It took W.F. West less than 15 seconds to take the lead in Centralia on Tuesday, and the Bearcats never looked back in a 55-21 Swamp Cup victory.

“A rivalry win is always good,” W.F. West coach Kyle Karnofski said. “It’s good to start the week off with a win.”

After the quick bucket, a three from Dilyn Boeck, the Bearcats (15-1, 5-0 2A EvCo) didn’t take long to build a double-digit lead.

Boeck hit another three later in the frame, Grace Simpson added another from the corner, and Julia Dalan scored 10 points. Dalan’s fifth and final field goal of the quarter came at the buzzer, as her last-second layup fell to put W.F. West up 21-6 after one.

The offense slowed down a bit in the second, as the Bearcats scored just 12 points in the frame, but they allowed just two points and went into the half up 25.

Kaitlyn Chloupek made her return from injury with four points in the first half, but Rhylee Beebe is still unable to go. That led Ellie Clinton and Madi McManus both to still see extended time in the first half. The latter pair has seen more time in Chloupek and Beebe’s absence. 

“They’ve kind of played a lot more of those minutes and stepped up, which is awesome,” Karnofski said. “I thought that we played pretty deep, and there were good minutes all around … You never know when you’re gonna need a kid, and getting them experience is great.”

The third quarter was the Bearcats’ best, as they went on a 15-0 run to force a running clock.

In that quarter, Amanda Bennett set another school record. Two weeks ago, she set the school’s career assists record, and on Tuesday, she recorded her 234th steal. That breaks a 21-year old record that was set by Bri Thompson, who graduated in 2003.

Dalan finished with a team-high 23 points, while Boeck was close behind with 17. McManus and Chloupek both added four.

Centralia’s Makenzie Erickson went to work chipping away at the lead after the clock began running, hitting her first bucket of the night in the third before adding eight points in the fourth.

She finished with a team-high 10 points, and Brooklyn Sprague, who scored six points in the first and later hit a three, finished with nine.

Centralia coach Austin Danielson said those two did an excellent job finding their shots, even against a tough defense.

“Sometimes with post presence like that, it can be scary,” Danielson said. “But you gotta step up when you have the opportunity, and they did.”

The Tigers saved their best defensively for the final frame, where they allowed just three points. Danielson acknowledged that the final score wouldn’t indicate a great defensive performance, but she was still proud of the effort her team put together against the EvCo's best.

“My girls worked so hard at the gameplan and their jobs,” Danielson said. “Emma Ferch and Maddie Ahern were busting their tails … Payton Baumel was working really hard for position inside. Sometimes there’s little you can do about good shooting, but there were some really outstanding defensive plays.”

Centralia (5-10, 0-5 2A EvCo) has now lost four in a row after a 5-6 start to the season, something Danielson said is to be expected with a young team.

“There’s ups and downs,” Danielson said. “If you can learn from each, you’ll be better for it. We have young girls who are new to the high school game but really want to be successful and really have their heart in it … I do think we are getting better as a team.”

The Tigers will look to snap the losing streak at Aberdeen on Thursday.

The Bearcats, on the other hand, have now won seven games in a row after suffering their only loss of the season, and they pushed their league winning streak to 18 games.

They’ll look to extend both of those streaks at Tumwater on Thursday.

“It’s W.F. West-Tumwater,” Karnofski said. “We’ve had some good battles the last 10 years or so with them. It’s always fun.”