La Conner girls claim NW 2B bi-district crown

The La Conner High School girls’ basketball team took two different routes last week to reach the same destination – ­Victory Lane at Coupeville.

The Lady Braves netted top honors on the girls’ side of the NW2B bi-district tournament with a lopsided 52-15 win at home over Northwest Christian of Lacey on Feb. 13 followed by a tense 46-42 triumph over league rival Friday Harbor last Thursday in Coupeville.

They were two totally different games that produced a single result.

La Conner, 16-7 overall and with no seniors on its roster in an expected rebuilding year, advances to the regional round of the state playoffs. The team adds a new piece of hardware to the school’s trophy case.

The teammates, six of whom are eighth graders, took turns posing with the bi-district championship trophy after surviving what they knew going in would be a tough playoff test against a taller Friday Harbor team that the Lady Braves had edged twice before.

“Beating a team three times in a year is very tough,” La Conner head coach Joe Harper had told the Weekly News prior to the Feb. 15 tipoff, “and they will be ready.”

And indeed, they were.

Friday Harbor bolted to a quick 5-0 lead courtesy of a layup from 5-11 freshman post Vera Shoultz and a three-pointer by senior guard Sheya Welty.

La Conner was held scoreless for the first 3:15 of the game until Izzy Villard broke the drought with a corner jumper off a feed from Maeve McCormick.

La Conner trailed by as much as seven points, at 12-5, when Shoultz drained a free throw and scored on a putback and frosh guard Atziry Orozco chipped in a transition bucket.

Slowly, but surely, La Conner cut into the Friday Harbor lead.

McCormick, who led the victors with 23 points, closed the first quarter with a mid-range jumper and deep trey to narrow the margin to 12-10.

La Conner tied the score 14-14 two minutes into the second period on a Kim Williams three-pointer and charity toss by Villard.

Villard followed with a putback, Williams – one of the eighth graders – delivered on a runout and point guard Shaniquah Casey hit a turnaround jumper after grabbing an offensive rebound for a 20-14 lead.

A McCormick three-pointer lifted the Lady Braves into a 25-17 advantage at the break.

Friday Harbor twice cut the lead to two points in the third quarter, at 27-25 and 32-30. Each time La Conner answered with a three-ball.

Nora McCormick drained a trey for a 30-25 La Conner lead. Maeve McCormick knocked down a triple that put the Lady Braves in front 35-30.

Yet Friday Harbor kept coming back.

Successive baskets by Shoultz and Orozco trimmed the lead to 35-34 early in the final stanza.

After a Casey bucket on an inbounds play, Orozco scored on a layin that again left La Conner holding a bare one-point lead at 37-36.

Maeve McCormick responded with a hoop to push La Conner ahead 39-36.

That’s when things got a little crazy.

Instead of crediting McCormick’s basket on the La Conner side of the scoreboard, four points were inadvertently added to the Friday Harbor side, showing the Lady Wolverines ahead 40-37.

Harper leapt from his chair on the bench and sought an immediate correction. Game officials urged him to be calm, that the matter would be rectified.

But after a couple minutes they said both the tournament and Friday Harbor scorekeepers agreed that the 40-37 score was accurate.

A Coupeville administrator and La Conner statistician then stepped in to show where the error had been made and the score reverted to the correct 39-36 count in La Conner’s favor.

Once that was settled, McCormick recorded a steal and layup for a 41-36 edge.

Moments later, McCormick converted a spin move in the paint for a 43-38 Lady Braves lead.

Late free throws by Maeve McCormick, Nora McCormick and Reese Bird sealed the verdict.

In addition to Maeve McCormick, Villard (7), Casey (6), Williams (5), Nora McCormick (4) and Bird (1) reached the scoring column.

Maeve McCormick had led the onslaught against NWC in first round play, outscoring the Sea-Tac 2B club by herself with a game-high 22 points, including three-of-seven shooting from behind the trey arc.

Williams also finished in double-figure scoring, meshing 15 points. She, too, buried a trio of three-pointers.

Nora McCormick (6), Casey (6) and Bird (3) rounded out the Lady Braves attack.

Kiana Jenkins (3) and Jacqui Lam (2) combined for five blocked shots to anchor the defense.

From there, while it wasn’t completely smooth sailing at Coupeville, La Conner successfully rode the tide to a bi-district championship and berth in the state’s round of 16.