Scoring Drought Too Much to Overcome

Everett CC Women's Basketball fell on the road to the league unbeaten Olympic Rangers 71-61.  It was a struggle all night on the glass, as the Rangers (one of the NWAC's top rebounding teams) out-rebounded the Trojans 56-32 for the game, and recorded 20 offensive rebounds, that translated into 15 second chance points.  

In the first quarter of action the Trojan defense started strong coming up with three steals and forcing five turnovers.  Unfortunately, poor shooting from beyond the arc (shooting just 1-7) prevented EvCC from building an early lead, and the quarter ended in a back and fourth battle in which there were seven lead changes and four ties with no team leading by more than four points. 

The second quarter got underway with a 15-15 tie with Everett holding the lead for much of the quarter.  A Serafina Balderas three pointer with 5:13 to play in the second half tied the Trojans largest lead of the game at 24-20 but that would turn out to be the last point in the entire half for the Trojans.  The five minute scoring drought allowed Olympic to go on a 9-0 run that propelled them into the half with a 29-24 lead. 

Offensive woes did not go away in the 3rd quarter as  Everett went 4:20 into the second half before scoring on a Hannah Hezekiah lay up.  That completed a total time of 9:07 of game time between the 2nd and 3rd quarters that the Trojans did not score.  During that time the Rangers built the lead to as many as 14, and ultimately took a 47-37 lead heading into the 4th quarter.

The ball started to find the bottom of the net for Everett in the 4th quarter, with three Trojans combining for a total of 24, 4th quarter points on 9 of 18 shooting from the floor, but the Trojans were never able to trim the lead to less than nine, and Olympic came away with the win, and preserved their north region unbeaten status. 

With the loss, the Trojans fall to 3-2 in the North Region, tied with Bellevue for 3rd place.  Everett returns home to face Peninsula College who is coming off of a big home win against Whatcom improving their north region record to 2-3.  

Tip off is scheduled for 4:00pm at the Walt Price Center on Larry Walker Court.