Hull, Iowa — The Western Christian Wolfpack broomed the Braves of Washington High School in Cherokee in double-header basketball action Friday night at the Western Christian gym in Hull.
The girls contest was a very physical game with both teams coming out in a full court press defense. The Wolfpack led at all the breaks, 23-15 at the end of the 1st quarter, 53-28 at intermission and 70-41 at the end of the 3rd, before winning 88-53.
Western’s Olivia Granstra led all scorers with 24 points, three other Western players joined Granstra in double-figures, Abby Postma with 21, along with Madison Vis and Macay Van’t Hul who each contributed 10 points.
Cherokee was led offensively by Alexis Pingel, who accounted for 19 of Cherokee’s 53 points. The only other Cherokee player in double figures was Kenna Mongan who came off the bench to score 17 for the Braves.
With the win, Western Christian extends their season record to 5-2 going into the Christmas break.
In the boys game, the Wolfpack held a 13-12 lead at the end of the first before outscoring Cherokee 17-8 in the second quarter to make the score at halftime 30-20 in favor of Western. The Wolfpack led 51-35 at the end of three, en route to a 71-58 win over the Braves of Cherokee.
The leading scorer for each team dumped in 18 points on the night. Western Christian’s Ty Van Essen came off the bench to lead the Wolfpack with 18, while Cherokee starter Joe Benson contributed 18 points in Cherokee’s loss. Western had two other players with double-digit scoring efforts; Eli Van Essen contributed 14 points, 12 of which came from 3-point range. Tyson Boer contributed 12 points to the Wolfpack winning effort.
In addition to Benson, Cherokee had two other players who reached double figures offensively; Alex Paulsrud contributed 12 and Trevor Lundquist scored 10 points on the night.
Friday night’s games marked the last contests before the Christmas break for the Wolfpack teams. Western Christian will be back in action, at home, on Friday January 3rd, when they’ll entertain Sergeant Bluff-Luton in a non-conference girl/boy doubleheader.
