Cards No. 3 District Seed

WAITSBURG -- The WP Lady Cardinals had 11 players light up the board to put away the Walla Walla Valley Academy Knights with a 65-31 victory last Tuesday night.

The Cardinals took the tip off and hit the court running, showing the Knights no mercy with their quick perimeter passing while dominating the boards from inside.

WP's Dionna Baker worked her way inside and put up a Ronnie Hulce pass for the first Cardinal bucket, and then followed that up with a steal from the Knights' end of the court that she dished to Kristin Potter for another two.

It was another Potterto Baker combo that lit the board again, followed by another Potter dish off to Hulce inside for a 10-2 Cardinal lead.

It was Potter again who snagged the ball away from the Knights and took it coastto coast for a left-handed layup, forcing the Knights to call a timeout to break up the Cardinals' momentum.

The Knights came back from the timeout with a basket of their own, but the offensive flow that the Cardinals brought to the floor was unstoppable and WP ended the first quarter with yet another bucket from Baker and Hulce for a 16-4 lead.

The Cardinals kept the heat on the Knights in the second quarter with a Hulce steal that she easily put away for two, followed by a defensive rebound from Katy Hofer that she pumped out to Hulce for a 21-4 Cardinal lead.

The Cardinal defense continued to crush the Knights with another steal from Kayla Huxoll who found Potter who laid it up easily for another two.

The Knights answered with a bucket of their own, but another WP steal from Hailey Goenen produced a bucket from Krystal Harris.

The Cardinals continued to pound the Knights ending the first half with a threepointer from Hannah Helm for a 34-9 Cardinal halftime lead.

Two more three-pointers in the third from WP's Sam Moss and Hofer added to WP's, 46-14, lead after three quarters. But the Knights' zone defense in the fourth quarter turned the tables on the Cardinals who suffered from multiple pick offs from the Knights that ended with wide open layups.

The younger Cardinals maintained their composure and held off the Knights with baskets from Harris, Potter, and Chelsey Brannock.

"We've got a lot of team speed," said WP head coach Jerry Baker. "It was our goal tonight to use that."

The Cardinals 65-31 victory puts them up against the Desales Irish this Saturday at Whitman College at 2 p.m. in a loser-out district playoff game.

" We both know each other very well," said Baker of the DeSales Irish. "We're going to have to work hard to get the ball inside to Dionna and Ronnie like we need to."

Baker was top scorer for the Cards with 17 points, nine rebounds and four steals.

Hulce was also in double digits with 11 points and four steals.