Braves sweep two key road tests

Erick Reinstra filled the stat sheet against Cedar Park Christian, but those numbers aren’t all that measure the impact he has on the Braves’ team this year.

“What I’m probably most pleased with,” La Conner High head coach Scott Novak said after his club’s convincing 61-38 road triumph, “is Erick’s leadership. He’s vocal in a positive way, and we’ve needed that this season.”

At Cedar Park, his versatile skill set spoke volumes as well.

Reinstra scored 14 points — including a pair of deep treys — reeled in 11 rebounds, and recorded five steals as La Conner continued to rebound from a loss at Friday Harbor the previous week.

Reinstra joined Scott Lindeman in double figures for the victors.

Lindeman paced La Conner with 15 points.

It was the start of a strong weekend for Lindeman, who followed up with a team-high 18 points at Orcas on Saturday.

Lindeman drained four three-pointers in a 63-36 romp that was nearly identical to La Conner’s win over Cedar Park.

In each case, the Braves bolted to early double-digit leads and didn’t look back.

Lindeman’s outside shooting was a key factor both nights.

“He had his shot going,” Novak said, “and everything else fell into place.”

Including another gritty effort from Reinstra, who didn’t have to score this time to make his presence felt. His team-best four steals set the tone defensively for La Conner, and helped ignite the Braves’ transition game.

Ditto Terrance Fornsby, who notched three steals to go along with five points.

And when La Conner went to its half-court game, post play by Zach Harris and perimeter shooting from Taylor Ebersole buried Orcas further.

Harris and Ebersole each finished with 10 points. Harris added seven boards for the winners, while Logan James grabbed five rebounds.

Wilson Crawford chipped in another nine points and stretched the Orcas zone with a trey.

No Orcas player reached double figures.

Cameron Hansen orchestrated the La Conner attack with four assists, matching his output at Cedar Park.

La Conner opened with a 22-9 spurt against Cedar Park, whose only answer was 6’-2” senior frontliner Zach Wallace.

Wallace topped all scorers with 20 points, but his supporting cast couldn’t pick up the slack — especially when it came to guarding Lindeman and Reinstra beyond the arc.

“We definitely had a good week,” said Novak, whose group improved to 11-3 overall and 7-1 in NW2B play going into Tuesday’s late action with Darrington. “As I’ve said all year, our goal is to get better each and every time out and be in position to make something happen in post-season.”

Next up for the Braves is Shoreline Christian this Friday at Landy James Gym.

The Jan. 30 pairing includes the annual appearance here of the University of Washington Husky pep band.

Novak is hopeful both the Braves and UW musicians play to rave reviews.