With eight games left in the season, the Ballard Beaver girls will make a run at the KingCo basketball playoffs for a second year, while battling injuries and learning how put opponents away in close games.

"We would like more w's (wins). We are playing tough teams," said Head Coach Karen Blair. Their record as of Jan. 12 is 2-3 league and 4-6 overall.

Ballard has been in most of the games they have lost. Against Inglemoor they closed the gap to six points in the final period before the Vikings ran away with the game 53-47.

Injuries have hurt the team's depth. Multi-sport star Leslie Ellingsen, a senior, has been sidelined with a knee problem. Junior Sydney Huggins just came back from a thumb injury.

In the Inglemoor game, the team became even more shorthanded when freshman Alexandra Lawrence suffered a concussion when she chased a ball out of bounds.

"We ran out of bodies," said Blair.

Ballard must finish in the top four in the Mountain Division, which is weaker this season after Garfield and Franklin moved to the Lake Division.

Blair said her Beavers are becoming more confident in what they do and are working on their defensive concepts.

Ballard has new players in the mix this year and last year's returners are bringing the foundation of basketball they learned from Blair's first season with the Beavers.

Height is lacking on the roster. Ballard lost post players Charlotte Shannon and Gillian Huggins to graduation.

"We are not a huge team. We need to get up and down the floor and block out," said Blair.

Three players are scoring in double figures as the Ballard Beavers girls basketball team prepares for the stretch run in the KingCo.

Ballard squared off with the cross-town rival Franklin Quakers on Friday, losing/winning a close game by *** to ***.

The Beavers have recorded wins over Juanita 71-47, Redmond 68-61 in league play. They have also defeated Puyallup 48-38 and Mount Rainier 62-32 in exhibition games during the Christmas break.

At the ten game mark, sophomore Henna Saarinen has been the surprise on offense. She is averaging 12.6 points and has scored 126 points overall.

Junior point guard Kayla Williams has developed into a leader on the floor, running the Beaver offense. She is second in scoring with a 9.9 point average and has 99 points on the season.

"She is getting stronger and is getting to apply that more on the court. She is stepping up," said Blair.

Evangeline Spracklin, who plays the wing position, is the third leading scorer as a junior. She is averaging 9.3 points a game and has 93 on the year.

There is only one senior (Ellingsen) on the team. Ballard has seven juniors in Spracklin, Williams, Sydney Huggins, Nicole Murray, Saarinen, Molly Magee and Yordandos Kasahun.

The rest of their schedule: Jan. 17 Eastlake 7 p.m.; Jan. 19 at Garfield (at Lincoln High School) 6:30 p.m.; Jan. 24, Lake Washington 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 26 Bothell 6:30 p.m.; Jan. 31 at Juanita 7:30 p.m.; Feb. 2 at Redmond 6:30 p.m.; Feb. 7 Roosevelt 7:30 p.m.; Feb.. 9 Woodinvlle 6:30 p.m.