MOUNT VERNON — The Lady Cougars’ season may have come to an end against the Mountaineers Feb. 15, but there were still smiles on the bus ride home.

“I think everybody is pretty happy with what we accomplished this year,” said Lakewood coach Chris Walster after Lakewood lost to Mount Baker 48-27. “This year exceeded expectations by far.”

At the start of the season the Lakewood girls basketball team was picked by Cascade Conference coaches to place last out of eight teams. Three months later the Cougars finished with 9-12 overall record with an 8-6 mark in conference play, earning third place.

Against Mount Baker, however, Lakewood fell victim to a slow start and couldn’t quite make the comeback.
“We made some mistakes early and that made us have to try and recover the rest of the game,” said Walster.

But the score didn’t accurately reflect how close the game was, as the Cougars trailed by as few as six with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before Mount Baker went on a run to put the game away.

In the end, what did the Cougars in was not being able to counter Mount Baker’s physicality.

“I think their best offense was just throwing a shot up and getting the offensive rebound,” said Walster. “They were a young team, but they play so physical — like all teams up north do — but I think Mount Baker just makes their name on their physicality.”

The Mountaineers outrebounded the Cougars by just one, with a 40-39 edge, but it was the numerous second-chance points that made the difference.

Leading the way for the Cougars was Kaylee Diggs, who finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.