Medical Lake girls claim 'Feather' victory

While it was an overall team effort that delivered a first-ever victory for the Medical Lake girls over Cheney in last Thursday's Golden Feather spirit game series, it was easily the stats Jayda Noble delivered that were the difference.

The Cardinals' freshman scored 19 points, including a remarkable 12 of 14 free throws to lead her team to a 56-55, nonleague victory over the Lady Blackhawks in a game played in Medical Lake. Jaycee Oliver was the other Cardinal delivering double-figure numbers with 10 points.

"She kind of took us to that next level defensively and offensively, too," Medical Lake head coach Kyle Lundberg said.

Noble joined the team after recovering from a stress fracture in her heel and has been a force. "She's a great rebounder and when she gets that defensive rebound, her outlet pass far down the court feeds into our speed and fast break," Lundberg said. "She's definitely a great asset to have."

In what started with the red hot pace of a college game, Medical Lake led 23-20 after the first quarter. The Cardinals bolted to a 10-4 lead, five of those points from Noble at the charity stripe. But Cheney made the next run, 13-4, to close the gap and make it a game that would go back and forth the rest of the way.

"They shot really good from the outside that first quarter," Lundberg said of the Lady Blackhawks. "Defensively we had to make changes." That included curtailing the 3-point shot.

But the Cardinals made changes to slow things down, opting to make the Lady Blackhawks win with an inside game, Lundberg said. That showed up in the scoring, particularly in the second half. Of the nine 3-point shots Cheney made in the game, seven happened in the first half, and their last, from Aijia Loffredi came just before the buzzer, trimming the four-point margin to one.

"I think that was a good opportunity for us to kind on battle possession by possession," Lundberg said. "We haven't been in a lot of close games this year."

Despite the point-for-point battle much of the game, Lundberg was able to have all 12 players who suited up see time. "It was a good team win, everyone got an opportunity to play, everybody contributed and experience a game like that," Lundberg said.

Brette Draper led a trio of Cheney players in double figures with 12 points with Loffredi adding 11 and Maggie Smith 10.

With a pair Northeast A League wins last week, Medical Lake improved to 11-2 overall while Cheney sits at 8-5. Both teams move into the stretch drives of their respective league seasons.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].