Soap Lake girls keep on rolling at Kittitas

by Neil Pierson<br>Herald Sports Editor
| January 30, 2008 8:00 PM

Prep basketball recaps

KITTITAS - The Soap Lake girls basketball team kept winning on Tuesday, and the Lady Eagles have put themselves right in the midst of the North Central 2B League championship picture.

Soap Lake grabbed a 17-7 lead after one quarter, then held on for a 57-51 victory over the host Kittitas Coyotes. The Eagles have won 11 of their past 13 games, and now stand at 11-5 overall, 7-1 in league play.

The Eagles led 35-28 at halftime, though they weren't able to pull away in the second half. But Soap Lake got big efforts from three of its big guns.

Michelle Marthini had a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Ariel Wernex scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and added five assists and five steals. Mercedes Franks chipped in 10 points and five boards.

Soap Lake now enters a key two-game stretch at home, taking on the Bridgeport Fillies on Friday at 6 p.m., then hosting the seventh-ranked and league-leading Liberty Bell Mountain Lions on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Delays

Heavy snow throughout the region forced the cancellation or postponement of several basketball games on Tuesday.

Warden's home doubleheader with Kiona-Benton has been pushed back to Wednesday. The girls tip at their regular 6 p.m. time, with the boys to follow at 7:30 p.m.

League rival Royal had its Saturday doubleheader with River View postponed, and the Knights and Panthers will also play Wednesday at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Lind-Ritzville's boys and girls, who were scheduled to play Northwest Christian in two battles of Bi-County League heavyweights, have rescheduled for Wednesday. The girls will tip at 5 p.m. at Ritzville, with the boys following at 6:30 p.m.

The Odessa-Liberty and Almira/Coulee-Hartline-Valley Christian games were canceled because none of the games have any impact on the final Bi-County League standings.

The ACH boys and Odessa girls are scheduled to be in action on Wednesday in Northeast 1B district playoff games. ACH plays Columbia-Hunters in a preliminary round "pigtail game" at Davenport High School, a 6 p.m. start. Odessa plays St. Michael's in the nightcap at the same site, a 7:45 p.m. tip. Both games are loser-out.

Odessa's boys have clinched a home game for their first 1B Northeast district playoff game. They'll play either St. Michael's or Curlew on Tuesday, Feb. 5 at 6 p.m. The ACH girls are in the same situation, and will host either Northport or Curlew on Wednesday, Feb. 6, time yet to be announced.