Lake Stevens wins confidence builder
Published 11:25 pm Thursday, November 29, 2007
LAKE STEVENS — What a way to start off the basketball season.
The Lake Stevens Vikings began their 2007-08 campaign with an exciting come-from-behind 61-60 victory over the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors Thursday night in a non-conference game at Lake Stevens High School.
Behind consistent pressure defense, the Vikings used an 11-2 run in the final two minutes, 30 seconds turning a 58-50 Warrior lead into a season-opening victory.
Vikings’ guard Jordan Carter scored six of his 14 points during Lake Stevens’ final run and Ryan Legg turned a Warriors turnover into a lay-in with 5.5 seconds remaining. Legg’s lay-in came on Carter’s sixth and final assist of the night.
“Our extended trap made a huge difference. We went small at the end to get pressure and create turnovers,” Lake Stevens head coach Mark Hein said.
And the pressure worked.
After opening up its fourth quarter lead, Edmonds-Woodway struggled offensively down the stretch with two turnovers in the final minute.
“They were allowed to pressure us, and they did consistently,” Edmonds-Woodway head coach Gail Pintler said.
Lake Stevens’ sophomore Shane Kaska made a splash in his varsity debut scoring a game-high 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting. Kaska’s 13 points in the second quarter allowed the Vikings to stay with the Warriors, who controlled the entire first half.
“Kaska had a great preseason in practice. I’m really proud of him. He showed a lot of confidence,” Hein said.
In a way it was sweet revenge for Lake Stevens. Though just the season-opener, Hein and the Vikings that played on varsity last year, had last year’s opening round 4A District 1 loss to Edmonds-Woodway on their mind. After dropping two games last year to the Warriors, getting a victory against Edmonds-Woodway to open up the new season was a confidence booster, Hein said
“We were fortunate (to get the win),” Lake Stevens head coach Mark Hein said. “It was a huge confidence booster for us. We knew it was an important game coming in and it let us know who we are as a team.”
The Warriors (1-0 overall) jumped out to a 17-8 lead after the first quarter and cruised into the half leading 34-27.
Lake Stevens put together its first run of the night, scoring 12 unanswered third-quarter points and taking its first lead of the game at 44-42 with a minute remaining in the quarter.
The Vikings shot 8-for-8 from the free-throw line during their 12-0 run and again used pressure defense in locking down the Warriors.
“Mitch Shoemaker came in and really changed the complexion of the game,”
Hein said of the senior forward who came off the bench to score four points but was mostly used to pressure the Warriors defensively.
Behind the sharp-shooting of guard Sean Laue, the Warriors opened up the fourth period on an 11-4 run. Laue connected on all four of his fourth-quarter free throws and also put back an offensive rebound for another score.
The senior guard shined in the season-opener, scoring 23 points and hitting five 3-pointers.
At Lake Stevens H.S.
E-W 17171313 —60
Lake Stevens8191915—61
Edmonds-Woodway: Ortiz 6, Wilson 2, Conti 11, Reilly, Enquist 4, Laue 23, Donaldson 10, Polovina 4, Bury, Lundh. Lake Stevens: Pilon 2, Shoemake 4, Russum, Dodge, Adams 4, Carter 14, Legg 9, Elfeghih, Kurisu 3, Kaska 25. 3-pointers: Kaska 3, Legg 1, Carter 1, Laue 5. Records-Edmonds-Woodway 0-1 overall. Lake Stevens 1-0.
