The Mountlake Terrace High School girls basketball team used a big third quarter Monday night to put away a quick-starting Cascade Bruins team 62-45 at Mountlake Terrace High School.

Despite missing their first eight shots after the halftime break, the Hawks outscored Cascade 20-4 in the decisive third quarter. A calculated press defense led to a number of steals and easy transition baskets for Terrace, while the Bruins struggled to put points on the board. Their only field goal of the quarter, a three-point shot by Morgan Joyce, came with just over a minute to go in the period.

The Hawks were led in scoring by the 18 points of Samantha Romanowski, most of those coming after the junior got a finger in the right eye late in the first quarter. The injury forced Romanowski out of the game for a couple minutes while trainer Shannon Ripley applied eye drops to the affected eye.

“It was just blurry for a little bit, but then it got better,” Romanowski said after the game.

The Bruins implemented a box-and-1 against the Hawks for much of the game, assigning one defender to follow Romanowski while the rest of the team played a zone defense around the key. The strategy proved non-effective as Romanowski still found space to hit four three-pointers in the game.

“I think we’ve seen it every game a little bit, so I’m more use to it,” Romanowski said of the specialized defense. “I just have to remember to move a lot and set screens. And then my teammates just have to set them for me, too.”

It was red hot three-point shooting in the first quarter that gave Cascade an early lead. Converting three of six shots from behind the three-point arc helped the Bruins jump out to a 13-7 lead. But Terrace used an 11-0 run in the second quarter to take a slim lead into halftime, then ran away from the Bruins in the third to pick up the victory.

In addition to Romanowski’s 18 points, Nikkie Forehlich and Maddy Kristjanson each scored in double-figures with 16 points for the Hawks. Makinlee Sellevold led Cascade with 15 points.

MTHS Girls Basketball vs. Cascade, Dec. 30

Cascade 13 13 4 15 — 45

Terrace 11 18 20 13 — 62

MTHS individual scoring: Samantha Romanowski 18; Nikkie Forehlich 16; Maddy Kristjanson 16; Riley Zucker 7; Shaian Pagaling 3; Kenzie Zehrung 2; Kirsty Dale; Senaiet Zerom; Amanda Tompkins

Cascade individual scoring: Makinlee Sellevold 15; Chellyn Perea 11; Kennedi Smith 7; Natalie Watson 4; Morgan Joyce 4; Emily Mallos 2; Hien Nguyen 2; Brianna Punkiewicz

Records: Mountlake Terrace 2-0 in Wesco League play, 7-2 overall; Cascade 1-2 in league, 1-7 overall

MTHS next game: versus Shorecrest, Friday, Jan. 3, 7:15 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace High School

— Story and photos by Doug Petrowski