Bruins Win Two in a Row, Get Over the .500 Hump

White Salmon got the scoring going early in its seventh non-league game. The Bruins scored the first 12 points (thanks to some of the 25 steals they amassed overall) before the Eagles found their legs and closed to within 14-7.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Tate Panko and Bailey Gimlin pushed the lead to 20-7 and ignited a quarter-ending 9-0 that gave CHS a 23-7 lead.

Gimlin scored six of her eight points in the opening quarter. Panko tallied all seven of hers in the same period.

The Bruins’ scoring slowed down in the second quarter, but so did the Eagles’. The halftime score was 31-9.

CHS steadily pulled away in the second half. Keri Hylton scored seven of her nine points in the third quarter, in which the Bruins stretched their lead to 44-17.

Mya Aman had eight of her game-high 12 points in the fourth quarter before Bruins Coach Don Struck turned the game over to CHS reserves.

All in all, it was a balanced offensive effort for the Bruins, led by Aman, Hylton, Gimlin, and Panko.

Dorothy Carrillo came off the bench to supply eight points. Starters Chloe Clifford and Gracie Vaughan tallied seven and six points, respectively.

Isobel Wang added four and Natalie Humphrey chipped in three.

Panko led CHS rebounders with eight (five offensive). Vaughan collected seven, and Carrillo gathered five.

Columbia showed marked improvement in its ball-handling against Three Rivers. It had an assist: turnover ratio of 21:10.

Guards Aman, Gimlin, and Carillo combined for 12 assists (four each) versus four turnovers.

At Columbia 53, Corbett 45: The Bruins snapped their second two-game losing streak with a strong four-quarter effort on Dec. 12.

White Salmon got seven points from Mya Aman and six from Gracie Vaughan in a 20-12 first quarter.

A better defensive effort in the second quarter helped CHS stretch its lead to 33-17 by halftime.

“We played a great first half,” Bruins Coach Don Struck noted.

Corbett cut the lead to eight (39-31) by the end of the third quarter but could do no better than match CHS point for point over the final eight minutes.

“We got a little lax in the third quarter,” Struck said, “and our free-throw percentage, which has been strong all year, abandoned us in the second half.”

CHS was 5 for 15 from the line in the fourth quarter, 7 for 20 in the second half.

Vaughan’s career-high 14 points led the Bruins, who got 12 from Aman and 11 from Bailey Gimlin (4-for-4 free throws in the fourth quarter).

Keri Hylton scored six points, Chloe Clifford added four, and Tate Panko chipped in three.

Struck said starting guards Aman and Clifford “had excellent all-around games” and Dorothy Carrillo “played her best varsity game of the year, showing great hustle.”

Coming up: The Bruins (4-3) are in the midst of a six-game homestand that continues Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against Highland and wraps up Friday against Fort Vancouver. Tip-off Friday is at 7 p.m.

CHS closes out 2018 on Dec. 29 with an away game at Boardman, Ore., against the Riverside Pirates. Start time there is 3 p.m. as part of a non-league varsity double-header.

“If we continue to improve and get quality playing time for our young players, we will be looking good for the opening league game on Jan. 4 against Stevenson,” Struck said.