ETNA – In a game that had the intensity of a checkers match, the third-seeded Etna Lady Lions routed the Esparto Lady Spartans (11) on Tuesday night, 64-38. The first round game of the NSCIF D-V playoffs wasn’t even that close.

The Spartans were without their top scorer and rebounder, who was ineligible for the game, and seemed as though they would’ve rather stayed home. The Lady Lions, meanwhile, appeared bored with the whole thing. After all, how many fast break buckets can you score before the thrill is gone?

Esparto (11-15) did hold leads of 1-0 and 4-3, but Ilima Adams put Etna up for good with a hoop at the 4:30 mark of the first quarter. After that, it was just about all Lady Lions. Tandy Tahckeray dished to Paige Finley for a bucket, 7-4. Two Finley freebies made it 9-4. A trey by Emily Loogman upped the Etna advantage to eight points, 12-4, with 4:04 to go in the quarter.

The Lady Spartans briefly showed signs of life, cutting the deficit to 12-8. Then, Etna was off to the races. After a Loogman free throw, Renae Hall nicely set up Adams for a jumper, 15-8. Finley scored, 17-8. Loogman came up with a swipe near half court and took it to the hole, 19-8. Another Loogman steal and pass led to a Finley basket, making it 21-8. Esparto scored, 21-10. A put back by Loogman finished the first quarter scoring, with Etna up 23-10.

By halftime, the Lady Lions had added another 10 points to their lead, and went to the locker room up 43-20. It was 56-31 at the end of three quarters, and the final was 64-38.

Annaleisa Nadig had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Lions. Paige Finley scored 13 points and had 6 steals. Emily Loogman had 12 points and 5 steals. Tandy Thackeray dropped in 10 points and had 6 rebounds. Ilima Adams put up 10 points. Amanda Stout pulled down 6 boards, and had 5 swipes. Heather Menne, who finished off the scoring in the game with a 3-point play the hard way, also grabbed 9 rebounds.

Etna (21-6) will host the sixth seeded Portola Lady Tigers on Thursday, February 25 (19-8) at 7:00 pm. Portola defeated the eleventh-seeded Los Molinos Lady Bulldogs (9-12) 58-40 in its first round game.