OLYMPIA, Wash. – The Evergreen Geoducks scored the first 16 points of the game en route to an 81-25 blowout of the Northwest Indian Eagles on Tuesday evening at CRC Gymnasium in Olympia, Wash. The 56-point win breaks the previous school record for point differential, which was set earlier this season in a 71-16 win over Walla Walla.
The Geoducks (2-4) sprinted out to the early lead as junior Jessica Edge (Lake Stevens, Wash./Skagit Valley CC) scored eight of the first 10 points as Evergreen built the big lead. Northwest Indian (4-11) finally got on the scoreboard with 15:18 left to go in the opening period when Angela Jefferson got the put-back following an offensive rebound.
Evergreen pushed the advantage to 32 with 4:33 left to play as they led 40-8 but the Eagles ended the half on a 5-0 run as neither team managed a basket in the final 3:15 of the first half. Geoduck sophomore Danielle Swain (Rainier, Wash./Black Hills HS) collected the double-double in the opening period, putting up 11 points and 10 rebounds in 13 minutes on the floor.
Both teams struggled to find their shot to open the second half as the game went a total of 6:41 without a point scored. Swain finally opened up the scoring in the final period, hitting a pair of free throws with 16:29 on the clock.
The Evergreen lead hit 41 with 10:38 left to play on a three-ball by Edge and the Geoducks pushed the lead past the half-century mark with 2:10 left to play on a jumper in the paint by Swain. Northwest Indian ran out of gas late, going the final 3:48 without a score as Evergreen collected the 81-25 win.
The Geoducks were led by 23 points and 16 rebounds from Swain, who also had five assists, four steals and two blocks on the night. Edge put up 18 points in the win while Sami Clark (Monroe, Wash./Edmonds CC) scored 17 points to go with nine rebounds and six steals. The Geoducks shot 42.0% on the night, making 34 of 81 attempts.
Northwest Indian was led by 12 points from Jefferson. Cheyenne Martinez added eight points while Cicely Morris and Kyla Frajman finished with three and two points respectively. The Eagles turned the ball over 30 times, compared with just 15 for Evergreen, and were out-rebounded 56-28.
Evergreen opens up Cascade Conference play on Saturday night when they travel to Kirkland to take on Northwest University. Tip-off with the NU Eagles is set for 5:30 pm.
