By Christopher Duclos

The season is still beginning for Beavers basketball as they travelled to Bellevue on Friday, Dec. 7 to take on Newport. Both of Ballard high’s boys and girls teams competed in what was a conference double header.

Girls took the court first only to suffer a loss to the Knights with a score of 54-43. Beverly Verduin, sibling of senior Johnny Verduin was the lone standout on the Ballard side, totaling 17 points. This brings the lady beavers to a season record of 1-3 (0-2 conference).

Following the lady beavers loss, the boys took the court. The boys fought to keep Newport from taking the lead. It was another big night for seniors Seth Berger and Johnny Verduin. Berger, a recent commit to the UMass minutemen, put up 20 points into the basket while Verduin scored 21. The game came down to the efficiency of defensive tactics, holding on to beat Newport in Bellevue.

Saturday night, the boys took a trip to Highline Community College in a matchup for the Les Schwab Preview. Fresh off Friday night’s action against Newport, Ballard was outplayed in the first two quarters of regulation, being outscored 23-12. Life returned to the Ballard side as they came out and outscored Olympic 14-6 in the third quarter. In the end, the boys could not catch up to Olympia with an ending decision of 45-41.

The boys will travel to Woodinville tomorrow (12/11) at 7:30 p.m. to take on the Woodinville Falcons in another conference matchup. Then on Friday (12/14) at 8:00pm, powerhouse Garfield comes to Ballard to play in what could shake up to be one of the season’s biggest matchups.

Notes:

• Seth Berger and Johnny Verduin: A dynamic duo on the court. In the past 3 games, the boys have combine for a total of 93 points. The two have each produced double digits in each game so far.
• Latest Kingco Rankings (per kingcosports.wordpress.com) sites that Ballard high is ranked 3rd in Kingco 4A rankings behind Garfield and Bothell.

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