It was the defensive effort in the second half that carried the Black Hills High School girls basketball team to a 56-45 victory over Tumwater at home on Friday night to garner a split of two rivalry games.
After Natalie Buchanan buried a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to push the Wolves (11-8, 4-4 EvCo) in front by eight, they never relinquished the lead again. Buchanan added eight points in the second half.
“We took care of the ball better,” Black Hills head coach Herb Guscott said. “Everybody had a hand in the game tonight.”
Tumwater (11-8, 5-3) was held to just four made field goals in the final two quarters. It trailed by four after one, but never got closer than six after halftime. Assistant head coach Gabi Larson did feel the T-Birds offense never got settled in the second half.
“Defensively, they scouted great,” she said. “They beat us on the boards. Just try to block out the noise.”
Sophomore Maesyn Williams was the lone T-Bird in double figures with a game-high 20 points while Malia Eggers and Reece Brewer each added seven points each.
Tumwater is still in control of being the No. 2 seed for the district tournament, but it needs to win one of the last two games and needs Black Hills to lose a game. It’s the opposite for the Wolve
