LocalSportsJournal.com

CUSTER — Mason County Eastern’s girls basketball team definitely was the better team in Wednesday night’s Western Michigan D League encounter with Bear Lake, and it showed up in the final score with the Cardinals rolling to a 34-13 victory.

The Cardinals improved to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the WMD with the win, as they successful rebounded from a 43-14 loss to White Cloud.

“One of my seniors was out Monday and Tuesday, so I had her come off the bench,” Cardinals head coach Jacob Smith said. “She had just got back to school today.

“I was trying not to push her too hard. Towards the end I tried to mix in a few other girls, get them playing time and see what works. We scored only two points in the fourth quarter, but we were trying to run different sets, trying to get girls in the right spots just so they could get a feel for each other.”

Eastern had a 9-2 lead at the end of the first quarter, which they stretched to 18-7 at the half. The Cardinals took a 32-9 lead into the fourth quarter.

Smith was pleased with the team’s performance overall, as the Cardinals came up with 17 steals and 36 rebounds, with only 10 turnovers

Hillary Howe led the Cardinals with 16 points and Corrinna Hernandez added 10.

The Cardinals are at Big Rapids Crossroads on Friday night.