Lady Braves remain convincingly unbeaten

It was another tailor-made triumph for the La Conner High Lady Braves when they fashioned a stylish 61-30 NW2B statement win at home over Friday Harbor last week.

With the lopsided win, La Conner inched ever closer to sewing up an undefeated league hoop campaign.

The Lady Braves entered the final week of regular season play sporting a 19-0 mark, with a late Tuesday visit slated at Darrington.

Anna Cook and Adiya Jones scored 19 points apiece to lead La Conner in its rout of the Lady Wolverines, helping complete a two-game season series sweep of Friday Harbor.

The La Conner duo also combined for 10 rebounds, their crisp outlet passes putting in motion a seamless and fast-paced Lady Braves transition game that turned Landy James Gym into a virtual runway.

Still, there were some rough patches that head coach Scott Novak wanted to smooth over prior to the Darrington trip and Bi-District tourney action next week.

“We committed 20 turnovers against Friday Harbor, which is about double the number we usually have,” said Novak, “so that’s definitely something we want to address.”

Other than that, it was a pretty impressive dress rehearsal for post-season, Novak indicated.

“We had very good overall balance,” he stressed, “and our players did a nice job again of being patient and looking for open shooters. They played really well defensively and obviously on the boards, too.”

Kamea Pino led the victors with four assists. Katie Novak and Nakiya Edwards each dished off for three scores.

The outcome was pretty much decided by halftime.

La Conner bolted to a 15-7 first quarter lead, with Cook, Jones, and Emma Christianson combining for 10 points in the paint.

Pino and Edwards, meanwhile, each hit from the perimeter — with the Edwards jumper coming from behind the trey arc.

It was much the same story in the second frame. Cook and Jones teamed up for eight points down low, while Edwards added two more deep treys.

Edwards would finish with nine points — all in the first half — as seven Lady Braves landed in the scoring column.

La Conner, with Jones tallying 13 points, turned the game into a romp with a 22-6 spurt in the third quarter.

Cook added four points and Nakesha Edwards and Ashley Watkins two apiece during the final stanza, when La Conner — the game safely in hand — slowed the tempo and worked the clock.

The Lady Braves ran their NW2B mark to 13-0. Friday Harbor fell to 9-4 in conference play.