The horror. The horror.

The Kennedy Lancers' undefeated 8-0 girls basketball team beat the winless 0-4 Tyee Totems, 84-6, in Seamount League action on Dec. 20.

And, really, because of the laws that govern high school basketball games, a team so much better than another team has no choice but to score time and time again, in this game invented by Dr. James Naismith back in 1891. Naismith's game, broken down into four quarters of eight minutes each, has no mercy rule to end a game early that is so terribly lop-sided. What it must feel like to be on the losing end of a game like this. Despite the fans wanting to get their money's worth, is it really worth it to continue a game like this Totems-Lancers one that was 55-4 at halftime?

One anonymous Lancers fan said. "There's not much that can be done when there's a shot clock and you have to shoot the ball."

The shot clock ticks down every time there's a turn of possession for a team, and, in that time, a team must score or give up the basketball. Forty five seconds to shoot the basketball, and, also, if a team shoots a shot and at least hits the rim, they get the basketball back as the shot clock just resets and counts down from 45 seconds again.

One good thing about this game is that it was shortened as WIAA rules allow: in the second half the timeclock did not stop for timeouts or foul shots like it customarily.

Hopefully, since things are like they are, teams like the Totems, who are winless and may stay that way all season, can continue to find positive ways to deal with the mounting losses. Tom Mummert takes over as coach this season for Don Hoffman, the longtime winning coach (74 straight Seamount League victories at one point in 2004).

Andrea Goins is one of the senior leaders for the Lancers and she spoke for her team of how things have been and how things are going to go if things go according to plan. And, if the start of their season, 8-0, is any of an indicator, then they may get where Andrea Goins says this team wants to go.

"Win state," said Goins. "That is our goal."

The Lancers were not too far from that mark last season. They did lose their opening game against Meadowdale.

"We are going to keep on doing what we have done so far," said Goins, mentioning that they played with a little letdown against Kentridge that was not good but that they kept doing what they were doing and got over the hump.

The Totems can take solace in the fact that they are not alone in getting blown out by the Lancers. Nearby Highline had even more points scored on them than the Totems had against them, by one, but still that's consolation. The final Highline-Kennedy game was 85-18. Peace for the Totems should flow from the fact that the Lancers have outscored their foes thus far in their eight games, on average, by about 30 points per game. On top of that, the Lancers have scored 80-plus points in three games thus far this season and have hit 70 points at least in three others.

"We have a good team," said Goins. "We lost some good players but we got some good new ones too."

The good new ones in include freshman, Yasmine Fuller, in her first year and lighting things up. She scored 20 to lead all scorers against Kentridge. And another freshman quick-footed one is Jasmine Lemon. She knocked in game-high 17 against Tyee in a game every Lancer scored at least a bucket.