State 2B basketball preview: Liberty girls, boys enter as top seeds
The productivity level at Liberty High School is almost certain to drop this week.
That’s because both its boys and girls basketball teams hold the No. 1 seeds in the State 2B tournaments, which start Wednesday morning at the Spokane Arena.
“It’s pretty much pandemonium around here,” said Chris Colvin, the Liberty girls basketball coach. “But this has been something that’s been building. The last few years we’ve had tons of success through all of our programs.
“This year’s been a further explosion.”
The girls, at 23-1, return four starter’s from last year’s sixth-seeded team that lost in the championship game to Tri-Cities Prep.
“Any time you have experience doing something, it benefits you,” Colvin said.
“We’ll only have, (a few) players that didn’t play (at state) last season, so familiarity is always a great thing.”
The boys, meanwhile, are 24-0 and looking to win the program’s first championship since 1986. The Lancers lost in the 2015 and 2017 championship games.
“I don’t think many people thought that we’d be where we’re at,” boys coach Mike Thacker said. “It was after the fifth or sixth game … all of a sudden the kids looked around the room and said, ‘Yeah, this is a pretty good start.’ ”
Northeast Washington is well represented in both brackets, with four boys teams and four girls teams at the Arena this week.
“Our league is tough,” Thacker said. “I tell my kids every year, if we can just get out of our own league and districts, we should be OK.”
Boys
Three-time defending champion Kittitas lost in regionals this year, giving St. George’s a prime opportunity to finally win another state title.
The Dragons, the No. 2 seed, most recently won a championship in 2013 but lost the last two title games to Kittitas. Like top-seeded Liberty, the Dragons won their regional game to secure a bye until Thursday.
In the regionals, Liberty outlasted No. 8 White Swan (18-7), which plays Colfax on Wednesday night. Kettle Falls, the 12th seed, plays No. 4 Brewster (21-3), which finished third at state a year ago and won the Central Washington league this season.
Nine of the 12 teams from last year’s bracket are back.
Girls
While Liberty won’t play until Thursday, three area girls teams will open as underdogs on Wednesday.
No. 14 Northwest Christian, which finished eighth during the regular season, rallied through the postseason. On Saturday, it beat Waterville – which went 15-1 in the Central Washington League – to reach the first round at state.
Later Wednesday, No. 12 Colfax plays No. 4 Toledo (22-4). The winner of that game will play Wahkiakum (19-4), which finished third a year ago.
St. George’s plays defending champion Tri-Cities Prep (19-6) in the day’s No. 9-No. 8 matchup, although the Jaguars are less formidable this year without Talia von Oelhoffen, who transferred to Chiawana High School for this, her junior, season.
If the Dragons were to advance, they would play the second-seeded La Conner Braves (21-2), who defeated St. George’s 56-40 in the quarterfinals last year.