Lady Cruisers down the patriots

After dropping a non-league game on Dec. 15 to the Tenino Beavers, the Cruisers were looking to rebound and get back to their winning ways as they hosted the Washington Patriots in a league matchup.

Eatonville got things rolling early while led by senior guard Jaelin Hotz. Hotz’s hot shooting resulted in 9 points in the first quarter, which helped the Cruisers pull out to a 15-9 lead at the end of the first period of play.

The second quarter saw junior forward Brooklynn Lucht lead the charge for the Cruisers as she dropped in 6 points to help extend the lead over the Patriots to 32-20 as the half came to a close. Senior guard Kaedyn Byrd would chip in 4 points of her own in the quarter.

The third quarter had the Patriots mount a battle and cut the Cruiser lead down to 8 points. Freshman forward Kya Stewart and Hotz both scored 5 points a piece in the quarter, sending the Cruisers into the final period with a 46-38 lead.

The Cruisers held on to that lead as the Patriots did their best to mount a comeback, but the Cruisers would held on to win this one, the final score was 57-50.

Hotz led all scorers with 19 points. Lucht would record her second double-double in as many games with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The Cruisers now sit at 4-1 in league play (4-4 overall) and sit in second place in the division. They took a short seven day break before they headed off to Bend, Oregon, to play in the Bend Holiday Hoopfest on Dec. 27 – 29.  The team will be back in action on Jan. 2, as they travel to Elma to take on the Eagles.