Lady Cruisers Season Comes To End

After dropping their opening round game of the West Central District III tournament to Franklin Pierce, the Lady Cruisers were looking to battle their way to the regionals via the consolation bracket. After weather caused their game to be postponed and reschedule, they finally were able to get the game in. They would travel to Sumner High School to take on the Sequim Wolves in a loser out game.

The Cruisers would jump out to a 15-6 lead after the 1st quarter of play behind the 7 points of freshman Hailey Rath.

Sequim would make a few adjustments and battle back. The Wolves would clamp down on the Cruisers defensively and they would outscore Eatonville 15-4 in the 2nd quarter to take a 21-19 lead into the locker room at the half.

The Wolves defense would continue to cause the Cruisers fits for the rest of the game as they would build an 11 point lead as the 3rd quarter came to a close.

The Cruisers would try their best to slow down the Sequim offense and close the gap, but they were unsuccessful. Sequim would win the game 63-43. Rath would lead the Cruisers in scoring with 12 points.

This loss would eliminate the Cruisers from district play and end their season. They finish the season with an overall record of 11 wins and 14 losses.

Cruisers Head Coach Dereck Driggs had this to say about his team, “The girls gave it everything they had on Friday night which is all you can ask for as a coach. We had inspirational efforts from freshman, Hailey Rath and senior, Jaelin Hotz. We could just never get the outside shot to fall which ended up being the difference maker. Give credit to Sequim for their great defensive effort and relentless pursuit on the boards. With Friday night being the final game for our four seniors and for myself as the head coach, it was very emotional.”

Driggs, after his 2nd season as head coach, has accepted a promotion at his day job and will be moving to Hawaii in March. Driggs was 26-24 overall as the Cruisers head coach and led the team to the district tournament in both seasons while at the helm.

Coach Dereck Driggs with his assistants Dani Rodriguez, Hailey Hancock, and Kaidan Reiten. Photo Credit: Audra Driggs

Driggs continued, “I have been truly blessed by the young ladies that have been a part of our program. They, as well as my coaching staff, will always be family. I would like to extend a huge thank you to Lisa Wolfe, Gavin Kralik, and Mark Swartout for their unwavering support. It has truly been an honor to serve as head coach of the Eatonville Lady Cruisers these past two seasons. I hope our future Lady Cruisers will remember what our players and coaches committed to over the last two years: "We fight together, we win together, we lose together, we stay together."

Stats vs Sequim

H. Rath – 13 points, 4 rebounds

J. Hotz – 12 points, 4 rebounds

K. Stewart – 7 points, 4 rebounds

B. Lucht – 5 points, 6 rebounds

A. Hutchings – 2 points, 6 rebounds

P. Hutchings – 2 points

A. Frank – 2 points

K. Byrd – 1 rebound