Cardinal pride on the line in Deer Park victory

The Medical Lake girls basketball squad took it right to Deer Park (7-4, 14-5) in a slap-down 58-38 win in front of the Stag home crowd Friday night at Deer Park High School. Their Cardinal pride was on the line, according to head coach Kyle Lundberg.

“After losing at home to them, which resulted in our first league loss in 32 league games, they wanted to prove that it was just a fluke that they lost the last time,” Lundberg said.

And prove it was a fluke they did.

The Cards Lexie Redell and Allison Duncan each sank 16 points to lead the squad to a victory in which Medical Lake dominated in every category.

It was an evenly matched game going into the middle of the first period, even as a strong Card defense held the Stags to three points well into the second quarter. Then Redell nailed a 3-pointer that gave the Cards a five-point lead and some added steam. After some substitutions, Jessica Lohman and Duncan expanded the Card lead to 11 points for a 14-3 lead going into the second quarter.

And the defensive Cards continued their impenetrable protection until the Stags were able to add two points halfway into the second period on a free throw. But the Card girls’ offense had been scoring points as well, netting a 33-11 lead at the half.

The Stags came into the third quarter fired up, quickly racking up five points. But the Cards were having none of it, and their defense quickly consolidated, while offensively they found their mojo after a Redell 3-pointer. Lohman, Redell and Emma Maxwell quickly added to the tally, expanding the Card lead to 43-16.

The fourth quarter was defensive. Determined to maintain their lead, the Cards held the Stags to nine points, while the Stags held the Cards to only eight points for another take-home win for the Cardinal girls squad, boosting their record to a league-leading 9-1 and 13-5 overall.

Lundberg was happy with his team’s play. The last time the Cards played Deer Park he felt the team was not mentally prepared, “and it showed.”

“We had way too many turnovers, so we really wanted to take care of the ball on Friday,” Lundberg said, noting that the team’s nine turnovers were much better this game than the 24 in their last. Shooting from the 3-point line was much better as well, with the Cards shooting 19 percent better than their previous outing.

Medical Lake dominated in all scoring categories, netting 13 2-pointers to the Stags four, nine 3-pointers to the Stags four, and 71.4 percent from the free throw line.

Junior Lexie Redell led the team in scoring with 16 points, including two field goals and going 2 for 2 in free throws. Junior Allison Duncan also scored 16 points off of three 3-pointers and went 3 for 5 in free throws. Senior Jessica Lohman scored seven points.

The Cardinal girls host the Freeman Scotties (9-1, 14-4), their last game of the regular season, in what is sure to be a tough shoot-out between the Northeast A’s two leading teams on Thursday, Jan. 31, at 5:30.

“We continue to take it one game at a time,” Lundberg said in a post-game email.

Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com