Evergreen Lutheran continued to demonstrate its speed and played like Class 2B girls state basketball contenders in a 36-24 SeaTac 2B South division victory against Crosspoint Academy (Bremerton) at its Des Moines campus on Saturday, January 9.

In running their league record to 3-0 tie for first with Tacoma Baptist and overall mark to 8-3, the flying Eagles established the tempo early to seize sizable leads before the Warriors made the game look closer with a fourth quarter flurry.

"This game was physical, but we can play that way if we need to," said EL head coach Jeff Kurbis. "We've won two big games during this period of the season. Today, we kept their big gal under control until she started to get too many inside shots. We go nine deep and our speed was much greater than theirs. We're still improving everyday and the girls continue wanting to learn more."

Crosspoint learned much about the blazing quickness of Evergreen Lutheran when the Eagles fired off the first nine points of the game on the way to a 16-3 first quarter control. The Evergreen Lutheran defense denied the Warriors the necessary space to shoot. CPA also had problems reaching the moderately safer haven past half court in the face of the constantly double teaming defense of the Eagles.

Rebounding and foot speed stayed in play to keep the Warriors from mounting any dangerous strikes against the Eagles as the EL lead reached 21 points at one stage in the third quarter and at another moment in the fourth quarter.

Five-foot, two-inch senior Markelle Lance posted eight of her team high 10 points in the first half while the 6-0 Melanie Laete finished with eight points, five rebounds and five assists. Erika Herman posted five points.

Six-foot, three-inch Brittany Mosey scored 10 of her game high 17 points in the first half for Crosspoint Academy.
"I'm proud of how we've played," stated Lance. "Today, we needed to box out more and transition."