Jill Townsend scored 14 of her 18 points in the first half as Okanogan trounced Montesano, 66-40, in a regional Class 1A contest Saturday, Feb. 25, 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 faced Meridian of Bellingham in an opening-round game scheduled for 12:15 p.m. on March 1 at the Yakima SunDome. The Vidette had gone to press before results of that game were available.

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.