BREMERTON, Wash. – The Mountain View Girls basketball teams came off a bye week Tuesday (Feb. 28) and the additional week of practice paid dividends. Without too much trouble, the varsity team picked up their 4^th win of the season, 40-to-26, against the visiting Hawkins Huskies.

Where the Lady Squires didn’t play well was during the 1^st quarter. Team leading scorer and rebounder, Madison Gardner, was sitting on bench four minutes into the game. Starting point guard Brooklyn Irvine scored the team’s first basket with 1:38 left in the period. And, nobody grabbed a single offensive rebound. At the end of the quarter Mountain View found themselves trailing the Huskies 2-to-8.

“It was a great win,” said Head Coach Rob Shauger. “We started off slow. We have been starting off slow the last couple of week’s but we came back and got the win with good teamwork.”

Starting wing Trinity Malaga and reserve forward Tulip Carter began the recovery process for Mountain View.

Malaga hit her first field goal to open the 2^nd quarter, on the way to scoring a game-high 19 points. Carter became a rebounding force off the benching, grabbing four of the teams seven offensive boards in the period. She would end the game with a game/career high 12 rebounds.

“Trinity (Malaga) was fantastic today,” coach Shauger added.

Size and versatility were the combination that Hawkins had no answer for during the thirty-two minute contest.

“We finally got an offense we can works with,” Shauger explained. “Which is to kick the ball into the ‘bigs’ and for them to read the available options.”

With her sister on the bench in foul trouble most of the game, forward Makayla Gardner became the Lady Knights cornerstone of the new offense.

Received the ball at the high-post, then waiting for the defense to collapse on her, time and time again Makayla would pass out of the swarm to an open teammate, in most cases Malaga, who added points on the scoreboard for the Squires.

Makayla ended the game with 8 points, 10 rebounds, a team-high 3 assists and 7 steals, and 4 blocks.

By halftime Mountain View had taken the lead, 22-to-17, and then defensively held the Huskies to single digits, 9 points, in the final two periods.

Thursday (Mar. 1) the Lady Squires will once again be at home this time to take on the Curtis Cougars. Tip-off for the varsity game will be at 3:30 p.m.

Only three games remain in the MV Girls Varsity 2018 basketball season.