Lady Cards fall to third place in NEA

MEDICAL LAKE — The Lady Cards have won one and lost a couple in the past week, extending their record to 4-1 in the Northeast A League and 4-9 overall.

The Cards earned their win the old fashioned way when they traveled to Newport on Wednesday, Jan. 14, beating the Grizzlies (1-5, 6-8) in a 58-39 blowout.

“It wasn’t really a surprise,” head coach Kyle Lundberg said. “They were able to play four quarters, and that was huge for us.”

Four quarters has been Lundberg’s mantra for most of the season, and the Cards showed it’s effect, playing a consistent game throughout and steadily racking up double-digit points in each quarter while holding the Grizzlies to two single-digit quarters in the second and third.

Jaycee Oliver led scoring with 14 points, Ellie Acord had 12 and Ellie Haas 11.

“It was a very well-balanced scoring effort from all the girls,” Lundberg said of the win.

While the team has a saying, “Fear no team, respect every team,” according to Lundberg, they also need to play each quarter, something that failed to happen in their next two games.

Medical Lake hosted Freeman (6-0, 12-2) on Friday in a 42-31 loss against the now NEA-leading team in a game that saw the Scotties hold Medical Lake to single digit scoring in three of the games four quarters.

The Cardinals managed to score in double-digits when they came within five-points of the Scotties mid-way through the fourth. It was the closest they would get.

“Then our shooting went cold and couldn’t get closer,” Lundberg said. “But overall I’m very happy with our performance.”

The always hard-charging Lexie Redell was the team’s top scorer with 11 and the only player to make double digits.

The next day the Cardinals went on to lose to Cheney (1-3, 4-7) who sit second to last in the Great Northern League at the annual Golden Feather Spirit Games in Eastern Washington University’s Reese Court in a 50-32 rout.

The loss to Freeman dropped the Lady Cards from first in the NEA to third behind No. 2 Deer Park.

Medical Lake was scheduled to visit Lakeside (0-5, 1-12) on Tuesday, Jan. 21, and then head to Colville (3-3, 8-6) who will be looking to drop the Cardinals another notch tomorrow before the team travels to Riverside the following day.

Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected].