Medical Lake's Ashlyn Tamietti drives against Colville's Baylee Main in last Friday's game.
The Medical Lake girl's basketball team split their Northeast A League games last week and as result still hold the keys to any postseason plans in their hands.
The Cardinals (4-7 NEA, 5-12 overall) edged Deer Park 31-27 and fell to Colville 46-33, the latter contest largely decided in the first quarter where ML was outscored 17-2.
That leaves the Cardinals in a tight battle that could see them finish anywhere from third to eighth and out the playoffs.
"We control our own destiny," head coach Kyle Lundberg said. "We win and we head to the playoffs, it's going to be a fun next three games."
At Deer Park the Cardinals went into the final quarter trailing 23-22 but stymied the visitors with some stellar defense and won the quarter - and the game - with a 9-4 edge in the quarter.
Bradyn Wegner led her team with nine points while Makayla Tamietti added seven more.
"We stepped up our defense and got some nice stops which allowed our offense to get some nice fast break opportunities," Lundberg said was the key to the win.
Concluding the week against Colville, the Cardinals dug a hole way too deep with its first quarter performance. The Cardinals got it back to a single-digit deficit in the fourth quarter and had opportunities to take advantage of Colville turnovers, but three consecutive possessions resulted in no points.
"To grind all game to try and get back into the game we just ran out of gas," Lundberg said. "Our girls always play hard and never give up and that's one of the many things I love about this group."
Wegner's eight points led the Cardinals while Hailey Hostetter had seven.
Medical Lake closes on the finish of the regular season with games this past Tuesday (Feb. 2) at Newport, (6-5, 7-10), one of the teams that is in reach when the season concludes next Tuesday.
The Grizzlies are a team the Cardinals defeated earlier, 33-30 on Jan. 8. They play on their Senior Night tonight (Feb. 4) versus Lakeside (10-1, 14-3) in a 5:45 p.m. tipoff.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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