LA CENTER SENIOR Andrea Griffee (23) drives around a Nooksack Valley defender during the Wildcats’ Class 1A regional playoff game Saturday at Battle Ground High School. Griffee scored 11 points to lead La Center, which suffered a season-ending 47-39 loss.
LA CENTER SENIOR Ashley Denney (11) goes up for a layup during her team’s Class 1A regional tournament game Saturday at Battle Ground High School. Denney scored seven points in the Wildcats’ season-ending loss to Nooksack Valley.
BATTLE GROUND – An early 10-point deficit proved to be too much for La Center to recover from and the Wildcats’ season came to an end with a 47-39 loss to Nooksack Valley in a regional round game of the Class 1A girls state basketball tournament Saturday at Battle Ground High School.
La Center finished the season with a 21-3 season record. The Wildcats were co-Trico League champions and district champions but they fell one step short of advancing to the final round of the state tournament.
“I told the girls to walk out of here with your heads up and let’s move forward,’’ said La Center coach Herm VanWeerdhuizen. “The seniors especially gave all they had. They can’t feel bad about it. We were just one step away.’’
Nooksack Valley came into the game with a deceiving 16-8 record, the result of playing in the combined Class 1A-2A Northwest Conference.
“Give Nooksack credit,’’ VanWeerdhuizen said. “They played in a strong league up there. Their record is deceiving. They were a senior-led bunch.’’
Four minutes into Saturday’s game, La Center trailed 12-2. The Wildcats were still behind 10 at halftime, at 32-22. La Center sophomore Bethany Whitten’s 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter made the deficit just six points at 40-34, but the Wildcats couldn’t climb all the way back.
“We spotted them 10 right off the bat,’’ VanWeerdhuizen said. “We had a couple of turnovers and were called for a couple of illegal screen and we were down by 10. We tried to battle back but every time we battled back we missed a shot here or there and then they hit their free throws in the end.’’
La Center senior Andrea Griffee led the Wildcats with 11 points. VanWeerdhuizen praised the effort of Griffee and fellow seniors Ashley Denney (7 points) and Shelby Vermeulen.
The Wildcats return a talented group of younger players, led by sophomore Taylor Mills and freshman Taylor Stephens.
“Hopefully our young kids learned and now we know what it’s going to take as far as the mental preparation for a game like this,’’ VanWeerdhuizen said. “You’ve got to be ready to go from the tip off. I know a lot of those girls are going to be working in the offseason. We’ve just got to get ourselves ready to go; 21-3 is a great record but it still didn’t get us where we wanted to be at the end of the year.’’
