Lady Wolves fall in tough loss to Lake Washington
The Lake Washington Kangaroos dominated the Eastlake Lady Wolves at home Wednesday, winning 74-47.
Both teams appeared to settle into a groove as they managed to put equal points on the board right away. But the momentum quickly changed as Reese Roberts and Julia Benthin dropped consecutive 2-point shots that gave the Kangaroos the lead and forced Eastlake Coach Sarah Goldie to call for her first timeout early in the game. Despite valiant efforts from Brook McCartney with back-to-back 2-point buckets, the Lady Wolves could not keep up and found themselves behind, 26-10, at the first buzzer.
In the second period, McCartney repeated her efforts to keep Eastlake in the game, but the Kangaroos continued to dominate. As both teams battled for control, but Lake Washington spotted weaknesses in the Eastlake defense, outscoring the Lady Wolves again, finishing the period with a comfortable 37-19 lead.
Lake Washington’s Ileana Olteanu and Benthin continued to put pressure on the Lady Wolves as the Kangaroos managed to widen the gap, 52-23, early in the third quarter. While Eastlake managed to collect themselves for their highest point scoring quarter of the game, momentum broke repeatedly for Lake Washington including a stolen pass by Benthin for the Kangaroos that left the Lady Wolves stunned with no response as she made the easy lay-up for the visiting team. Despite efforts from Roberts and Audrey Borup, Eastlake could not break Lake Washington’s focus and found themselves behind, 62-37.
In the final minutes of play in the fourth quarter, the Lady Wolves resorted to scattered three-point shots but found no success. Foiled attempts by Roberts and McCartney, allowed Benthin to capitalize on smart counterplay that further widened the gap, and the Kangaroos took home an easy 74-47 victory.
Reflecting on the game, Coach Goldie said, “It was a hard-fought battle between two good teams. We were trying to keep it close so we could put pressure on at the end. It’s hard to sustain good, consistent defense throughout the game.”
McCartney, 15, shared her thoughts on the team’s performance.
“A lot of good things happened today, but I think we just need to play hard on both sides of the ball,” McCartney said.
The Eastlake Lady Wolves will play the Tahoma Bears on Saturday, Dec. 21, at Tahoma High School at 6:00 p.m.
