by Rocky River, OH – The Lutheran West Longhorns extended their win streak to 5 games in a victory over conference foe Hawken and Wednesday night. Lutheran West and their shooting duo of Ava Carter and Ella Heisner got off to a fast start. Carter and Heisner led the way for the Longhorns, knocking down three 3-pointers each.
Heisner, riding her hot shooting streak the last few games, started off by banking in a 3-ball from the wing. She added two more buckets in the quarter, including another triple that gave her 8 points in the opening quarter. Ava Carter added 7 points of her own, including one 3-pointer. Aliciana Medina and Maddie Kandrach contributed 5 and 4 points respectively in the first quarter as well.
The shooting barrage did not stop in the 2nd quarter for Lutheran West. Sophomores Addy Esposito and Khloe Gill got in on the fun. Esposito scored 5 in the frame, including a 3-pointer of her own. Gill got her work done in the paint, adding 4 points. Ava Carter continued to shoot from long-range hitting another two 3-balls in the 2nd quarter. Maddie Kandrach continued her work inside, adding 4 more points to her game total. At the half, the Longhorns held a 43-8 lead over the Hawken Hawks.
With a running clock for the entire second half, scoring was at a minimum. However, Hawken came out of the locker room with a different energy. They eclipsed their entire first half total scoring 12 points in the third quarter. Julia Scales and Rilynn Knighton each knocked down a 3-pointer. Scales added another bucket to increase her scoring total to 7 points.
Sasha Miller also added a bucket to her first half of 3 points. She ended the game with 5 points. Credit to Hawken Hawks Head Coach Cy Lippold for never giving up on her team and coaching hard throughout the entire game. She had her Hawks playing with high intensity throughout the game regardless of what the scoreboard read.
In the second half for the Longhorns, Maddie Kandrach added another 4 points, giving her 12 for the game. Ella Heisner knocked down her 3rd triple of the game, increasing her game total to 11 points. Khloe Gill scored the only points for either team in the final frame, knocking down a pair of free throws. She ended the contest with 6 points. At the final buzzer, the Longhorns came out on top with a 52-20 win, improving their season record to 13-4.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Lutheran West Senior Guard Ava Carter
Carter led the way for Lutheran West, scoring all her game-high 13 points in the first half.
