The opening of the second round of the Northeast A League play where the Medical Lake girls scored a pair of wins has head coach Brett Ward enthused for the stretch run — and hopefully a playoff berth.
The Cardinals topped Newport 62-26, Jan. 20 and Riverside 51-30, Jan. 21, prompting Ward to remark that not only were the wins nice, “But even better that we played two of our best games of the season.”
The wins ended a four-game losing streak for Medical Lake, 4-4 in league play and 7-8 overall.
“Against Newport (0-7 NEA, 0-12 all games) our transition offense was the best it’s been all season,” Ward wrote in an email. “We scored 44 in the first half. (I’m) very encouraged by that.” Charde Luat scored 19 points and Delaney Gunther 16 for the Cardinals.
Leading 23-20 at halftime, Medical Lake’s 17-3 burst in the third quarter quickly put the Rams (1-8, 5-11) out of it.
“We came out against Riverside and dominated the second half,” Ward said. “Really, we dominated most of the game except a few minutes in the second where they hit some tough shots.”
Luat scored 19 points while Cassidy Fitzpatrick added 12 for Medical Lake.
“Cassidy Fitzpatrick shot Riverside out of their zone almost by herself,” Ward said. “She had three 3’s in the first half and another in the second.
Ward also pointed to Natalie Flavel has had notable impact with six points. “She started both games last week and has been a good contributor,” he added.
The Cardinals have a busy week, playing at Colville (4-4, 9-5), Jan. 24 before hosting Royal (4-2, 8-8) of the South Central Athletic Conference (East) in a non-league game, Jan. 26, and then Deer Park (8-0, 14-2), Jan. 27, both at 5:45 p.m.
Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].
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