Eagles defense leads them to first regular season win

SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake Eagles (1-1) earned a dominant 62-24 win at home over the Cascade Christian Academy Wolverines. Head Coach Leonard Lundgren said he was proud to see everyone get involved.   

“It feels really good. The best part about the win is everybody on the team scored a point tonight. That's the first time I've ever had a team where everybody on the bench has scored a point,” Lundgren said.   

The Eagles were aggressive on defense throughout the game, forcing several turnovers and capitalizing on fastbreaks to build up a commanding 16-2 lead after the first quarter. They carried this momentum to the end of the first half through Mylee Dana’s efforts on both ends. Soap Lake went into halftime with a 26-11 lead over the Wolverines. In the second half, the Eagles held CCA to single digits in the third and fourth quarters. Meanwhile, they put up 19 and 17 points to secure their first win of the season.   

Lundgren said Dana aggressively pursued the ball against the Wolverines.   

“I've coached her up from a seventh grader up and her eye coordination on the ball – it's like a hawk,” he said. “Her specialty is steals, and that's all she does. She had a phenomenal game.”  

This approach to defense spread across the Eagles entire starting lineup from the beginning of the game. In addition to Dana, Tanya Zubritskiy, Liana Sushik, Brooke Dana and Sage Hart created an impenetrable wall at half court. This helped them create turnovers and build a strong 16-2 lead in the first quarter.  

In the second quarter, Soap Lake continued to be aggressive on defense and put up buckets on fastbreaks. Whenever they had a normal transition to offense, they utilized ball movement to attack the rim and build their lead. By halftime, the Eagles had a 26-11 lead over the Wolverines.   

Lundgren said their defensive approach was a new strategy they were implementing. The 1-3-1 zone defense can be an effective strategy for teams trying to disrupt passing lanes, force turnovers and create fastbreaks.   

“We gave a few buckets on it, but we were trying to see what would work, and it worked pretty well for the most part. We're just trying to cause some easy turnovers (for us),” Lundgren said.   

The Eagles came out fast in the third quarter and continued to operate the same way they did in the first half. Their 19-7 scoring run gave them a 45-18 lead heading into the fourth quarter.   

“We had some great ball movement, the girls settled down, they found each other, they're looking to shoot first, but they also saw the open person to make the extra pass,” Lundgren said.   

This effective ball movement allowed every active player to score a point by the halfway mark of the fourth quarter. Soap Lake rode their momentum to a 62-24 win over CCA and entered the win column for the first time this season.   

Even with the win, Lundgren still saw room for improvement.   

“We just (need to) make free throws, and rebounding wasn't very good for us tonight. We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds. And then, just finish the easy shots. We missed a lot of inside shots,” he said.   

Looking ahead, the Eagles return to the hardwood on Dec. 19 to face Entiat on the road at 6 p.m. Lundgren and the Eagles are focused on keeping the pressure up and fine tuning the little details of their game to keep improving.   

“That's how we're going to keep winning,” he said. “We’ve got to make the easy shots. I call them the gimmes, the lay-ins or the inside, the five foot... we’ve got to have those. Work on those, work on the press a little bit more and just work on little things.”  

BOX SCORE:  

CCAW: 2-9-7-6: 24  

SPLK: 16-10-19-17: 62 

    The Eagles’ Mylee Dana (1) takes off with the ball on a fastbreak after forcing a turnover. Head Coach Leonard Lundgren said Dana was like a hawk for the ball, forcing several turnovers throughout the game.
  

    The Eagles’ Liana Sushik (3) creates a defensive wall in front of the Cascade Christian Academy player. Head Coach Leonard Lundgren said the Eagles were trying some new things on defense Wednesday.
  

    Liana Sushik (3) dribbles the ball around a defender during their game against Cascade Christian Academy on Wednesday. Every player for the Eagles scored a point in this game.
  

    Sage Hart (23) pops the ball free from the Cascade Christian Academy player on defense and forces a turnover.
  

    The Eagles’ Janessa Knudsen (5) gets set on defense as Cascade Christian Academy advances the ball down the court.