Girls Grapple Pirates

WAITSBURG -- The WP Lady Cardinals defeated the Riverside Pirates, 56-30, last Friday night.

The Cards brought the heat early with a full court press that was too much for the Pirates to handle. The Cardinals capitalized on back to back steals from Ronnie Hulce and Hailey Goenen and Kristin Potter blocked the next Pirate shot to keep the Cardinals defensive momentum going.

WP's Krystal Harris threw up yet another three point bucket followed by a bucket from Hulce for a 10-2 Cardinal lead early in the first quarter.

The press continued to be too much for the Pirates and the Cardinals increased their lead with a lay up from Hulce, a shot from under the hoop from Kayla Huxoll, and a Katy Hofer steal that ended with another Hulce bucket for a 16-2 Cardinal lead with under two minutes left in the first .

The Cardinals game took a turn for the worst in the second quarter. WP's Taylor Doepker was getting pushed around down low struggling to post up against a taller, heavier Pirate.

Harris and Hulce were keeping the offense going for the Cards cutting right and left down low, but no one was picking them up in the lane and the Cardinals missed several scoring opportunities.

The Cardinals were plagued by bad passing and missed buckets and their lead was cut to 23-19 at halftime.

The Cardinals stepped things up in the second half starting with Harris dazzling everyone with back to back three pointers. Hulce and Hofer attacked the boards pulling down rebounds left and right, it seemed the Cards were getting their groove back.

They were running the floor once again scoring on fast break lay ups and crashing the boards for put backs. At the end of the third quarter they had a 39-26 cushion built back up. The Pirates were held to only four points in the fourth quarter to the Cardinals 17 points. Hofer dominated the fourth quarter putting ten points on the board for the Cards. With post player Dionna Baker out on a five game suspension Hofer really pulled it together and muscled her way around down low to finish strong from the Cards.

Hulce took top scorer of the night with 17 points and 20 rebounds. Harris had 14 points and 5 steals. Hofer had 11 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 steals.

"We came out strong and then went brain dead in the second quarter," said WP Head Coach Jerry Baker. "They pulled it together and got back in it in the second half."