Burnham leads Lancers to victory
After spending a week watching video, practicing and preparing for a somewhat unknown Warden Cougars team, the Liberty Lancers were ready to play an actual game.
And once the game started, the preparation paid off. The Lancers withstood the physical battle on their way to a 68-52 win over the Cougars. The win gives the Lancers a trip to the State 2B tournament later this week at the Spokane Arena.
“It was a physical game and we kind of thought that was going to happen,” Liberty head coach Mike Thacker said. “We prepped our kids pretty hard all week.”
Senior forward Match Burnham was dominant for the Lancers. Burnham finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds and made all 11 of his free-throw attempts.
Senior guard Clay Flemming finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, while Kyle King chipped in ten points.
The Lancers controlled the boards as well, out-rebounding the Cougars 37-22.
Sophomore J.R. Delgado led the way for the Cougars, finishing with 24 points. Guard Pedro Gonzalez finished with 13.
Okanogan 66, Wilbur-Creston 53: Jim Townsend scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Bulldogs pulled away in the second quarter and beat the Wildcats (19-9) in a regional-round game in Wenatchee.
Okanogan broke a first-quarter tie with a 21-7 second-quarter run.
Colton Magers led Wilbur-Creston with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Trystan Rosman added 12 points.
The Bulldogs advance to the quarterfinals Thursday at the Spokane Arena.
2B girls
Mabton 63, Northwest Christian 55: Mabton’s tiny but fearless Vikings refused to back down in the face of a taller Northwest Christian squad, stunning the third-ranked Crusaders at Sunnyside High School.
NWC finishes the season 23-3, just missing a chance for a third straight state tournament appearance.
Mabton hit five 3-point shots in the final period including a NBA distance bomb from Cassidy McCallum with 3:52 left that put the brakes on a six-point Crusader surge that closed NWC’s deficit to 47-46.
With Mabton clinging to a two-point lead with just under 1:30 remaining, Soila Zaragoza drilled two straight 3-pointers, the second from deep in the left corner to give Mabton a 58-50 cushion.
After a sloppy first half NWC had finally established an inside presence in the third period behind Courtney Gray. Gray, who had 11 of her 15 points in the second half, hit two straight lay-ins off wing feeds. Mackenzi Gray, who led NWC with 18 points, followed that with a 16-foot jumper from the left baseline and NWC was within one.
But, in a portent of things to come, Mabton’s Irene Pineda hit a 3-pointer from deep on the right wing. NWC trailed by three heading into the final period before Mabton’s barrage.
Colfax 69, Oroville 19: The Bulldogs booked their ticket to the girls quarterfinals at the Spokane Arena this week with a dominating win over the Hornets.
The Bulldogs spread the ball around so much that despite the final score, only one player finished in double-figure scoring – Taylor Garcia with 11 points. All but one of Colfax’s 12 players had at least two points.
The Bulldogs used a full-court press for much of the first half to disrupt the Oroville offense and sucked time off the shot clock for the Hornets. Colfax’s defense also forced the Hornets to turn the ball over 21 times.
The Colfax offense was firing as well. The Bulldogs made 50 percent of their shots and committed only 11 turnovers.
The Bulldogs used an 8-0 run at the start to outscore the Hornets 24-8 in the second quarter. Lily Hilderbrand led the way for Oroville, finishing with 11 points, six of which came from the free-throw line.
1B girls
Republic 69, Muckleshoot Tribal 25: Shania Graham had a triple-double to lead the Tigers (24-0) to a regional-round win over the Kings at Mt. Spokane.
Graham made 9 of 12 shots and finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals.
After a competitve first quarter, Republic took control with a 21-5 second-quarter run.
Sierra McQuay added 11 points, seven rebounds and seven steals for Republic, which will be one of eight teams playing in the State 1B tournament Thursday through Saturday at the Spokane Arena.
1B boys
Curlew 54, Sunnyside Christian 49: The Cougars icily nailed eight straight free throws over a 2-minute stretch late in the game to hold off the Knights.
Curlew advances to the State 1B quarterfinals; it’s the first trip to Spokane since 2009 for the Cougars. Sunnyside Christian misses for the second straight year.
Curlew took a five-point lead at the midway point of the final period on a three-point play by Coby Grumbach and three free throws by Daniel Tresham. Tresham’s last two free throws started the streak.
Luke Wagenaar came off the bench to spark the Knights to a 17-7 lead midway through the second period with eight points.
The Cougars outrebounded the taller Knights 13-5 in the period. After Nate Scheenstra went to the bench with his third foul midway through the period, the Knights managed just three points the rest of the half.