FERNDALE – The Golden Eagles are rolling, and the success is team-wide.
Ferndale cruised to a 77-35 league victory over Mount Baker Saturday night, with all nine players in uniform scoring at least two points and four recording double digits. The win also kept the Golden Eagles undefeated in Northwest Conference games.
It was the second-ever head-to-head matchup between Ferndale coach Terri Yost and Mount Baker coach Tiffany Ramirez, who were teammates in high school. The pair played together at Mount Baker in 2005 and were also neighbors growing up.
“She’s a great person and it’s just fun to actually compete,” Yost said of coaching against Ramirez. “She loves basketball and is a competitor like I am, so it’s just fun because we know how it is on both ends of the court.”
Ferndale returned all five starters from last year’s team that finished 10-10 overall and was eliminated in a 3A District 1 consolation semifinal game. Yost has a lot of confidence in her group this season, and the Golden Eagles are off to a 5-1 overall record and 4-0 resume in NWC games.
Mount Baker scored the game’s first bucket, but Ferndale quickly began imposing its will.
The Golden Eagles found their shots in a variety of areas. Mount Baker struggled to control a frequently aggressive Ellie Ochoa, as the Ferndale senior guard finished with a team-high 20 points.
“She just gave 100 percent effort, on both ends of the court,” Yost said of Ochoa. “She was in the passing lanes, constantly talking. [On] offense, she just took control of it.”
Ferndale distributed the ball well, spreading the points around and taking an early 10-2 lead. As steady as she was offensively, Ochoa quickly became a headache for the Mountaineers on defense by getting steals and scoring in transition.
“That’s kind of how I feel like our team gets our energy — off of steals and good defense,” Ochoa said. “That’s how we get fired up.”
It was smooth sailing for the Golden Eagles to start, leading 23-7 after the first quarter.
The margin only continued to grow in the second, and Ferndale had eight players with at least one notch in the scorebook by halftime — team basketball at its finest.
Mount Baker’s offense struggled, with senior guard Madison Barter shouldering the load all game. Barter had 15 of her team’s 20 points in the first half, and Ferndale’s lead was 27 at the break.
Ferndale came out of the second-half gates hot, scoring the third quarter’s first eight points to go up 55-20. The Mountaineers were held to eight points in the period, while the Golden Eagles led by as much as 40.
A buzzer-beater 3-pointer by Barter made it 65-28 moving into the final quarter of play.
The Golden Eagles ran out the clock in the fourth quarter en route to another convincing victory. Barter finished with 25 of Mount Baker’s 35 points, as only three Mountaineers recorded a bucket.
Junior guard Mallory Butenschoen finished with 14 points for Ferndale. Freshman guard Jillea Fox finished with 11, and senior guard Cailyn Kessen added 10.
“One of the things we’re focusing on this year is teamwork,” Ochoa said. “I think we’re definitely executing that very well. It’s fun when everybody contributes.”
Next up for Ferndale is a home game versus Sedro-Woolley (0-7, 0-4 NWC) on Dec. 20 at 7:15 p.m.
Mount Baker dropped to 2-4 overall and 0-4 in NWC games. The Mountaineers will travel to Meridian (0-4, 0-4 NWC) on Dec. 21 for a 7:15 p.m. tipoff.
Score by quarter
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total |
| Ferndale | 23 | 24 | 18 | 12 | 77 |
| Mount Baker | 7 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 35 |
