(COLIN HAFFNER/Chewelah Independent)

Chewelah’s Jaron Baldwin scored 22 points against Newport last Friday. (KS Brooks photo)

Kubik notches nine against 1A opponent…

Chewelah hit the court Friday night, taking a page from their football team and playing up a level against Newport, and playing the Grizzlies tough all night showing they have the mettle to compete with the bigger schools despite losing 61-48.

A slow start didn’t help the Cougars as they fell behind 20-9 after the first quarter, but the team came back strong to pull things to within seven by the end of the third. Newport managed to get their game back on track just in time to thwart the awakening Cougar (0-2) offense and pull out the win. More

(COLIN HAFFNER/Chewelah Independent)

Wellpinit cruises to win

An opening quarter 25-10 run sling-shotted Wellpinit to a big early lead against their Valley Christian hosts Friday, and they rode that lead to a big win 60-39.

The big first quarter lead grew by half, and Wellpinit hit the cruise control in the second to down the Panthers.

Steven Ford, Jr. had a team high 16 points for Wellpinit (2-0), and Smokey Abrahamson and Aiden Wynne both had nine to top the scoring.

Valley Christian (0-2) got 19 from Adam Bruno to lead all scorers.

Hunters falls to Wilbur-Creston in opener

The Hunters Lions looked to get the season started off right with a win over the visiting Wilbur-Creston Wildcats Friday, but the visitors had a different outcome in mind and went home with a 75-37 victory.

The outcome of the game may have looked one-sided, but Hunters played tough all night long, using just a six-man rotation that played the Wildcats strong most of the game. A 24-11 second quarter proved to be the difference maker in the game for Wilbur-Creston as they used that to propel them to the win in an otherwise fairly close game the rest of the way.

Trey Young was a star for the Lions (0-1) on the night with 18 points. That was paired with a good performance from teammate Owen Nelson, who added 11 in the game.

(COLIN HAFFNER/Chewelah Independent)

The Kettle Falls Bulldogs left themselves a bit more breathing room as they rolled to another victory and improved to 3-0 on the year.

Winners of their first two games by a single bucket in each, the Bulldogs (3-0) stormed out to a big first half lead and carried it home in the second half, beating Curlew on the road 70-58.

Kettle Falls built up a solid 35-22 lead in the first half with a combination of good offense and defense against the Panthers (0-1). The second half proved a little more challenging, but the Bulldogs never broke en route to the win.

Mya Edwards put on a show for the Bulldogs, scoring 33 points, while Jocelyn Glover added nine and Zarah Johnson had eight to lead the team.

Next up for the Bulldogs is a home game with Deer Park Dec. 12 starting at 6 p.m.

Hunters falls in opener

Hunters couldn’t overcome a sluggish start to open the season Friday night, eventually falling to the visitors from Wilbur-Creston 56-25.

The Wildcats came out firing in the opening half, putting up 17 in each quarter to take the lead into halftime. However, the Lions came out roaring in the second half to try and make it a game, outscoring the visiting team in the fourth quarter to keep the game from getting too far out of hand.

While the second half performance wasn’t enough to erase the deficit, it did show the Lions (0-1) have plenty of fight in them and gives them some momentum to build on as they move further into the season.

Lexi Nelson had a game high 14 points despite the loss for the Lions, and Precious Ruballo chipped in three more.

Hunters has a quick turnaround with another game Dec. 7 at Almira-Coulee-Hartline beginning at 4:30 p.m.

(COLIN HAFFNER/Chewelah Independent)

Kettle Falls is making a habbit of pulling out close wins.

For the second time to open the season, the Bulldogs came away with a two-point win, this time over the visiting Selkirk Rangers 41-39. Kettle Falls got off to the hotter start, taking a four-point lead after one, but surrendered that lead in the second as the Rangers went into the half leading 21-19.

Another good quarter in the third put the Bulldogs (2-0) back on top by two, and the teams played all square in the fourth to give Kettle Falls the win. Zarah Johnson lead the way with 13 points for Kettle Falls and Iris Armstrong added seven points in the win.  Selkirk (0-1) got ten points apiece from Madison Chantry and Bree Dawson.

The Bulldogs get right back on the court with a Dec. 6 game at Curlew tipping off at 6 p.m. Selkirk goes to Republic Dec. 7 for a road game starting at 4:30 p.m.

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Chewelah opens up the season with a difficult task, hosting 1B power Cusick at Pein-Lynch Gym on Thursday evening. The Panthers got some great performances from Devin Browneagle and Celias Holmes as Cusick survived a late Chewelah comeback for the 62-60 victory.

