The B’s

Bi-County League: There should be some good individual talent in the Bi-Co boys this season, as four of the six members of the all-league first team return this season. That list includes Karl Richardson (Northwest Christian), Andy Hodgson (Liberty), David Johnson (Odessa) and Cameron Stevenson (Lind-Ritzville). Three of the six come back on the girls side, including two from Sprague-Harrington (Stacie Shields, Roni Jo Mielke). Liberty’s Shawn Hennessey is the third. Northwest Christian’s boys finished third at state last year, and Lind-Ritzville’s boys finished fourth. On the girls’ side, Almira/Coulee-Hartline finished second and Sprague-Harrington ended up sixth.

Panorama League: Curlew, Inchelium, Northport and St. Michael’s all meet at the Northport Tournament this weekend, but those games will not count as league contests.

Whitman County League: Basketball season kicked off in the Southeast on Tuesday, with the Garfield-Palouse and St. John-Endicott girls each posting impressive victories. The Vikings, who defeated Troy by 25 points despite losing three All-WCL players from last year’s State B eighth-place team, will host Potlatch on Friday and Liberty on Tuesday. Sydney Gossard, the lone returning first-team All-WCL selection, led SJE (14-8) to a 29-point win over Waitsburg and will team with second-team selection Ellen Miller against Lind-Ritzville on Saturday and Waitsburg on Tuesday. LaCrosse-Washtucna will face the toughest test of the week when it travels to DeSales, which defeated Gar-Pal for fifth place in state, on Tuesday night.

By J.D. Larson and Josh Petrie