Despite some early struggles, and an effective defense against star Addison Hall in the first half, the Winlock girls basketball team got out and running in a 56-32 win over Toutle Lake Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals (11-7, 5-4 C2BL) faced a stiff Ducks defense, which doubled Hall in the post and did everything they could to prevent the Cards’ team-leading scorer from touching the ball early.
But on the outside, Charlie Carper (14 points) and Kindyl Kelly (10 points) made the Ducks pay, and Hall eventually got her own with a game-high 22 points.
“I have to give Toutle Lake a lot of credit, they played really good defense against Addison,” Cards coach Dracy McCoy said. “She didn’t get a lot of touches but she capitalized on those touches. Kindyl and Charlie picked up the scoring slack in the first half.”
Toutle played Winlock tough in the first quarter, trailing by just four points after one quarter, but a series of three steals in a row by Carper put the Cardinals ahead by double-digits for good in the victory.
McCoy also praised the play of reserves Kiya Peppers and Maia Chaney, who came in and got some rebounds and played good defense. The Cardinals will play another league game against Onalaska on Monday entering the final week of the regular season.
