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La Conner had the home court advantage, but North Mason had the student enrollment edge when the schools’ basketball teams tipped off at Landy James Gym last Friday.
The hosts came up on the short end of both non-conference tests, though the boys had a potential game-winning shot at the end of regulation before falling 82-72 in overtime.
North Mason is a 2A Olympic League high school with over 700 students. La Conner enrolls less than 500 students in grades K-12.
Still, the boy Braves had the higher numbers on the scoreboard through a stretch of the second half.
A 27-12 run in the third period helped the hosts build an eventual 60-55 lead midway through the final stanza.
North Mason rallied, though, behind seven straight points from Andrew Litterean, who led all scorers with 34 points.
La Conner’s C.J. Edwards forged a 62-62 tie on two free throws with 2:12 remaining.
Braves’ guard Brayden Pedroza, the reigning WIAA Athlete of the Week, gave La Conner its final lead at 64-62 on a transition bucket fed by Ivory Damien. Damien moments later stuffed Litterean with an emphatic block to preserve La Conner’s edge.
The lead proved short-lived, however.
Litterean knotted the score at 64-64 with a hoop in the paint in the waning seconds. After a timeout, La Conner inbounded the ball to Pedroza, whose 15-foot jumper at the buzzer glanced off the rim.
North Mason took control in the four-minute extra session, outscoring La Conner 18-8 behind Litterean’s 12 points.
Pedroza led La Conner (9-5 overall; 3-0 in NW2B/1B action) with 26 points, all but six of those coming in the second half. He also hit two of the team’s seven three-pointers.
Damien tallied 17 points and joined Edwards, Corran Eisen, Logan Burks and Tyler Cicotte in draining a long-range triple.
“We played hard and competed in the second half,” said coach Lance Lopez, whose club trailed 37-24 at intermission. “It was a little bit of a slow start and we got down. But the boys fought hard and got back in the game and forced overtime.”
Lady Braves on low end
The La Conner girls (8-5; 3-0 in league) fell 64-47 in the nightcap.
North Mason was fueled by the sisters trio of Adrianne “E” Tupolo, Adrienna “A” Tupolo and Tanza Tupolo. Together they scored 46 points.
La Conner started three eighth graders Nora McCormick, Reese Bird and Kiana Jenkins and had trouble matching up with the visitors’ physicality, but enjoyed success creating turnovers and converting miscues into easy shot opportunities.
That was especially evident at the outset when the home team bolted to a quick 7-0 lead.
Maeve McCormick paced the team with 18 points, 11 coming after the break.
Nora McCormick (8), Shaniquah Casey (7), Kim Williams (5), Jacqui Lam (5), Izzy Villard (2) and Jenkins (2) rounded out the attack.
Williams and Lam are also eighth graders.
“We have to remember that we’re asking some 13-year-olds to go up against 17 and 18-year-olds,” coach Joe Harper told the Weekly News afterward.
“I was really impressed,” he added, “with how we started Friday, going up 7-0 right away. We were able to get some steals in the press and seemed to have North Mason rattled to start. Unfortunately, we couldn’t carry that momentum through the game. Early foul trouble had us adjusting and North Mason jumped right back into it.”
Losing Jenkins in the second quarter hurt.
“She had a pretty good collision with a few of their players and wasn’t able to continue,” Harper noted. “Kiana brings a lot on the court with her effort and speed and losing her was a big blow for us.”
Both teams played at Coupeville last night.
They are at Darrington Friday.
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