La Conner High School alum Dean Swanson has been around long enough to know about the school’s basketball history.

He also keeps tabs on current holidays.

The two intersected last Tuesday when the Lady Braves basketball team posted a 63-42 statement win at 2A Burlington-Edison before a large and masked crowd that packed the gym just days after a two-week COVID-19-related spectator pause was lifted.

“Today starts the Chinese New Year of the Tiger,” Swanson said immediately afterward. “But not tonight.”

La Conner, the No. 2 ranked 2B team in Washington state, was never challenged by...