The La Conner High hoops teams had hoped to take the Mount Vernon Christian Hurricanes by storm on Friday.
But the host Hurricanes, playing before a large and vocal crowd at DeKok Court, were able to weather the twin challenges, winning the girls’ contest 50-31 and taking the boys’ matchup by a 72-31 margin.
The short-handed La Conner girls’ team, playing without injured starters Kiana Jenkins and Shaniquah Casey, fell behind 11-2 early before rallying to within 23-17 in the third quarter. The Braves could inch no closer, though, as Mount Vernon Christian closed with a 27-14 run over the final 15 minutes.
Grace Mounts, the Hurricanes’ 5-foot-8 sophomore sharpshooter, led the victors with 19 points, including a pair of fourth-quarter perimeter treys. Senior wing Alexa Brown also finished in double digits for the victors, netting 10 points, all but three in the second half.
La Conner was paced by freshman Faith Jenkins, who scored eight of her team-high 11 points after the break. Another Braves freshman, Sophia Edwards, provided a spark off the bench with nine points — all via long 3-pointers.
La Conner senior Maeve McCormick chipped in eight points despite being in foul trouble much of the game. Nora McCormick, with two points, and Mia Delage, who sank a free throw, also scored for the Braves.
The Hurricanes blew up La Conner’s half-court offense in the opening period, holding the Braves scoreless over the first eight minutes while bolting ahead 7-0. Maeve McCormick ended the La Conner drought with a driving layup less than a minute into the second frame.
Edwards drained successive treys and Jenkins meshed a foul shot to pull the Braves within 11-9 four minutes until halftime.
Things went south from there, however. The Hurricanes answered two driving layups by Jenkins with a floater in the paint by Mounds, a 3-pointer and mid-range banker from Avery McCullough, and a 3-point play and putback at the buzzer by Emily Van Hofwegen.
Mount Vernon Christian led 23-13 at intermission and didn’t look back.
With the win, the Hurricanes improved to 10-1 on the campaign. La Conner took a 10-5 mark into its Jan. 20 NW2B/1B date at Friday Harbor. The Braves remain on the road with a Jan. 23 tipoff at Darrington.
On the boys’ side at Mount Vernon Christian, La Conner overcame a 12-0 first quarter deficit to trail just 27-21 at halftime to a Hurricane club that has now won 10 times in 14 starts.
With eight players standing 6-foot-2 or taller, the Hurricanes were able in the second half to wear down La Conner — whose tallest starter, Landon Stevens, stands 5-foot-11 — on the glass and in the lane.
Beneficiaries of a 3-point barrage by Ezrah Hudson and repeated putbacks from Josh Feddema, the Hurricanes clinched matters with a devastating 36-6 third quarter spurt.
Hudson led all scorers with 27 points, 20 of which came in the decisive third stanza. His third quarter total featured four 3-pointers.
Feddema tallied 22 points and teammate Connor McCullough reached double figures with 10.
Keaton Bailey, La Conner’s 5-foot-7 sophomore point guard, was the Braves’ top point-maker with 10. Brent Bobb contributed six points, and Kaleb Otis delivered another five for La Conner.
Hadden Zimmerman sank four straight charity tosses in the third quarter to temporarily stall Mount Vernon Christian’s big scoring burst. Stevens (2), Chas James (2), and Kamien Lopez (2) also landed in the Braves scoring column.
La Conner, which was coming off a heart-wrenching 55-53 loss at Concrete on Jan. 13, looked to resume league play late Tuesday at Friday Harbor. The Braves visit Darrington for a Wednesday league road test.
Bill Reynolds is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
