Medical Lake girls end five-game skid with Omak win
Cardinal girls controls own destiny in final four NEA games
Last updated 1/29/2015 at 12:51pm
Getting back to basics paid off for the Medical Lake girl’s basketball team last week as the Cardinals ended a five-game losing streak with a 49-42 nonleague victory at Omak last Saturday, Jan. 24.
The downside of the good finish was part of that skid included a pair of Northeast A League home court losses, 42-41 to Freeman last Tuesday and to Chewelah 48-28 last Friday.
The Cardinals (3-6 Northeast A, 4-11 overall) continue to struggle on both offense and defense, but perhaps, the Omak win will pay dividends with four games remaining in league play.
“We talked in pregame about getting back to our basics and focus on our strengths more,” head coach Kyle Lundberg said. “We pushed the ball up the floor really well.”
From there shots started to fall and Medical Lake was able to use that momentum all game, an outing that produced the second-most points in a game this season.
“It was a great game for our girls,” Lundberg said.
Bradyn Wegner and Cassidy Hagel each scored 13 points to lead the Cardinals at Omak (2-9) while Makayla Geiger added 10.
The week started with a disappointing ending against Freeman(4-5, 4-11) where Sydney Sather’s 3-point basket with 20 seconds to play provided the margin.
Tuesday’s game was back and forth game Lundberg said. “We made some good runs to get back into the game.” Medical Lake had a chance to seal the game, up by two but had a defensive lapse and let Sather nail the 3 to give them the lead.
“We learned a lot from that game,” Lundberg said.
Hagel and Maleeka Wegner each had 10 points for Medical Lake.
Facing Chewelah (6-3, 7-8), Medical Lake seemed to be within some kind of striking range at the half as they trailed 21-14 but the Cougars’ 8-2 third quarter all but sealed it.
“We really struggled to make shots that game,” Lundberg said. “When you shoot under 20 percent, it’s really hard to win.”
True to those slim field goal shooting numbers, Hagel topped Cardinal scorers with just nine points with Geiger adding seven.
Medical Lake went into last week’s games in a jumble of mid-pack teams in the NEA, but emerged closer to the bottom. But Lundberg hopes to parlay some of that Omak success into the final four games.
“We still have a great chance to make the district playoffs,” Lundberg said. “We need to take our momentum from Saturday’s game and keep it going.”
The ball is truly the Medical Lake court, Lundberg said. “We control our own destiny from here.”
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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