By Jeremy Martin

Students may still be on winter break, but when Chief Sealth hosted West Seattle on Friday night not one player on the court was taking it easy.

The intense effort put fourth during West Seattle’s 65-31 victory was especially apparent in the Wildcat’s sophomore duo of Lydia Giomi and Lexi Ioane who combined for a whopping 63 percent of the teams scoring output.

Giomi who anchored the team with a double double of 16 points and 12 rebounds to go with three blocks was a bit too much inside for the Ladyhawks who’s smaller, quicker lineup just didn’t have the size to throw at the 6’5’’ center.

Many of Giomi’s points came thanks to the great vision of Ioane, who despite only contributing four assists effectively moved the ball down court and attacked the
Sealth full court press with timely passes and strong ball handling.

The forward’s game high 25 points, 8 rebounds and three steals spoke volumes towards her well developed court presence and in game maturity.

Junior Charli Elliott was a defensive force nabbing three steals and grabbing 9 rebounds.

Despite strong stat lines from its sophomore stars, it took a while for West Seattle to get going as the Ladyhawk press caused several early turnovers and made it difficult for the Wildcats to set up its half court sets.

But once across midcourt, West Seattle was able to play to its strengths; which include ample physicality and patience.

As has been the case throughout the season, West Seattle owned the glass, coming away with a 41-35 rebounding advantage.

Perhaps due to West Seattle’s decisive size in the lane, Sealth chose to live and die from the perimeter as the Ladyhawks attempted to bust open the Wildcats 2-3 zone with three point attempts and quick cuts towards the key.

The Ladyhawks began to showcase its outside prowess late in the first quarter upon finding itself on the wrong end of an 11-2 score.

But the early West Seattle run was quickly punctuated by a pair of O’Shae Walker three pointers that pulled the Ladyhawks to within four points.

Following her second triple, Walker would come up with two consecutive steals, the first of which led to a pair of Samantha Scroggins free throws.

Walker finished as Sealth’s leading scorer, coming away with 11 points, adding 5 boards and four steals for good measure.

Walker’s effort sparked the Ladyhawks on several occasions but her sharp shooting and hustle wasn’t quite enough as the Wildcats would find ways throughout the game to add to its lead.

Though it never led, the Ladyhawks also never gave in, notably coming out of halftime fired up en route to a 5-0 run that quickly got the attention of the Wildcats.

Walker was the catalyst of this run as well; drilling her third triple of the game during the opening seconds of the third quarter.

Walker’s backcourt mate Scroggins was also effective during the course of the game as the smooth lefty hit a pair of shots and grabbed 6 rebounds.

Forward Lani Taylor was tenacious, collecting 8 rebounds and picking up five points for Sealth.