Cardinal girls taking it game at a time in hunt for playoffs

The old coaches’ axiom, “one game at a time” is the rule by which the Medical Lake girls’ basketball team continues to live.

The Cardinals earned a split in their Northeast A League games last week on the road, starting the week with a 36-28 win at Deer Park and finishing with a 60-30 loss at Colville.

“We have three games left in the regular season,” Medical Lake head coach Kyle Lundberg said. “We always take one game at a time and always believe we can win every game.”

That approach worked last Tuesday at Deer Park where the defense kicked in in the second half to secure the win. Leading just 16-15 at the half, the Cardinals held the Stags in single digit scoring during the final two quarters for the victory.

“It was a very good defensive effort,” Lundberg said. “Deer Park has gotten much better since the first time we played them.” Medical Lake won the first meeting handily, 52-23.

Cassidy Hegel poured in over half her team’s points, scoring 19 and was the only Cardinal player in double figures. Destanne Sunchild paced Deer Park with 11 points.

“Cassidy plays very hard and she is able to make great plays,” Lundberg said. “But more importantly she makes her teammates better which is an amazing quality.”

At Colville (8-3, 9-8) Friday, Medical Lake (4-7, 5-12) started off strong and trailed just 11-10 after the opening quarter. However, the Indians responded both on offense and defense. Colville exploded for a 24-8 edge in the second quarter and had a comfortable 35-18 lead at the half. Medical Lake was outscored 25-12 in the second half.

“We played very good defense the first quarter,” Lundberg said. “Then Colville got very hot and made pretty much all their shots. They had a great shooting performance that unfortunately we couldn’t match.”

Maleeka Wegner scored 11 points to lead the Cardinals with Hegel adding nine and Bradyn Wegner eight. Sam Hines had 15 points to lead all scorers in the game.

The Cardinals’ bid for a postseason berth could be realized by winning their home game this past Tuesday at home versus Newport (2-8 NEA, 3-13 overall). The season finishes with games Friday at Lakeside (11-0, 16-1) and Tuesday, Feb. 10 at home on Senior Night versus Riverside (5-5, 6-9).

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.