Girls and boys split two each at Blaine

Published 11:00 am Wednesday, January 4, 2006

The South Whidbey Falcons girls and boys basketball teams traveled to Blaine over the holidays to play two tournament non-league games each.

Results were mixed, as the girls lost to Burlington-Edison 55-43 Dec. 27, then won 67-25 over a Canadian team the next day, Earl Marriott from White Rock, BC.

The boys were shot down 75-45 by the Burlington Tigers, but regrouped Dec. 28 to beat Elgin Park 64-48.

Girls basketball

Falcon Coach John Pyrtek reported the team had a solid first quarter, then “the offense went into a coma for the second.”

The Falcon zone defense got over-extended in the third period as the girls gave up a number of short jumpers that Burlington-Edison nailed.

“They were a quality opponent,” Pyrtek said. The girls were down by 20 in the third, attempted a full-court press, but couldn’t get over the hump.

Marcella Litwiller led scoring with 18, while Amanda LaVassar had a career high of 12 points and 10 rebounds.

On Dec. 28, the girls took out their frustrations from the night before by soundly trouncing a young Canadian squad.

“With the score 43-12 at halftime, we concentrated on working on our tempo offense,” Pyrtek explained.

Litwiller again led with 26 points (20 in the first half), and Caitie Newman had 21 points and 10 steals. Newman was also named to the All-Tourney team by the coaches for her efforts.

The girls travel to Cedarcrest for their next league contest, Friday at 7 p.m.

Boys basketball

On Dec. 27 in Blaine, Duncan Adams managed 16 points against the Tigers, his teammates came up short — Ian Ward, Josh Gulvin, Chad Anderson and Parker Barnett only managed six each.

“They had a bunch of kids over 6-foot-3,” Coach Andy Davis said.

“Burlington was aggressive and extremely active under the net. They outscored us each quarter, very unusual for us,” he added.

Against Elgin Park, Gulvin, Adams and Anderson caught fire with 19, 13 and 10 points respectively. The Falcons had 16 points off turnovers versus six for the previous night’s loss.

Friday at 7 p.m., the team welcomes Cedarcrest for a pivotal Cascade Conference game.