La Conner and Sultan high school basketball teams split non-league games here on Dec. 9, hours before their fans faced a common foe — severe flood threats.
Two days after the Braves and Turks hoops squads met at Landy James Gym, both schools cancelled classes and extra-curricular activities for the rest of the week.
Sultan, however, took the worst of it off the hardwood as surging water from the Skykomish River system turned city streets into rivers and lakes last Thursday. For La Conner, a much-anticipated Dec. 12 sailing to Friday Harbor — the NW2B/1B debut for the Braves boys’ and girls’ teams — was postponed.
The La Conner girls routed 1A Sultan 57-25 behind double-digit production from Maeve McCormick, Faith Jenkins, and Nora McCormick.
Maeve McCormick led all scorers with 18 points, all but seven coming in the second half. Jenkins meshed nine of her 16 points before halftime. Nora McCormick delivered seven of her 11 points — including a perimeter trey — in the first half.
Kiana Jenkins (4), Sophia Edwards (3), Mia Delage (2), Finley Hancock (2) and Isabelle Villard (1) rounded out the Braves attack as eight La Conner players reached the scoring column.
La Conner, which improved to 4-1 under first-year head coach Danny Crosby, created havoc with a relentless trapping defense. The Braves used their length and quickness to force repeated Sultan turnovers that led to transition buckets.
The two teams were scoreless through the first three minutes of the contest until Faith Jenkins got the Braves on the board with a layup. La Conner followed with an 11-2 run that gave the hosts a 13-2 lead they didn’t relinquish.
La Conner extended its lead to 28-14 at the break.
In addition to its transition scoring, the Braves were also efficient working their half-court offense, often making the extra pass to find open shooters.
On the boys’ side, La Conner dropped a 69-44 decision to a taller and deep Sultan lineup that effectively pounded the offensive glass.
Point guard Semaj Stewart paced the visitors with 22 points. Sultan post Joey Ellis, the tallest player on the floor at 6-5, added 11 points, a total matched by teammate Jordan Kelso. Aiden Swanson tallied another 10 for the victors.
La Conner’s Kaleb Otis led all scorers with 24 points, half from beyond the three-point arc. Otis had 14 points with a pair of treys by intermission.
Brent Bobb and Jimbo Bobb had six points apiece for the Braves while Duron Clark and Chas James finished with four points each.
Bill Reynolds is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
