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Youth will be served.
Sometimes, but not last week.
The La Conner High School girls’ basketball team, with several eighth graders in key roles, fell 56-30 to a solid and veteran Mount Vernon Christian lineup before a large Jan. 30 Senior Night crowd at MVC’s DeKok Court.
La Conner has no seniors. It started eighth graders and sophomores against the Lady Hurricanes, who enjoyed a considerable size advantage across the front line.
MVC bolted to an 11-0 first quarter lead and never looked back enroute to the NW2B/1B triumph.
Senior Allie Heino led the victors with 20 points, scoring half of those during the pivotal opening frame. The 6-0 forward was one of eight Lady Hurricanes to score. Her team is now 10-3 overall and 7-0 in league play.
The loss snapped a four game Lady Braves winning streak.
Sophomore Maeve McCormick paced La Conner with 17 points, all but four coming after halftime. Eighth graders Nora McCormick (4), Kiana Jenkins (4) and Kim Williams (3) combined for 11 points.
Sophomore Shaniquah Casey grabbed five rebounds and recorded a pair of steals and scored two points.
“Kiana will be turning 14,” coach Joe Harper noted afterward, “while there were 17 and 18-year-olds on the other side.”
La Conner fell to 12-6 in all games and 6-1 in conference action entering this week’s slate of games.
Harper could take solace in his team’s second half play.
With Maeve McCormick draining two perimeter treys, La Conner outscored the hosts 10-3 in the third quarter. MVC, ahead 31-6 at the break, edged the Lady Braves 25-24 over the final two periods.
“At halftime,” said Harper, “the message was that ‘we can’t give up. We’ve got to win the second half, the third quarter.’”
La Conner amped up its defensive intensity in the second half with a full-court press.
“We were able to get up and down the court and put pressure on them,” Harper said.
In the first half, though, MVC had its way in the paint and played tough defense from baseline to baseline.
Heino scored on a putback, a runout, a post-up move in the low post and two free throws in the first quarter. La Conner was scoreless for the first six minutes, until Maeve McCormick knocked down the first of her four three-pointers.
The charity stripe proved kind to the victors, who finished with a 21-6 advantage in foul-shot attempts.
La Conner hit five of its six free throws but couldn’t overcome a tough shooting night from the floor, converting just five of 23 two-point shots and five of 14 three-point attempts.
MVC’s height enabled its players to challenge shots and seal off passing lanes while forcing 29 La Conner turnovers, 18 in the first half.
Harper expects his club to rebound from the double-digit loss with the playoffs looming.
“I have confidence,” he told the Weekly News, “that we’ll be the team we need to be.”
Mount Vernon Christian and La Conner part ways in post-season, with the Lady Hurricanes going to the 1B bracket. La Conner will compete at the 2B level.
The Lady Braves were at 2A Mount Vernon High on Monday and entertained league foe Coupeville Tuesday. The team wraps up its regular season schedule this Friday (Feb. 9) with a 5:45 p.m. tipoff at Friday Harbor.
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