End of a season, end of an era for Cardinals

DEER PARK — Not only was Medical Lake’s 45-44 loss to Deer Park — AGAIN — on Feb. 21 agonizing in itself for all the what ifs, but the game that ultimately ended the Cardinals season also concluded a remarkable career for a group of seniors.

In a loser-out District 7 playoff game at Deer Park where the winner advanced to state, Medical Lake’s scoring dried up in the final minutes as they could not find the basket over the final two-plus minutes. The Cardinals finish the season 11-14 following a 43-41 Feb. 19 victory over Colville to stay alive and face the Stags for the fourth consecutive time.

The game ended with a bit of controversy over a potential no-call, head coach Kyle Lundberg said.

“They had a foul to give and it looked like they actually reached in and tried to foul and knocked Lexi (Redell) over and unfortunately didn’t get a call,” he said. “It was a tough way to lose” in the final game for four-year players Emily Munson, Allison Duncan, Jaycee Oliver and Redell.

Medical Lake took a 38-35 lead into the final quarter and pushed that to 44-38 on a Duncan 3-pointer about the five-minute mark. But the Stags (18-6) closed strong with 7-0 run, the winning points supplied by Payge Rose with under two minutes to play.

Munson led the Cards in scoring with 10 points, Duncan added 9 while Havelah Fairbanks topped all scorers with 15 for the Stags.

If one can say Deer Park took control in the second half after trailing just 26-23 at the break, they had a loose grip on the wheel, outscoring Medical Lake just enough, by four points, in the final 16 minutes.

“We were able to go back and forth and unfortunately, they were just one point better; they get to move on and we don’t,” Lundberg said. The Stags face Elma on Saturday at Tumwater.

The game was pretty typical of a number of the previous meetings between the two teams, starting in the final Northeast A League game won by Deer Park 45-43 on Feb. 6 that set in motion a tiebreaker the following night in which the Stags prevailed 43-26. Then the district brackets dealt the squads two more faceoffs — both DP victories.

This one, however, will be in Lundberg’s mind for a long time.

“I’ll be honest, that was probably the toughest loss I’ve experienced,” he said. “That’s not to say because it was a loss and we didn’t get to go state. It was just having to say goodbye to those four seniors.”

On the flip side he’ll remember the ending of the Colville game that got him one more chance to coach kids, many he’s known since their days in softball with West Plains Little League.

It was Duncan’s 3-pointer from the right portion of the arc that delivered.

“That’s what we always tell the girls, keep shooting just you gotta’ have that confidence,” Lundberg said of Duncan’s nothing-but-net basket from the right portion of the arc with 4.3 seconds left.

Those were Duncan’s only points in the game and erased a 41-40 Indians’ lead. “The majority those girls always have the great green light to shoot and, you know, obviously she felt like she could hit it and she did,” Lundberg said.

Earlier, Redell knocked down a big 3-pointer to give Medical Lake a 40-39 lead, part of her game-high 15 points and the only Card in double-figures.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].