La Conner's Marble, Harper earn All-State hoops honors

The afterglow of a stellar high school basketball season continues to shine for two La Conner High School seniors.

Ellie Marble and Josie Harper have received Girls’ 2B all-state recognition from two national digital sports outlets.

Marble was tabbed by SBLive, a technology partner of state associations, coaches and administrators, for first unit all-state honors. Harper was a second team selection.

Both Marble and Harper were first unit All-State choices of Prep Girls Sports, a major source of in-depth hoops news and coverage, team rankings, recruiting information and analysis.

“It’s pretty special for the both of them to be recognized at such a high level,” La Conner head girls’ basketball coach Joe Harper told the Weekly News on Sunday. “I couldn’t be prouder of them both.”

The senior duo, along with classmates Makayla Herrera and Kennedy Miller, helped lead La Conner to a second straight fourth place finish at the state Hardwood Classic last month.

Marble, a 6’-0” forward, has also been named as the Skagit Valley Herald Girls’ Basketball Player of the Year.

Marble and Harper were joined on the SBLive and Prep Girls Sports All-State teams by Lauryn Madsen of Warren, which handed La Conner its lone loss at Spokane.

Madsen praised Marble, a Central Washington University volleyball signee and whom she guarded in their tourney matchup. Marble finished that game with 24 points. Madsen led Warden with 22.

“I was going to be the best matchup for her and so I knew she was going to score points no matter what and there wasn’t any stopping her from fully scoring,” Madsen said in a media interview afterward, “but it was just how many we could hold her to.”

On the season, Marble was La Conner’s top point maker, scoring at a 21.8 per game clip.

Harper averaged 19.3 points per contest and Herrera chipped in another 12 points per outing for the Lady Braves, who posted a 22-6 record on the 2022-23 campaign.

Marble led Skagit County in scoring. Harper was the 2022 county scoring champion.

At Spokane, La Conner defeated Northwest Christian-Colbert, Rainier and Adna.

Prior to their back-to-back fourth place finishes, the Lady Braves placed second at the Hardwood Classic in 2020 just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and were runners-up in a 2021 summer state tourney that replaced the canceled Spokane tournament.