Lady Cruisers are headed to district playoffs

After closing out the regular season with a win against Washington, the Cruisers would lock up the No. 6 seed into the South Puget Sound League tournament and would host the No. 11 seed, the Highline Pirates.

Highline did a great job of keeping the game close in the first half as the Cruisers enjoyed a 22-18 lead at the break. Freshman Kya Stewart’s 10 points would lead the Cruisers.

The Cruisers defense stepped it up a notch in the third and extended their lead to 41-27 as they prepared to begin the final quarter. Brooklynn Lucht caught fire and drop in 7 of her 10 points.

The Cruisers finished off the Pirates by a score of 59-35 and advance to the next round of the tournament. Stewart led all the scorers with 18 points. Jaelin Hotz chipped in 15. Lucht recorded her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

That win set up a rematch against the No. 3 seed Fife Trojans on Wednesday, Jan. 30. The last time these two teams met, it came down to the final buzzer with Fife winning 61-59.

The Trojans were in control for the entire first half. The Cruisers trailed at the break 29-11. 

The Cruisers saw the game slipping out of their grasps, but freshman Hailey Rath wasn’t having it.

Rath caught fire and energized the Cruisers in the third quarter by scoring 15 of her game-high 22 points and helped the Cruisers outscore the Trojans 28-8, which pulled the team into the lead at the end of the quarter, 39-37.

The game stayed tight until the final seconds but the Cruisers fell again by 3 points to the Trojans, 49-46. Rath led the Cruisers with a career-high 22 points and record her first career double-double by chipping in 10 rebounds.

That loss dropped the Lady Cruisers into the loser’s bracket and force them into a loser-out game against No. 12 seed Steilacoom on Friday, Feb. 1 at Fife High School.

The Cruisers came out strong in the game, both on offense and defense.  They held the Sentinels to only 8 points in the half and only 1 point in the second quarter. They led 37-8 at the break led by Kya Stewart’s game-high 16 points.

With a firm grasp on the lead, Coach Dereck Driggs subbed out almost all of his starters in favor of underclassman. The Cruisers continued to extend their lead in the second half behind Kaedyn Byrd’s 9 points and Andrea Hutchings’ 8 points. 

Stewart led all scorers with 16 points followed by a season-high 13 points for Kaedyn Byrd. Every Cruiser suited up for the game made it in the stat book.

With the win, the Lady Cruisers punched their ticket into the West Central District 3 double elimination playoffs beginning this week. They will compete against Franklin Pierce High School Cardinals at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7, at Franklin Pierce. The Lady Cruisers are hoping the whole town of Eatonville will come out and support them in this game as they continue their journey to reach the state playoffs.