The Mercer Island girls basketball team continues to dominate its Washington-state competition since returning from December’s Nike Tournament of Champions in Arizona.

Two days after a convincing 64-29 win over Liberty High, the Islanders defeated Lake Washington 58-21 Friday night at Lake Washington High School. Mercer Island improved to 6-0 against its KingCo competitors and remains undefeated against in-state opponents this season.

Senior post player Anna Luce led all scorers on Friday with a game-high 19 points while also grabbing seven rebounds. After seeing the Islanders go 1-3 at the Nike Tournament of Champions, Luce said she’s noticed her team step up its effort on the defensive end.

“Our defense has gotten a lot better,” Luce said. “In these last two games, we’ve had so many steals from all of our guards. Even the posts are stepping up a little bit and getting more in defensive position. We’ve just gotten a lot tougher.”

The Islanders (8-3, 6-0) held the Kangs (2-9, 1-4) to single-digit scoring in each of the game’s four quarters while wreaking havoc in the backcourt with their full-court press. Mercer Island recorded 17 steals in Friday’s contest.

Mercer Island coach Gillian d’Hondt said while the Islanders came away with another convincing win, she’d prefer to see tighter execution from her team offensively.

“I felt like we could’ve been more disciplined running our offenses,” d’Hondt said. “We kind of have a tendency to find somebody open and then it breaks down and we have to rush a shot. With these types of games, you’d like to see [your team] going through your whole offense.”

ToryMar Beutelspacher added nine points for Mercer Island, while Kailee Yan and Claire Mansfield each scored seven. Molly Behrends led Lake Washington with six points.

Next, Mercer Island will take on Juanita at 6 p.m. Saturday at Juanita High School. Lake Washington will host Sammamish at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Lake Washington High School.