State B girls: Tyla Tiegs scores 25 points, Liberty reaches 2B quarterfinals
A couple of weeks ago, when the Liberty girls basketball team lost its second game of the District 6 Tournament, coach Ramon Farias tried to prepare the Lancers for the grueling path forward.
“We said, ‘OK, we’re taking the long road,’ ” Farias said. “But it’s going to be a journey.”
Three weeks – and six wins – later, the Lancers can breathe a little bit easier, knowing that their next game, at least, will not be their last.
Behind a hot-shooting start from freshman Tyla Tiegs, 10th-seeded Liberty led wire to wire and eliminated No. 7 Cle Elum-Roslyn from the State 2B tournament on Wednesday with a 62-38 victory at the Arena.
“I know she’s a great shooter,” Liberty senior Kendall Denny said of Tiegs, “and I’m just glad she was able to exhibit that today.”
Tiegs scored 14 of her game-high 25 points in the first quarter, helping Liberty (21-7) build an early 17-7 lead over the Warriors (18-7). Tiegs finished 9 of 17 from the field, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range. She also grabbed seven rebounds.
Tiegs said the team’s preparation – and that back-door journey to state – helped the Lancers against the Warriors.
“League games are just like this,” she said.
Denny, Liberty’s lone senior, scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Sophomore Brenna Tiegs scored six points, grabbed 11 rebounds and had eight assists, part of an efficient Liberty offense that finished 23 of 52 from the field (44.2%).
“They played phenomenally,” Farias said of his team. “They weren’t afraid. They attacked.”
Liberty led 17-10 at the end of the first quarter, but the Warriors fought back when junior Gracie Clondo hit a 3-pointer to make it 17-16 early in the second quarter.
But Liberty responded with an 8-0 run, including 3-pointers by freshman Alyssa Babb and junior Jordyn Jeske, and carried a 34-20 advantage into halftime.
Again the Warriors answered, this time with a 7-0 run over the first two minutes of the second half to cut the Lancers’ lead to 34-27. But Liberty went on a 9-0 run that re-established a double-digit lead, and the Lancers led by at least 13 points the rest of the way.
Sophomore Nellie Nicholls led Cle Elum-Roslyn with 17 points on 7-of-22 shooting from the field, accounting for nearly half of the Warriors’ made shots (15 of 60).
Next up for Liberty is a quarterfinal game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday against No. 8 Northwest Christian (20-4) – the team that initially knocked the Lancers into a series of loser-out games in the district tournament with a 68-57 victory on Feb. 13.
Northwest Christian, which has won nine of its past 10 games, also defeated Liberty 58-48 in December.
“I’m super excited to compete with Northwest (on Thursday),” Denny said. “It’s another matchup (with a team) we’ve already played.
“I’m excited to hopefully go get some revenge.”