For a team that lost their top two scorers from a year ago, it certainly did not show for the Medical Lake girls basketball team.
The Cardinals raced by the 2B Liberty Lancers 47-34 at home on Friday, Nov. 30, and then traveled to Okanogan the following afternoon where they crushed the Caribou Trail 1A Bulldogs 63-30.
Medical Lake not only lost senior and second leading scorer Makayla Geiger to graduation but Jayda Nobel, now a junior, transferred to Mt. Spokane from the 23-1 state qualifiers in 2018.
However, it appears there are ample replacements like senior Jessica Lohman who led the Cardinals Friday with 15 points. Allison Duncan, a junior, added 12 as the other Medical Lake player who reached double figures.
“Jess can score inside and outside, what is a nice about her is she can hit a deep 3, then also score inside,” head coach Kyle Lundberg wrote in an email. “She has many ways to score which is a great thing for us.”
In a game delayed after sophomore Emma Maxwell took an inadvertent elbow to the mouth that later required medical attention gluing her lip, Medical Lake used a decisive 22-9 second quarter burst to get its lead and played Liberty point-for-point from there.
Duncan played her role coming off the bench. “Allison played really well in both our games,” Lundberg said. “She came off the bench and hit some big shots and played some really good defense for us,” and will earn additional minutes her coach indicated.
Maxwell showed no signs of Friday’s incident at Okanogan, where she poured in a game-high 25 points while junior Lexie Redell added 16. Medical Lake led 30-15 at the half and poured on more in the third quarter with a 22-8 edge.
“Emma is one of the toughest players I have seen,” Lundberg said. “She took an elbow to the mouth Friday night and wanted to return, but our medical staff wouldn’t let her for good reason. I have never seen a player’s mouth bleed like hers did after she got hit.” Maxwell, a sophomore, transferred from Lewis and Clark in Spokane.
Medical Lake held Okanogan to under 10 points in ever quarter, prompting Lundberg to offer kudos to his defense.
“Defense looks good thus far, but we still have to work on a few things,” he said. Among them is communicating and talking more on the defense side.
Medical Lake will face another pair on nonleague opponents before opening Northeast A League play at Lakeside on Dec. 11. They were at Davenport Dec. 4 and St. Georges Dec. 6.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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