LYNDEN – It does not matter who is on the floor for the Lyncs.
Lynden Christian had 10 players put a notch in the scorebook, cruising to a 72-30 victory over Washougal in the first round of the Lynden Christmas Classic tournament on Wednesday night.
Lyncs sophomore guard Grace Hintz scored a game-high 22 in just under 20 minutes of playtime before LC coach Brady Bomber pulled the starters early in the second half.
“I felt we really clicked early in the first and second quarter,” Hintz said. “We were just hitting our shots, everyone was finding each other, and it was just really fun. It was a great win.”
After snow cancelations and the holiday break, the Lyncs were happy to be back on the court. Bomber had been away from the team even longer after recently becoming a father.
“I was really happy with the way we played. We haven’t played in 11 days, and I haven’t been here for 16 days,” Bomber said. “We played really hard, which is something we obviously want to do all the time.”
LC scored the first 13 points of the game as Hintz and freshman guard Ella Fritts each scored four in the opening stretch.
Washougal burned a full timeout with 4:43 remaining in the first quarter to make some adjustments, and the Panthers finally found some offensive rhythm. That didn’t stop LC from keeping the offensive pressure on, and the Lyncs led 23-9 after one quarter.
Hintz rattled off 11 straight points — including three-straight 3-pointers — early in the second quarter to push LC’s lead to 23. The Lyncs’ run in the period grew to 15-0 before Washougal earned another bucket.
“I just felt like I had it, so I just kept shooting,” Hintz said. “My teammates kept finding me.”
The Lyncs held Washougal to seven points in the second quarter and took a 48-16 advantage into halftime. Hintz led LC with a game-high 18 first-half points.
LC deployed its bench midway through the third quarter, putting all five starters on the bench for remainder of the game. The Lyncs still outscored Washougal 24-14 in the third and fourth quarters, and a running clock in the final period expedited the win for LC.
Fritts followed up Hintz’s performance with 13 points. Senior guards Daisy Poag and Demi Dysktra turned in solid outings as well. Poag scored nine points, all on 3-pointers, while Dykstra finished with seven.
“They had some size, and I thought we did a really nice job early of making sure we mitigated that,” Bomber said. “We’re not the biggest team around, so that’s going to be a really big key for us.”
Washougal was led by 10 points from junior guard and forward Isabella Albaugh. Senior guard Chloe Johnson added seven for the Panthers.
LC advanced to 8-0 on the season (4-0 Northwest Conference) and will face White River (6-1, 5-0 2A South Puget Sound League) at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 29.
