Lady Braves gain split to open hoop campaign

They didn’t start the season on a roll, but the Lady Braves weren’t bowled over, either.

La Conner salvaged a split of a two-game home set with larger non-league foes Lakewood and Granite Falls that tipped off the 2016-17 hoop campaign.

The season opener on Wednesday was truly a pins-and-needles affair, with La Conner falling 61-58 in overtime to Lakewood after having bolted to an early double-digit lead.

The loss came despite a brilliant 32-point effort by senior guard Nakiya Edwards, and a superb night at the charity stripe by the Lady Braves.

La Conner converted 17 of 19 free throw attempts — 14 of 15 in regulation — before succumbing to a balanced Lady Cougar attack.

The Lady Braves came back on Thursday to blast Granite Falls 62-38, with Edwards, Ashley Watkins, and Justine Benson each scoring in double figures.

Edwards paced La Conner with 19 points, including a team-best four perimeter treys.

Watkins finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Benson also had 16 points to go with three assists.

Veteran La Conner head coach Scott Novak said afterward that La Conner shook off some first-game jitters to find its offensive rhythm in the Granite Falls game.

“It looked a lot more like La Conner basketball,” he stressed afterward.

In that, he meant La Conner operated at a more efficient level — its interchangeable parts meshing well together to drive a second half surge that saw the Lady Braves overcome a 27-26 deficit to win going away.

The Lady Braves seized command with a 19-8 third period spurt keyed by an Edwards three-pointer and a pair of buckets each by Watkins and Benson.

Nakesha Edwards also drained a clutch jumper from behind the arc during the pivotal frame.

La Conner closed with an impressive 17-3 run in the final stanza.

Four Lady Braves — the team’s two sets of twins, Nakiya Edwards and Nakesha Edwards plus Justine Benson and Joanie Benson, hit threes over the course of the night.

Scoring was a grind — other than for Nakiya Edwards and Justine Benson — against Lakewood, however.

Edwards was nine-of-18 from the floor, including five treys. Benson missed just four of her 10 field goal attempts.

Still, it wasn’t enough to offset a second half Lakewood rally.

Kelly Perry scored 13 of her team-high 19 points after the break. Natalie Neer 14; Emily Senyitko 12; and Jenna Langdon, 10 were also in double figures for Lakewood.

“The bottom line,” Novak said, “is that we only had one turnover in the first quarter and finished with 23 for the game. They got half their points off steals, so it was really a case of us turning the ball over and committing some untimely fouls.”

The Lady Cougars held La Conner without a field goal in the 3-minute extra session.

After a sluggish first half, the Lady Braves left nothing to chance the following night opposite Granite Falls. There would be no overtime as La Conner took care of business after intermission.

“We settled down,” explained Novak, “and were a lot more relaxed.”

Which can’t be of much comfort to La Conner’s upcoming opponents.

The Lady Braves, who were at Auburn Adventist late Tuesday, return home on Saturday to host Nooksack Valley in a 5:30 p.m. start.