Wolves bite back
February 9, 2009
By Christopher Huber
Ellie Martinez, Eastlake senior forward, looks for a chance to score against Brooke Miller, Issaquah sophomore guard, in the fourth quarter. Photo by Greg Farrar
It was pretty straightforward: the Eastlake girls basketball team had to beat division-leading Issaquah if it wanted to remain in contention for the top KingCo Crest Division spot.
The Lady Wolves had lost to the Eagles two weeks ago in Issaquah and needed to redeem themselves on their home court.
“We wanted revenge from them from last time,” Eastlake senior Alyssa Charlston said. “We lost big to them last time and got embarrassed.”
Eastlake (12-5, 10-4 KingCo Crest) got its revenge in a 48-45 win over Issaquah (12-5, 10-3) Feb. 6 in front of an excited home crowd.
“I told the girls, ‘to be the best you’ve got to beat the best,’” Eastlake head coach Scott Sartorius said after the game.Neither team looked its best in the first half, though.
Eastlake finished the first quarter with an 11-9 lead. The two teams traded turnovers for the beginning part of the second quarter and scored a combined four points in three and a half minutes.
“Since the shots weren’t falling and we weren’t finishing, we really had to get defensive stops,” Issaquah’s Maddey Pflaumer said. “We had to contain them and we’d try to score but it didn’t work.”
Eastlake’s Ellie Martinez broke the scoring drought with less than three minutes left in the half and Issaquah turned up its defense.
“I think we played a little bit tentative in the first quarter,” Issaquah coach Kathy Gibson said after the game. “It took us a while to build that confidence. The girls were kind of frustrated and kind of dwelling on missing some of those lay-ins.”
Eastlake led by two, 18-16, at halftime after senior forward Laura Bachman drained a 3-pointer in the final minute.
Both Eastlake and Issaquah came out ready to play in the second half. In the third, Pflaumer had her second block of the game just as the Lady Wolves found their rhythm down low and went on an 8-2 run.
“We moved better outside,” Sartorius said. “The defense shifted and allowed Ellie (Martinez) and Alyssa to get some more shots.”
Issaquah held its own down the stretch, battling to within two points late in the fourth quarter, but Eastlake senior guard Jena Boyle hit one last free throw to make it a three-point game.
“It would have been a lot tougher to stop them if they had only needed a two,” Sartorius said.
Charlston finished with a game-high 15 points, Martinez and Bachman each had 11.
Issaquah’s Pflaumer led the Lady Eagles with 13 points, while senior Erin Nicol scored well under her average with nine points.
“Issaquah is an incredibly solid team and a win against them is a big deal for us,” Charlston said. “We gotta come out and win some more games and get a good seed in the playoffs.”
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.sammamishreview.com.
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