Medical Lake prepped for defense of NEA titles

It took until March 2 last season for the Medical Lake girls to suffer their first defeat.

But after just the second week of the 2018-19 season, that is no longer an issue after the Cardinals split a pair of non-conference basketball games against 2B teams. In a pair of road games prior to the start of play this week in the Northeast A League, Medical Lake defeated Davenport 72-58 Dec. 4 before losing to St. George’s 45-30 on Dec. 6.

“They were a good team and outplayed us,” head coach Kyle Lundberg wrote in an email about St. George’s (2-3) from the Northeast 2B league.

Medical Lake (3-1) got off to a slow start, falling behind 22-6 after the first quarter, but put the clamps down in the second, having a 7-2 edge to trail 24-13 at the half. But it was a hole that the Cardinals were unable to climb out of.

“The difference was we played really bad team defense,” Lundberg said. “I think our girls took them for granted and thought they could go through the motions and they took it to us in the first quarter.”

For a rare game, the Cardinals were held to single-digits in every quarter and individually, no player hit double figures. Lewis and Clark transfer Emma Maxwell led the Cards with eight points.

“We struggled shooting the ball greatly,” Lundberg said. “We shot 3-of-26 from 3’s, which was really bad for us; two of those 3’s we made were in the last 3 minutes of the game. We just couldn’t find a good rhythm.”

After ending the first quarter tied at 15 against Davenport (3-1), Medical Lake got some separation. “Our girls played really well and battled the entire game,” Lundberg said. “We also shot the ball much better that game.”

Maxwell’s 16 points were tops for both her team and the game with a trio of teammates, Emily Munson (12), Jaxyn Farmen (11) and Jessie Lohman (11) also in double figures. Sydney Zeiler paced the Gorillas with 13.

“We have several different girls who can score which makes it hard to try and stop one player because somebody else is ready to step up,” Lundberg said. 

The two-time defending NEA champs have a perfect 28-0 NEA record over the past two seasons. “We have had pretty good luck in our league the past two years in the regular season,” Lundberg said.  “Just like always we take it one game at a time.”

Medical Lake will remain in the visitor’s role, playing at Lakeside (0-5), Dec. 11 and then home for the final games before the holiday break. They host Colville (2-2) Friday, Dec. 14 and Riverside (2-2) Dec. 15, both at 7:15 p.m.

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