NAPAVINE — The proceedings in Tiger Town on Wednesday night quickly devolved into one-way traffic, as the Napavine girls basketball team laid a hammer down on Toledo for a half before pulling back and seeing out a 68-20 win.
“I thought we played really well tonight,” Napavine coach Shane Schutz said. “Our defense helped create our offense.”
That second part was true indeed; the Tigers forced 30 turnovers in 32 minutes of play and turned them into 36 points, enough to win handily by itself. Napavine came away with 21 steals as a team, led by four each from Keira O’Neill and Morgan Hamilton.
O’Neill helped lead the offense as well, putting in 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, and had a team-high seven rebounds and four assists.
Hayden Kaut shared the team lead with 16 points of her own, hitting a pair of 3-pointers.
“Keira O’Neill played really tough inside for us tonight,” Schutz said. “I also thought Hayden Kaut did a great job of mixing it up by shooting threes as well as driving to the hoop to score.”
Hamilton scored 11 points and logged three assists. As a team, the Tigers shot 51 percent from the field, 47 percent from beyond the arc, and went 7 for 8 at the line.
The Riverhawks, meanwhile, racked up the rims with a rough 17 percent clip from the floor. Ryah Stanley led the way with seven points and Haige Hill had five off the bench.
Napavine nearly scored enough points to win before Toledo managed to get on the board, jumping out to an 18-0 lead with a suffocating full-court press and a shooting night that saw everything go in early. By the end of the first quarter, it was 25-6; by halftime, it was 47-11.
The hosts dominated the boards, outrebounding their guests 33-9. Toledo didn’t log a single offensive rebound, while Napavine turned 10 into nine second-chance points.
Napavine (4-2, 3-0 C2BL) will put its undefeated league record back on the line Friday, hosting Kalama. Toledo (2-4, 1-2 C2BL) will host Rainier.
