Southeast Conference play finally got started for the Washington basketball teams last night against Mount Pleasant and the schools split on the evening.

The girls’ game in Washington was heard on KCII and the Demons were on the short end of a 71-52 score. After a tough start breaking the Mount Pleasant press in the first couple minutes, the Demons started to settle in offensively and kept the game close. Josie Tanner hit three first quarter triples to trail just 17-10 after one and Anna Nacos was big in keeping it a six point game at half with 10 points at the break. Late in the third Mount Pleasant’s Andrea Lopreato started to heat up and stretched the lead out to 17 after the quarter and they never looked back from there. Lopreato finished with a game-high 25 points. Nacos led the Demons with 20 points and all of Tanner’s 12 points came from behind the arc.

This was Washington’s largest scoring output of the season and Head Coach Shannon Rugg thought they took a step in the right direction offensively. “This is the best we have looked on offense. We had a different feel to us and it looked like we had more confidence. I think part of it is having a better understanding of what we are trying to do. I told the girls that is the best offensive performance we have had thus far.”

The Demon boys made the trip to Mount Pleasant and came away with a 58-50 victory. Four players were in double figures led by Kasen Bailey with 17 points and Lance Sobaski had 15. 

The boys improve to 3-1 and the girls are now 0-6. Both squads get back on the court today at Fairfield for a makeup doubleheader. The girls’ contest gets underway at 3:30 p.m. with the boys’ to follow.