One big run was all the W.F. West girls basketball team needed to leave Black Hills in the dust, powering the Bearcats to a 79-31 win in Thurston County on Thursday.
The Bearcats led 23-13 after the first quarter, and the first three minutes of the second saw both teams score just two points. But coming out of a Black Hills timeout with a shade under five minutes to go, W.F. West found its rhythm at once, finishing the half on a 21-2 run.
“We kind of just buckled down a little bit, got our composure back, and started working on both ends,” W.F. West coach Kyle Karnofski said.
Julia Dalan led a balanced offensive effort with 21 points. Lena Fragner came in on 16, Morgan Rogerson scored 15, and Carlie Deskins added 13, with Grace Simpson barely missing out on double digits at eight.
“It’s cool to see,” Karnofski said. “Our goal is always to have three in double figures, and we had four, and we had one that was right there. It was pretty good and spread-out, scoring-wise.”
Coming out of halftime, the Bearcats let their defense do the heavy lifting, holding Black Hills to seven points in both the third and fourth quarters.
Black Hills (2-4, 1-2 2A EvCo) will be back in action Monday, at home against River Ridge.
W.F. West (6-0, 3-0) will get an extra before it hosts Mark Morris in a possible District 4 tournament prologue, with the Bearcats still undefeated but getting to the point in the season where that starts to be of note.
“I really like where we’re at,” Karnofski said. “Obviously, there’s still things we still are working on and we are still prepping for… but I really like how some of our girls have stepped up. It took them a couple of games to figure out some of their roles and how to work that and work together, but they’re all smart kids. The past couple of games it’s been cool to see that maturation process from them, learning to work together and communicate together as a collective group.”
