By Skip Hunter –

The SWC Eagle girls opened the 2022 home portion of their season by entertaining the Hills-Beaver Creek Patriots. The Patriots are struggling a bit this year, and the Eagles exploited their weaknesses to the tune of an 82-52 victory.  The pep band got things started off in the right directions with its rendition of our national anthem.

Nine seconds into the game the Eagles scored with Morgan Pap hitting an open Ana Veldkamp for 2 points. Makenna Moss scored next making a pair of free throws. Pap swiped the ball, scored on a drive to give the Eagles a 6-0 lead less than 2 minutes into the game. After an HBC trey, Veldkamp scored next for the Eagles. The visitors splashed home another trey to make the score 8-6.

Moss made her presence known down low, was fouled, and went 1 for 2 at the line. The teams traded buckets with Mackenzie Pap scoring for SWC. Jocelyn Barron and Mo. Pap worked an inside-out play with Pap hitting a 3-ball. Ma. Pap scored next after picking a Patriot’s pocket. After an HBC bucket, Lindsie Fick converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to give the Eagles a 19-11 advantage. The Patriots scored again but the Eagles scored 3 times in 29 seconds. Rylie Fey picked up a bucket, and then Kierra Binford twice found an open Moss for points giving the Eagles a 25-13 lead with 6:59 left in the first half.

HBC scored again, but Barron went to work down low using an Ma. Pap pass. Shaylee Van Essen hit a triple using a Barron pass. HBC tried to stay in the game, but the Eagles kept scoring. Veldkamp hit from deep, assisted by Binford. Moss made a free throw, followed by a Veldkamp deuce assisted by Mo. Pap. Fey hit from beyond the arc after catching a Veldkamp pass. Then a baseline pass from Mo. Pap to Moss gave the Eagles their eleventh consecutive point. HBC ended the run with a deuce, but Pap and Moss worked their magic again. A Patriot triple ended their first-half scoring, but SWC got the last word with 2 Moss free throws, giving the Eagles a 45-22 halftime lead.