Prep Girls Basketball Roundup: Reports and scores from The Blast Zone

On The Line — Kelso gets right at MLK Classic; and all the rest of the action

A pair of basketballs sit on the baseline at Myklebust Gymnasium during the MLK Classic hosted by the Lower Columbia College women’s basketball team, Monday, Jan. 20. — Jordan Nailon / Blast Zone Media

Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com

MYKLEBUST GYMNASIUM — The Kelso girls basketball team has not had an easy path to tread lately. That comes with the territory in the combined 3A/4A Greater St. Helens League where half of the mandated games are against schools with a larger enrollment, and half of those games are against teams that regularly leave their 4A foes wishing they’d called in sick.

For those lacking in fortitude it can be enough to make a team feel like the walls are closing in. But the Lassies don’t fit that description, and they haven’t been looking for an easy way out. It’s just that they quickly grow tired of losing and they’d rather use their head to crumble brick and mortar than beg to be released.

And Kelso got just what the doctor ordered, Monday, when it put a 73-27 whooping on Hockinson during the MLK Classic at Lower Columbia College.

“One of our keys today was coming out and executing in the first quarter,” Kelso coach Andrew Johnson said. “Our first quarters have not been great for us, and our third quarters as well. So our big focus today was, ‘Let’s make sure we start fast and let’s make sure we finish fast.’”