MEDICAL LAKE — The Lady Cards went 1 for 4 in their final games of the regular season with a win against Newport before absorbing three losses, including a No. 1 seed tiebreaker against Deer Park.
The season end started out strong, despite missing Lexie Redell who has been sidelined since Jan. 31 with a head injury, with the Cards taking out Newport at home in a 59-31 smack-down on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
Medical Lake dominated the Grizzlies throughout the most of the game, starting strong with a 22-4 first quarter and an 18-7 third. Despite Newport outscoring the Cardinals in the fourth by one point, a 52-18 lead coming out of the third assured a 59-31 Medical Lake win.
Jaycee Oliver led all scoring with 17 points, followed by Allison Duncan with 12 and Emily Munson 11.
But that was the last regular season win for the Lady Cards, who traveled to face the top-seeded Scotties (12-0, 18-2) Thursday, where a strong Freeman first half found them heading to the locker room with a 12-point lead.
Medical Lake came back with a stronger defense in the second half, holding the Scotties to nine points to their eight in the third, and eight to the Cards seven in the fourth, but the Card offense wasn’t enough to overcome the early Freeman lead for a 44-30 Cardinal loss.
Despite the loss, head coach Kyle Lundberg was generally satisfied with his team’s energy and play, except for one area.
“We needed to do a better job rebounding,” he said.
Ellie Acord was the only Cardinal to score in double-digits with 11, followed by Oliver with six.
Then it was off to Deer Park, where a weak Medical Lake third quarter sealed the team’s fate and ensured a tiebreaker game the following day.
The Cards enjoyed a two-point lead at the half, but the Stags came out of the locker room to outscore them 13-7. The Cards 16 points to the Stags 14 wasn’t enough to overcome the third-quarter slack for a close 45-43 loss for Medical Lake.
“We made a great run in the fourth quarter with a 3-point shot to tie it but missed it with about seven seconds,” Lundberg said.
Oliver was the team’s top scorer with 10.
The Deer Park win also saw the two teams tied for second seed in the Northeast A League, forcing a tie-breaker game the following day.
So, on Saturday, Feb. 8, with Redell still sidelined, and Maxwell out sick, Medical Lake again traveled to Deer Park where the Cards were ran into the ground in a 43-26 loss.
A strong Deer Park offense set the tone from the tip-off, with the Lady Cards never able to outscore the Stags, who completely dominated the first quarter 15-3, and the second 9-6 for a 24-9 lead by the half.
The third was a 6-6 tie before an offensive shoot-out by both teams in the fourth that the Stags won 13-11 for the final, lopsided score.
While Ellie Accord had a great game offensively with 15 points, she had little help near the rim with the other Lady Cards held to single digit scoring with the next highest scorer being Munson with 4 points.
The Lady Cards closed the regular season the No. 3 seed with a 9-4 NEA record and 9-12 overall.
Medical Lake was scheduled to face Newport at home on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m. in loser-out post-season play. The good news, according to Lundberg, is that both Maxwell and Redell should be cleared to play. The winner advances to face second-seeded Deer Park on Friday, Feb. 14 at West Valley High School starting at 7:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, top-seeded Freeman will play either Riverside or Colville on Friday, with the victor advancing to the NEA championship game on Feb. 19 to play the winner of the Deer Park Game.
Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected].
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