Growing pains with an underclassmen-heavy varsity squad for the La Center Wildcats girls basketball program are transforming into nightly improvement as the ‘Cats find themselves in the mix for a District 4 tournament postseason nod.
Despite last week’s 73-16 loss to Seton Catholic High School on Tuesday, Jan. 20, and a 36-23 loss to Columbia High School on Thursday, Jan. 22, the Wildcats still hold an upper hand for the fifth and final postseason berth from the 1A Trico League. The La Center girls are even within striking distance of the fourth seed, which could be settled in the final game of the year against the current fourth seed holder: the Fort Vancouver Trappers.
The 36-23 loss to the Columbia Bruins showed how far the young team has come this season, especially on defense. Earlier in the season, about 10 games ago, the Wildcats lost control of the matchup against the Bruins, falling 64-24.
“We came out and competed, last time we played these guys we did not do as well,” La Center head coach Chris Heath said. “And so today was a game, so that’s a positive right there. We compete every single night, we can do anything we want.”
A key aspect of nightly improvement is paying attention to all three teams in the program. Heath said his junior varsity girls are undefeated in league play, and the C-team is playing well, too.
This year’s varsity squad includes just three seniors but packs four juniors, three sophomores and a freshman.
For Heath, the ultimate goal is to inspire and lead growth across the entire program.
While learning the game of basketball and building skill sets and experience, the Wildcats’ final four games stack their talent toward the possibility of playing extra postseason games.
The final stretch begins with a Tuesday, Jan. 27 game against Stevenson High School; the Wildcats previously won that league matchup 68-33, but results for the Jan. 27 game were unavailable as of press time. La Center next has to prove their growth and stack it against the King’s Way Knights on home court on Thursday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. The Wildcats narrowly lost their last matchup against King’s Way, 47-40.
Once the calendar flips to February, the Wildcats play two matchups against opponents who nearly ended last week with identical league records. The Wildcats enter this week at 5-6 in the Trico League, while Kalama is 4-6 and Fort Vancouver is 5-5 after Thursday, Jan. 22 games.
The Wildcats will play both on the road to close out the year. La Center first heads up north to the Kalama Chinooks to fish out a key win on Monday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m. The Wildcats close out the regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m. at the Fort Vancouver Trappers.
