Middle school girls' hoops teams had great season

Divide and conquer is usually a winning strategy.

But it didn't work this past winter for foes of the La Conner Middle School girls' basketball program, which split into two teams and collectively won 18 of 20 contests with one squad going undefeated in its 10 games.

Coaches Joel Hingston and Ryan Pino weren't surprised at that level of success.

"This is a very good group," Hingston, who teaches Spanish at La Conner Schools and works summers as a hornet hive remover, told the Weekly News. "They're playing a lot of sports and really competing."

The La Conner teams created quite a buzz with a sw...