In their first district game this season, the Mercer Island girls basketball team beat Lakeside 77-51.

The Islanders, who won the KingCo tournament last week after beating Bellevue in the title game, earned a bye for the first round of the districts.

The team never trailed in the win, taking a 38-25 lead at the half and extending it to 59-38 by the end of the third quarter.

With Lakeside missing two of its starting players, the Lions did not have the defense to stop the fast-paced Mercer Island offense on the floor. The Islanders took advantage of Lakeside’s defensive weakness and quickly extended their lead.

With such a large gap, the Lions could have easily given up and let Mercer Island continue to walk away with the game, but the Lakeside team kept battling and looking for offensive opportunities wherever they could be found.

The scoring duties were well shared on the Mercer Island side of the court.

Hannah Lilly led the team with 15 points, while freshman Kris Brackman had 12 overall. Kate DaPron and Hailey Gullstad each scored 11 points in the win. Heidi Black and Sarah Taylor added 7 each, while Jae Shin had a relatively slow night, point-wise, with only 5. Carly Andersen, Lauren Ellis and Christina Williamson each contributed 3.

Lakeside senior guard Madline Barnes had the game high of 17 points, while her teammate Danielle Estell put up 11 points for the Lions.

The Islanders moved into the district semifinals, where they faced Seattle Prep on Tuesday night, after Reporter deadline.

With a win the Mercer Island girls would move into the championship game, against the winner of the Cleveland/Holy Names matchup. A loss to Seattle Prep would push the Islanders into the consolation bracket to face either Bellevue or Juanita. All remaining games of the district tournament for MI will be played at Bellevue College.

The top four teams in districts move to the state tournament, which begins next Wednesday at the Tacoma Dome.