Lady Braves hoops team wins thrice

Though shorthanded at times, the La Conner High School Lady Braves held the upper hand in three lopsided hoops wins last week.

La Conner defeated 1A Meridian and NW1B/2B rivals Mount Vernon Christian and Friday Harbor by double digits to improve to 16-4 going into last night's late action at league foe Coupeville.

The 65-18 weekend home victory over Friday Harbor was especially impressive since the team was without injured point guard Shaniquah Casey and leading scorer Ellie Marble saw only limited duty while nursing a lower back strain.

Marble scored a game-high 23 points in La Conner's 60-41 win at Meridian Feb. 1. Casey, who took a blow to the head in a physical contest, finished with seven points.

Josie Harper meshed 13 points against Meridian. She joined Marble in the 1,000-point career scoring club two nights later.

The Lady Braves were stingy on defense, holding Meridian to just 15 second half points after trailing the hosts 26-23 at intermission.

That defensive intensity carried over from their 48-28 romp over MVC last Tuesday. La Conner held the Lady Hurricanes to just 13 points through three periods, avenging an earlier one-point loss.

"They hurt us with three-pointers against our zone when we played over there," coach Harper said of the December 46-45 loss. "So we went with a man-to-man defense this time around."

With Marble (19) and Makayla Herrera (10) combining for 29 boards there were few opportunities for visitor offensive rebounds.

Against Friday Harbor, Marble made just a brief cameo appearance and Casey was sidelined for the entire non-contest. Other players picked up the scoring slack.

Harper, who as a sophomore took top county scoring honors, paced the winners with 26 points, hitting five deep treys and several coast-to-coast left-handed layups.

Herrera delivered 21 points on nine of 16 shooting from the floor and a perfect three-for-three night at the foul stripe. She also grabbed a game-best 16 rebounds.

Kennedy Miller contributed 11 points, highlighted by a trio of first half three-pointers. Maeve McCormick rounded out the scoring with a perimeter trey and seven points.

The team shot 45 per cent (24 of 53) from the floor and was eight of nine (89 per cent) on free throw attempts.

Friday Harbor, held scoreless in the fourth quarter, was led by senior guard Mia Blackmon, who scored her nine points before halftime.

Coach Harper, mindful of his club's nagging injuries, was grateful last night's date at Coupeville was the only scheduled tipoff until mid-month bi-district play.

"It gives us some time to heal," he said.

After that, the plan is for La Conner to put a hurt of its own on whoever it draws in post-season brackets.