Lady Braves wear District hoop crown

La Conner High won its two Bi-District games in cakewalks.

Lady Braves head coach Scott Novak, however, expects first round Regional action to be more meat-and-potatoes fare.

This after Novak learned the undefeated Lady Braves, 22-0, had drawn his alma mater, Adna, to open Regional play later this week, likely in Mount Vernon.

Adna is a No. 4 seed out of southwest Washington.

The Lady Pirates lost 42-35 to Toutle Lake on Saturday, a game Adna ought to have won. Toutle Lake closed with a 19-9 spurt in the final stanza.

“Adna’s seeding is very misleading,” Novak insisted Sunday. “They come out of a very tough District, and they played half their season without their starting point guard.”

But now Regyn Gaffney, a State caliber sprinter, is back.

“She makes them a totally different team,” said Novak. “Plus they have a couple inside players who are 5’-10” and 5’-11”, and they have some good outside shooters as well. It’s definitely a tough draw for us.”

Yet try telling that to Darrington and Friday Harbor.

La Conner dismantled both en route to Regionals.

The Lady Braves routed Darrington 61-26, then stifled Friday Harbor in a 39-23 defensive battle to claim this year’s Bi-District title.

“We played great defensively against Friday Harbor,” Novak said afterward. “We just couldn’t get our shots to drop for some reason. But our defense and rebounding were solid.”

The Lady Braves kept alive possessions in the Friday Harbor game with key offensive boards. As a team, La Conner reeled in 14 caroms off the offensive glass, five by Adiya Jones, who paced the victors with 14 points.

Jones had set the tone early on the defensive end, too, blocking four shots in the first frame.

Anna Cook joined Jones in double figures, finishing with 13 tallies.

Despite the often physical nature of the game, La Conner earned just four trips to the charity stripe. The Lady Braves didn’t shoot their first free throw until midway through the third period.

Nakiya Edwards took some of the scoring load off Jones and Cook by draining a pair of perimeter treys.

One of those came during the decisive third quarter when La Conner went on a 17-7 run to essentially clinch matters

The Lady Braves were coming off a Bi-District romp