GIRLS BASKETBALL

Okanogan 66, Montesano 40

WENATCHEE — Jill Townsend scored 14 of her 18 points in the first half as Okanogan trounced Montesano in a regional Class 1A contest Saturday at Wenatchee.

Seeded into the double-elimination phase of regionals/state, Monte (19-5) will still make its first state appearance since 1999. The Bulldogs will face Meridian of Bellingham in an opening-round game scheduled for 12:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Yakima SunDome.

The winner of that contest will advance to the state quarterfinals and be assured of at least two more state contests. Wednesday’s loser will be eliminated.

The Gonzaga-bound Townsend dominated the early stages of the contest as Okanogan (whose mascot, like Montesano’s, is the Bulldogs) went on a 10-0 run to snap a 6-all deadlock. Montesano failed to score for the final 3 1/2 minutes of the first quarter.

“She’s a tough player to defend and she kind of put her team on her shoulders in the first half,” Monte coach Julie Graves said of Townsend.

Okanogan has several holdovers from a team that won two consecutive state Class 2B championships before moving up to the 1A class.

Montesano senior post Jordan Spradlin led all scorers with 27 points and also pulled down 12 rebounds. But no other Monte player scored more than four points.

“We definitely have some work to do on the offensive end. We never got into the flow on offense,” Graves summed up. “We gave great effort for the entire game. They’re a great team.”

Cheyann Bartlett dished out six assists for Montesano’s Bulldogs.

Montesano 6 11 15 8 — 40 Okanogan 14 19 17 16 — 66

Montesano (40) — Quinn 3, Bartlett 3, Talley 4, Toyra 3, Spradlin 27, Floch, Lovell, Hutchings, Perkinson, Granstrom, Ekerson. FG — 15-39 (.385). FT — 7-9.

Okanogan (66) — A. Jones 13, Sachse 9, Serles 2, Taylor 6, Beetchnow 2, Boesel 14, Rasmussen 2, Townsend 18, M. Jones, Clark, Grooms, Moses. FG — 29-56 (.518). FT — 3-5.

Leopards 79, Eagles 38

YAKIMA — Elma struggled against Zillah’s full court press and couldn’t contain Samantha Bowman as the Eagles lost their 1A Regional game to the Leopards at Davis High School in Yakima on Saturday.

The Eagles had troubles handling the basketball from the opening tip-off and committed 38 turnovers against Zillah’s pressure defense. Bowman, a 6-foot-2 post, controlled the paint for the Leopards to finish the game with 25 points.

The loss ends Elma’s season with a record of 14-10.

“We just really started out on our heels,” Elma head coach Lisa Johnson said. “We had 25 turnovers in the first half and gave up 10 offensive boards to go along with that. They are a good team and we had a hard time with the press and their length tonight.”

The Eagles suffered a blow in the first two minutes of the game when sophomore Molly Johnston, who is Elma’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder, hit her head on the floor and exited the game for good with concussion symptoms.

Brooke Sutherby led Elma with 10 points, while freshman Jaelyn Sackrider added nine points. Peyton Elliott finished her last game for the Eagles with eight points.

“I’m super proud of this season,” Johnson said. “They got to be one of the top 16 teams in the state and I couldn’t have asked for more. They gave everything they had and we really hit the peak at the right time. We just faced a team that was better than us tonight.”

Johnson cited seniors Elliott, McKenzie Neary and Tawni Heller for their efforts throughout their careers and playing a pivotal roll this season.

Elma 5 9 14 10 — 38 Zillah 18 18 23 20 — 79

Elma (38) — Sackrider 9, Bieker, Elliott 8, Sutherby 10, Olson, Neary, Johnson, Mikel 2, Heller 3, Johnston, Rambo 6, Bol. FG — 14-31 (.452) FT — 6-9.

Zillah (79) — Myres 16, Ziegler 3, Favilla 4, Delp 7, John 7, Bowman 25, Takes Enemy 13, Kruegar 2. FG — 30-61 (.492) FT — 15-22.

Knights 75, Chitwhins 26

PASCO — Sunnyside Christian ended Taholah’s season by beating the Chitwhins in the regional 1B tournament Saturday at Pasco’s Chiawana High School.

Details were not reported. Composed overwhelmingly of sophomores, freshmen and eighth graders, the Chitwhins concluded their season at 14-9.