Nick Franks led the Cougars with 13 points, as the junior two three pointers from the field, while Lukas Kubik added 10 points and Jaron Baldwin hit three three-pointers for nine points. More

(GENO LUDWIG/Chewelah Independent)

Brooklyn Rainer recently won a second NWAC Championship with the Community Colleges of Spokane.

SHINING IN COLLEGE: Brooklyn Rainer to continue athletic career at Ottawa College…

It has been another sensational volleyball season for the Spokane Falls Lady Sasquatch and outside hitter Brooklyn Rainer. For the second straight season, the Sasquatch have won the Northwest Athletic Conference volleyball championship. And, for the second consecutive season, Brooklyn has been a hammer in the front row for the league champs.

Brooklyn finished her sophomore season at the NWAC Tournament in the Tacoma Convention Center with a three-set win over Pierce College to again collect the championship trophy. The Lady Sasquatch defeated Lower Columbia College (Longview), Whatcom College (Bellingham), Treasure Valley College (Ontario, OR.) and Lane College (Eugene, OR.) on their way to the title game. The Sasquatch were 12-2 in league play this season, 36-2 overall.

In addition, Brooklyn was selected as a first team all-conference player after leading her team at the net with 398 kills. She averaged 3.43 kills per set spread over 37 matches. She also had 56 digs, which is a lot for a front row player. More

(COLIN HAFFNER/Chewelah Independent)

Kettle Falls scrapes out win in opener against Idaho’s Bonners Ferry…

Late game heroics were in order for Kettle Falls in their season opener, getting a last second layup to pull out a win over visiting Bonners Ferry 52-50.

The Bulldogs took the first quarter lead, but the second saw the offense struggle to find points, sending the team into the half down 23-21. A resurgent Bulldog (1-0) offense regained the lead in the third before the Badgers (2-2) played their own way back into things.

That set up Jocelyn Glover’s late-game dagger that secured the win. Glover finished the game with six points, while Zarah Johnson had a team high eleven and Mya Edwards added ten.

Next up for Kettle Falls is a home game against Selkirk Dec. 5 at 6 p.m.

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

HONORED FOR WORK: Chewelah’s Jason Pitt named Inland Empire Golf Professional of the Year… and also bowls a 300 to top things off…

Jason Pitt had himself a month.

After learning that he was the PGA Inland Empire Chapter Golf Professional of the Year, Pitt followed that moment up by bowling an official 300 at the Chewelah Bowling Center.
Pitt has spent years as the golf pro at the Chewelah Golf and Country Club but has since moved to the position of Golf Operations Manager.

The Chewelah golfer was nominated as Golf Professional of the Year by another golf pro in the area, and Pitt still isn’t sure who did the nominating. Nominations and bios are submitted to the Inland Empire Chapter PGA awards committee and ultimately, the board of directors of the IEPGA makes the decision.

Now Pitt will be up for the Pacific Northwest award that covers Washington, Oregon, Northern Idaho, Western Montana and Alaska. If Pitt were to win that award he would be up for the National PGA Professional of the Year. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Jay Link finished 2019 as the leader in the 1B classification for total yards and is the 2019 Stevens County Fantasy Football Champion. (Brandon Hansen photo)

CHAMPION IN GREEN: Selkirk’s Jay Link wins the Stevens County Fantasy Football season championship after leading the 1B classification in yards…

High school fantasy football might be slightly ridiculous, but it’s a lot of fun.

This year, there were a bevy of top performers in NE Washington, from all sorts of different teams and classifications. One player stood out the most, winning our Stevens County Fantasy Football competition several weeks in 2019.

Selkirk QB Jay Link didn’t just lead an impressive team that made the State 1B playoffs; he also put up mind-numbing numbers – and usually just in the first half. More

(BRANDON HANSEN/Chewelah Independent)

Alyssa Fitzgerald, Elle Carpenter, Lily Kirry and Haven Rainer were named All-League. (Clint Kirry photo)

KIRRY NAMED LEAGUE MVP: Chewelah’s Lily Kirry named NE 2B North League MVP…

After one of the most successful seasons in Chewelah volleyball history, the Cougars are now collecting the accolades.

At the District 7 2B volleyball tournament, Chewelah players found out that four of them had been named to the NE 2B North All-League team. All four were invited to the All-State game as well, since they were seniors.

Senior Lily Kirry was named the NE 2B North League MVP after collecting 234 kills, which works out to 13.75 kills per match in league play and four kills per set.

Kirry was also strong defensively, with 127 digs on the year in league play which equals out to 2.2 digs per set.

Kirry is also a four-time state champion in the hurdles and 200-meter run, and she will be going for even more state titles this spring. More