their first-round post-season game over Tonasket, but then drop three straight competitive single-digit losses to league and district champion Lake Roosevelt, Okanogan and Northwest Christian.
“Ryan Surface had a team of really talented players, including a strong senior group,” said Wilbur in and email to the Methow Valley News. “They played great basketball, going nose-to-nose with some of the best teams in the state. Coach Surface guided his team really well. Surface is a good teacher — watching him explain concepts and strategies to his guys, it was clear that he has a strong capacity for conveying information in a way that players immediately understood.”
