Eagles avenge early season loss against Wolves

Issaquah conquers Eastlake in girls basketball battle

By Shaun Scott • January 27, 2016 2:52 pm

Basketball is known to be a game consisting of a plethora of runs.

This old school cliché couldn’t have been more true with the matchup between the Issaquah Eagles and Eastlake Wolves girls basketball squads.

Issaquah overcame a frenzied Eastlake rally in the first half, cruising to a 64-53 win on Jan. 22 at Issaquah High School. Issaquah had an early 17-7 lead but saw it disappear in the second quarter of play. Eastlake point guard Gina Marxen connected on a three-pointer late in the second quarter, giving the Wolves a 20-17 lead. The 13-0 run unveiled by the Wolves ended as Issaquah scored the final five points of the second quarter, regaining a 22-20 lead at halftime. Issaquah sophomore Mariah VanHalm, who scored a team-high 19 points, said the Eagles were determined to defeat the Wolves after suffering a 49-48 defeat against the Wolves on Dec. 11.

“The key was not getting down on ourselves,” VanHalm said. “Sometimes when things aren’t going our way we get a little negative but tonight we were all intense and were picking each other up. We really wanted this game. Last time we played them they beat us by one point and we really wanted revenge. This was really important to us because the last three or four years we have always played them in the knockout round of the playoffs. Three years ago they knocked us out, two years ago they knocked us out and last year we knocked them out. It is a really strong rivalry.”

The Eagles dominated the second half and led by 18 points early in the fourth quarter of play. Issaquah improved its overall record to 10-5 with the win and Eastlake dropped to 11-6.

Eagles’ head coach Nicole Reid was pleased with the way her team controlled possession of the ball against the hard-charging Eastlake defense.

“I think the major thing that we had to remember the whole game was to take care of the ball. Eastlake is a very well-coached team and they have great players. We knew they were going to make a run. The key for us was to take a breath, play our game and take care of the ball,” Reid said.