It was the coach’s birthday and her girls made it a happy one.

The brand new girls’ basketball team at Providence Classical Christian School in Kirkland beat the Skykomish Lady Rockets 43-13 on Jan. 25 and blasted the Lummi Nation Lady Blackhawks 40-18 three days later.

“It was the best game of the season,” said Providence Coach Lindsey Elliott, celebrating her birthday with hugs and high fives on the night of the Skykomish win. Another sweet gift was that all of her players put points on the scoreboard in Skykomish, led by captain Reyna Lacalli with 17 points. Olivia Hatcher had 10 points and Katie Adair had 8 points.

The game against Lummi wasn’t bad for the Providence Highlanders, either. They were tied 9-9 with the Lady Blackhawks at the end of the first quarter. Good defense and offense both helped Providence boost the score to 25-9 by the end of the half. Lacalli led all players with 27 points. Katie Adair had 8 points.

“It’s hard to have a small school,” said Elliott after the Lummi win, “but [the Providence girls] are such good friends. What they lacked in basketball skills, they made up [for] in friendship.”

Providence started its season with five novices and only one veteran player — Lacalli — but showed improvement with every game.

The Lady Highlanders are losing just one player, senior Katie Adair, of Woodinville, who will move on to play volleyball for Cedarville University in Ohio.