WEED – The College of the Siskiyous Lady Eagles hoops team outplayed the Yuba 49ers in the first half of Wednesday’s contest. In the second half, COS blew Yuba off the court, holding the 49ers scoreless for over 10 minutes.

Jasmine “Jazzy” McDaniels started COS on the way to victory, scoring the first four points of the game. Crissy Watts dialed long distance to increase the lead to 7-0. Watts would nail four 3-balls in the first half and a total of six in the contest.

Yuba worked its way back to take a 10-9 lead with about seven minutes gone in the first half. The game remained close until near the midway point of the opening stanza, when COS began to take control, partly due to an increase in defensive pressure.

With the game tied 14-14, Jennifer Whipple put COS on top 16-14. Watts hit a 3-pointer, making it 19-14. Watts then dished to Stephanie Batchelder for a bucket, increasing the lead to 21-14. Leah Swain made it 23-14 on a put back.

The 49ers came back to narrow the margin to a bucket at 27-25, but COS responded by outscoring Yuba 18-9 the remainder of the half.

Whipple hit from deep to increase the lead to 30-25, and did it again a few seconds later, making it 33-28. McDaniel added a put back, Watts hit a rainbow for three, and Dijana Topalovic nailed a 3-ball, making it 41-28.

Yuba made a mini run, to cut the gap to 41-34. However, the Lady Eagles pushed the lead back up to 11. Watts hit Whipple on a nice baseline cut for a hoop, and then picked up a bucket of her own, to make it 45-34 going into the locker room.

The 49ers opened the scoring in the second half to make the score 45-35. A freebie by McDaniel, a 3-pointer by Batchelder, and two from the charity stripe by Swain increased COS’ lead to 51-36.

After a Yuba basket, Amber Franko and Batcheleder executed some give-and-go action for a Batchelder hoop, to make it 53-38.

The Lady Eagles led by 12 points, 60-48, when they went into domination mode. Over about a 10 minute span, COS outscored Yuba 20-0.

Kelly Stephens started the run with a 3-ball. Stephens then hit Franko for a reverse lay up. A pair of Stephens free throws, increased the Lady Eagles’ lead to 67-48.

Next it was Watts turn, as she hit a 3-pointer and drove to the hoop for a bucket, making it 72-48. Joining the long distance festival, Franko added 3-points to the COS total.

A basket by Watts and a McDaniel freebie pushed the lead up to 30 points, at 78-48. Franko dropped a dime to Yreka High grad Alyssa Scala for a bucket on the move, to cap the run, and give COS an 80-48 advantage, with 3:30 remaining.

From there, the Lady Eagles cruised to an 85-56 win.

Following the game, Coach Tom Power assessed his team’s performance.

“Big win. We’re still working on things, getting things going. We’ve been working on trying to take our time, and set the offense up. We can get balls up pretty quick, and we just want to score right away, rather than getting that ball inside and using a little bit of our height,” said Powers.

Asked about how his team has improved, Powers said, “I think Amber has gotten a little better each game, which has helped. Stephanie has also played a little better the last few games, without turning the ball over,” said Powers. “I think we have the potential to be a real good team. It’s just whether we can keep ourselves getting a little better all the time. Hopefully we’ll be where we want to be by Christmas break.”

Crissy Watts led all scorers with 25 points. Jennifer Whipple had 12, and Amber Franko recorded 11 points. Lindy Ludkin led Yuba with 15 points, on five 3-pointers.

With the win, COS evened its record at 3-3. The Lady Eagles head to San Pablo for the Contra Costa Comet Classic next Thursday – Saturday.