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Undefeated, highly rated Freeman boys, Medical Lake girls extend streaks

Medical Lake’s Dante Main fouls Freeman’s Dylan Oja on Friday at Freeman High. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)
Medical Lake’s Dante Main fouls Freeman’s Dylan Oja on Friday at Freeman High. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)Buy a print of this photo
By Dave Nichols daven@spokesman.com(509) 459-5441

Freeman has finished the past two seasons as the No. 2 team in Class 1A. They’re on a mission to better that this season.

Michael Coumont scored 28 points with four 3-pointers and the Scotties (17-0, 12-0), ranked No. 2 in WIAA’s RPI system, overwhelmed Medical Lake (8-9, 6-6) 83-46 in Northeast A League play on Friday.

The Scotties retain a two-game lead over sixth-rated Newport (14-4, 10-2) with two league games to go.

Dylan Oja scored 18 points for Freeman while Quin Hopkins added 12 points with 10 rebounds.

“We played pretty well,” Freeman coach Marty Jessett said. “We really wanted to get after them defensively. We changed defenses a little bit until we found one that worked. That got our running game going.”

Skylar Johnson led Medical Lake with 14 points and Derek Steege added 10.

It was all Freeman from the get-go. An Oja fast-break layup put the Scotties up 15-5 with just less than 5 minutes left in the first quarter, and he added another inside basket and three-point play to put Freeman up 25-16 after one.

Freeman turned up the defensive pressure at the start of the second quarter, leading to some easy transition baskets.

“We’re pretty long,” Jessett said. “When we get out in the passing lane, it’s pretty hard to see around us.”

The Scotties doubled the Cardinals’ score midway through the second when Oja threw down a two-handed slam on the break.

Coumont then stepped back for a long 3-pointer and Freeman led 43-21 at intermission.

Girls

Medical Lake 42, Freeman 30: Jayda Noble and Jessie Lohman scored eight points apiece and the Cardinals (16-0, 12-0), rated No. 7 in Class 1A, used a 20-12 second-quarter surge to top the Scotties (9-8, 7-5).

Both teams came out struggling from the field and Medical Lake led 7-5 after the first quarter.

The Cardinals came out for the second in a press and created a couple of transition baskets. Noble got to the line for a pair of free throws, then Lohman drilled a 3-pointer to put Medical Lake up 16-9.

“We really try to get a lot of ball pressure,” ML coach Kyle Lundberg said. ”Defense is something we really preach to have the girls get after it.”

Next time down the court, Allison Duncan hit from 3 and followed that with a short jumper and the Cardinals led 21-13 and Freeman asked for timeout.

The break didn’t help.

Noble came up with a steal and a layup and Lohman followed a miss with a layup. Jaxyn Farmen grabbed an offensive rebound and her follow-up made it a 10-point cushion at intermission at 27-17.

Early in the third quarter, Lexie Redell got loose for a layup to put the Cardinals up 33-19 and Makayla Geiger added a pair of free throws and a short jumper to put Medical Lake up 35-23 after three.

Anna Chisholm paced Freeman with seven points.