At this stage in the playoffs, with a Class 1A regional berth on the line, a guaranteed trip to the Yakima Valley SunDome because of a top-8 RPI ranking and a spot in Saturday’s district title game at stake, this wasn’t supposed to be this easy for the La Center girls basketball team.
Yet they made it look effortless.
As coach Herm VanWeerdhuizen put it, his players put on a clinic in a 68-35 victory over Elma on Tuesday night at King’s Way Christian High School.
Particularly, he was speaking about his team’s defensive showing, one he called one of the better performances he’s ever seen.
“This ought to be up there,” he said.
The win sends La Center (21-0) to the 1A district title game for the third straight year. The Wildcats will face 1A Evergreen Conference champion Montesano, a 67-44 winner over Hoquiam, a 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Kelso High School.
Mollie Edwards had a game-high 21 points, Taylor Mills added 19 and Taylor Stephens, the Trico League MVP, added 17, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range.
Mills also had a game-high seven rebounds and four assists.
A lot of Tuesday’s performance began with Wildcats’ press from tip-off that forced 13 total steals on an Elma (12-9) squad that scored 81 points in its 81-26 first-round victory over King’s Way Christian.
Pretty impressive on the team that finished runner-up in the 1A Evergreen Conference.
“We just played our game,” Mills said.
La Center forced Elma into just one first-quarter field goal, seven turnovers, and after 16 minutes, led 47-16.
The game went into running clock after Mills’ free throws made it 64-24 with 1 minute, 47 seconds left in the third quarter.
Mills, La Center’s 6-foot-1 post, also had a game-high seven rebounds and four of the Wildcats’ 12 assists on the night. Two came in the third in the high-post finding to Whitley Seter (eight points) down low to push the lead to 53-18.
How dangerous can the undefeated Wildcats be? The Bulldogs of Montesano are the next team in the Wildcats’ way, as La Center seeks a repeat district title after downing Kalama, 56-53, in last year’s title game.
“If we work hard every game,” Mills said, “we can be pretty dangerous.”
