Ephrata takes CWAC North title

| February 7, 2005 8:00 PM

After watching Cashmere take the district title last year, Ephrata swapped spots to grab the CWAC North district wrestling trophy.

The Tigers' 252.5 team points were tops in the North, followed by Cashmere with 230. Chelan took third (178), followed by Quincy (169), Omak (135.5) and Cascade (77.5).

Ephrata also qualified 15 wrestlers for the regional tournament next weekend in Chelan. Leading the way for the Tigers were first-place finishers Chris Smith (119), Dallas Hintz (125), Zach Brissey (130) and Mark Ouradnik (135). Taking second were Jake Horn (103), Gunnar Kallstrom (145), Kevyn Valline (152) and James Bush (189).

Ryan Cross (152) and Jakob Torgeson (160) each finished third for the Tigers. Kort Laughlin (112), Kevin Sieverkropp (140), Dan Landeck (171), Travis Norberg (189) and Dan Heldt (275) each finished fourth for Ephrata.

"We really wrestled about as well as we could," said Ephrata head coach Dave Laird.

Quincy qualified 11 wrestlers to the regional tournament.

Othello takes third at CWAC South

After a year removed from winning the district title, the Othello Huskies fell to third with 229.5 team points, behind Grandview and Nache who tied for first with 234 team.

Conrad Garza (112), Phillip Ontiveros (135) and Freddie Flores (140) finished first for the Huskies, while Michael Carmona (275) finished second. Also qualifying for Othello were Mat Garza (103), Derek Stelter (112), Don Cantu (119), Jack Calvert (130), Teddy Montemayor (135), Jacob Johnston (171) and Oscar Suarez (215).

Lind-Ritzville takes six to regionals

Dwight Lyle was Lind-Ritzville's best showing with a third-place finish at the Bi-County districts Saturday.

Overall, the Broncos qualified six wrestlers for the regional tournament at Reardan. Following Lyle (171), Logan Kennedy (140) and Jerry Najera (189) finished fourth, Kyle Perez (152) finished fifth, Isaiah Grant (125) finished sixth and Jeff Culpepper (215) finished seventh for Lind-Ritzville.

"This is what we expected to get," said head coach Mike Lynch. "It has been a tougher year all in all."

Othello takes third at CWAC South

A year removed from winning the district title, the Othello Huskies fell to third with 229.5 team points, behind Grandview and Naches who tied for first with 234 team.

Boys basketball

Moses Lake on playoff bubble

Moses Lake remained on the outside of the Big Nine playoff picture, but still in the hunt with their 73-50 win over Kennewick.

B.J. Guerra, Mitch Roylance and Daniel Dalton had 12 points each to keep the Chiefs' playoff hopes alive. Brendan Ware contributed nine points in the win.

Moses Lake (7-8) hosts Southridge (8-8) on Tuesday and a chance to move up in the Big Nine standings.

Medina lights up Ephrata

Matt Medina scored 21 points against Ephrata, including five 3-pointers in Quincy's 66-24 routing of the Tigers.

Chris Pontarolo-Maag added 16 points and Smokey Baughman had eight points in the win. Ephrata was led by Jim Williams with seven points.

The Jacks defeated Cascade 64-42 on Saturday.

MLCA clinches league title

It was a weekend worth celebrating for the Moses Lake Christian Academy.

First, the Lions swept both Kittitas and Manson. Second, Moses Lake clinched the North Central Washington South B league title.

"It was a nice way for the seniors to end the regular season," said head coach Royce Nutting.

Derek Dietzen had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the Lions' 68-42 win over Kittitas. Elijah Timofeyev had 11 points and Josh Munoz had 10 for Moses Lake. Kittitas was led by Brent Dixon with 17 points and Luke Leaton with 14 in the loss.

Dietzen also had 19 points and 11 rebounds in the Lions' 69-54 win over Manson.

Moses Lake will host the North Central Washington North B second-place finisher on Tuesday for district seeding. The district tournament is scheduled for Feb. 11 at the Moses Lake Christian Academy.

Big Bend moves into second place

Brandon Nielsen scored 29 and Big Bend trumped Yakima Valley 81-68 to move into sole possession of second place of the Eastern Region.

Jeff Coffman added 16 points for the Runnin' Vikings. Todd Perrault had 19 points for the Yaks and Forrest Dorr finished with 14 in the loss.

Girls basketball

Moses Lake falls to Kennewick

Sarah Kast was all alone in Moses Lake's 56-33 loss to Kennewick on Saturday.

Kast scored 15 points in the loss with Stevie Aney coming closest with five points for the Chiefs. Brin Bergeson and Marielle McKean had three points each, while Carrie Sawyer, Bailey Millican, McKenzie McKean had two points each in the loss.

Moses Lake falls to Kennewick

Sarah Kast was all alone in Moses Lake's 56-33 loss to Kennewick on Saturday.

Moses Lake moved into a three-way tie for fifth place in the Big Nine with Walla Walla and Kamiakin.

Odessa grabs a playoff spot

Thanks to a win over Davenport on Tuesday and Valley Christian on Friday, Odessa secured a playoff spot in the Bi-County district tournament.

The Tigers' Jenny Harp nailed a 3-pointer against Valley Christian to send the game into overtime, then secured the 63-59 win and a playoff spot. Harp finished with 12 points in the game, Lauren Fink had 19 for the game and Andrea Cook had 12 points.

After clinching a spot, Wilbur-Creston provided enough defensive pressure on Saturday for a 26-25 win over Odessa.

Despite holding Wilbur-Creston to 24 percent shooting, the Lady Tigers only made 9 of 42 shots from the field in the loss.

"There was a lot of defensive pressure on both sides," said Odessa head coach Neil Jeske.

Warden tops Wahluke

Dana Bates continued her scoring spree with 19 to lead Warden past Wahluke 57-35 on Saturday.

Ashton Stott, Britney Yamane and Sierra Kisler contributed eight points each, while Mirielle Pixton had eight points in the win.

The Cougars (7-2, 12-7) remained in second place in the SCAC East behind Columbia-Burbank.

Big Bend continues to faulter

Yakima Valley had six different players in double figures to pull off a 107-60 win over Big Bend on Saturday.

Tiffany Ulmer led all scorers with 19 points. Molly Clark had 18 points and six assists, Angie Ibach had 14, Ashton Marez had 13, Siena Locke and Devry Parrot had 10 points each for the Lady Yaks.

Amber Kisler led Big Bend with 14 points, Sheena Henderson had 13 points and seven rebounds and Courtney Gates had 10 points.