Playing its third game in four days, the W.F. West girls basketball team pulled away from 1A Klahowya Saturday afternoon at home for a 66-39 victory. It’s the Bearcats 10th win of the season.
The Bearcats (10-2, 5-1 2A EvCo) didn’t start in their patented press and zone, due to general fatigue from playing so many games over 96 hours, and came out slow, leading the Eagles 24-21 at the half.
Kyla McCallum’s nine first half points kept the Bearcats ahead, but after the break, W.F. West came out in their press, and started the third quarter on a 9-0 run.
“We seemed a little gassed at the end of the Black Hills game,” Bearcats coach Kyle Karnofski said. “I tried something different. We started in our normal defense, but then we got back into our bread and butter in the second half, getting into our press and then dropping into our zone.”
The Bearcats reaped the benefits of their press, getting into passing lanes and frustrating a much-smaller but scrappy Klahowya squad, before putting the Eagles away in the fourth quarter in dominant fashion.
Drea Brumfield led the Bearcats with 19 points, but Olivia Remund, Lexi Roberts, Amanda Bennett, Morgan Rogerson, and Makayla Mencke led the charge on defense, per Karnofski.
“They were the head of the snake and they did a great job,” he said.
The Bearcats will get one day off on Sunday before returning to action for back-to-back contests against Mark Morris at Lower Columbia Community College on Monday and Aberdeen on Tuesday.
