Dragons boys, girls to state
St. George’s doubled its pleasure in the Eastern 2B Bi-District playoffs Monday night, qualifying both its boys and girls teams for the State 2B tournament in Spokane beginning Feb. 27.
The Dragons boys will be joined by neighborhood rival Northwest Christian and the girls by Lind-Ritzville.
Those teams will square off in Bi-District championship games Saturday at Mt. Spokane that will also determine seeding to state.
St. George’s and the NWC boys will play at 5:30 p.m., followed by the St. George’s and Lind-Ritzville girls at 7.
Monday night at Mead, the St. George’s boys defeated Wellpinit 78-47 and Northwest Christian overcame Reardan 55-42.
On the girls side at Mead, Lind-Ritzville pulled away to beat Northwest Christian 51-41 and St. George’s bested Liberty 45-36.
In loser-out boys games, Lind-Ritzville beat Waitsburg 51-44 and Walla Walla Valley Academy defeated Asotin. The score was not reported.
In loser-out girls games, Springdale defeated DeSales and Pomeroy beat Asotin. Neither score was reported.
Friday, in winner-to-state, loser-out games, the Wellpinit and Lind-Ritzville boys play at 4:15 p.m. and the Springdale-Liberty girls at 6, both at Mt. Spokane.
At Mead, it’s Walla Walla Valley Academy and Reardan boys at 3:30 and the Northwest Christian and Pomeroy girls at 6.
Boys
Henry Butler hit 10 of 19 shots from the field in a 26-point game that led St. George’s, which put four players in double figures.
Wellpinit cut the Dragons’ lead to nine early in the fourth quarter before St. George’s resumed control, hitting 10 of 13 shots from the field and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in a 26-point quarter. TJ Flett was high for Wellpinit with 18 points.
Reardan ran into shooting problems about the time NWC heated up in the second quarter and that resulted in a 17-2 margin for the Crusaders which proved the difference in an otherwise tight game.
Jacob Teaford of Reardan led the scoring with 13 points. Jared Descoteaux’s 11 were high for NWC, which got scoring from all eigtht of its players. Descoteaux also led a balanced rebounding effort for NWC with 5.
Lind-Ritzville used an 8-2 run to finish the game after Waitsburg closed to within a point. The Cardinals scored just two free throws in their last 12 possessions.
Jamie Stevenson hit three 3-pointers in a 19-point game and Cory Whitmore added 16 points and 10 rebounds to the effort. John Gertsch had 17 points, hitting three 3s, to lead Waitsburg.
Girls
Chessey Thomas had 18 points, Lena Leverett-Standal added 14 and Lizzie McQuade added 10 rebounds and four steals four St. George’s, which broke open a close game in the fourth quarter.
Liberty got scoring from seven players, but the eight points of Teara Cornmesser and Sam Jennen were high.
Stephany Steinberger had all seven of her points in the fourth quarter and Laura Cain was 4 of 4 from the free throw line the final eight minutes as Lind-Ritzville pulled away from NWC.
Katlin Fowles led Lind-Ritzville with 17 points. Taryn Russel had 17 and Hayley Hendricksen 16 for NWC.