Lady Cruisers Ready For District Playoffs

Eatonville's Hailey Rath shoots a jump shot in the Cruisers 48-33 victory over Hoquiam. Rath would score 23 points in the game including her 1,000th point in her career at Eatonville. Photo: Trevor Smith

The Lady Cruiser basketball team would finish off their regular season with a couple of home games and an away game to wrap up league play.

On Monday, January 31st they would play host to the second place Tenino Beavers. Eatonville was looking to bounce back from their 21 points loss to the Beavers earlier in the season. Unfortunately, Tenino wasn't going to let that happen.

The Beavers would go on an 18-2 run to start the game and never look back. They would extend that lead to 32-11 at halftime and eventually hand the Cruisers a 52-35 loss.

Hailey Rath would lead Eatonville with 20 points.

The Cruisers would turn right around and host the Hoquiam Grizzlies the following night on Senior Night.

Before the game, the five Cruiser seniors were recognized for their accomplishments and dedication to the Lady Cruiser basketball program. Those seniors were Sophia Henly, Hailey Rath, Berkeley Porter, Taylor Limbird, and Emil Bennet.

Eatonville, looking to match their result from the last meeting of these two teams, would explode in the second half to again drop the Grizzlies 48-33.

To end the first half, with the game tied at 17, senior Hailey Rath would drive the lane with 5 seconds on the clock and floated up a left-hander off the backboard that dropped into the basket scoring the 1,000th point of her career at EHS.

Rath would then have a dominant third quarter where she would score 12 of her game-high 23 points to extend the Cruiser lead to 9 points at 35-27.

A 13-6 run in the fourth would sink the Grizzlies and hand the Cruisers a 48-33 victory.

Rath would lead the Cruisers with 23 points. Bailey Andersen would contribute with 12 points and Berkeley Porter would check in with 5.

The Cruisers would finish off their regular season with a trip to Elma to take on the Eagles.

Eatonville would open up the game with an 8-0 run and were no match for Elma as the Cruisers led the entire game and grounded the Eagles 35-28 to finish off their regular season schedule.

Hailey Rath led the Cruisers in scoring with 25 points.

The Cruisers finished in third place in the Evergreen 1A league and have the #3 seed heading into the District 4 playoffs. Eatonville will travel to either La Center or King’s Way Christian on Feb. 11th. Time and exact opponent to be determined after the tie breaker is determined between La Center and King's Way Christian.