East girls cruise to easy triumph

BLOOMINGTON — Columbus East’s 86-27 victory at Bloomington North on Tuesday was just eight points shy of the Olympians single-game scoring record of 94 points set in 2005 and again in 2006.

East scored 50 points in the first two quarters, and coach Danny Brown credits junior Claire Cunningham with the team’s fast-paced start. Cunningham scored eight of her 14 points in the first quarter and also ended with 11 rebounds to help the Olympians extend their season-opening winning streak to six games.

“I thought Claire had one of the best games of her career,” Brown said. “She had a double-double tonight. She was also passing the ball well. She got some steals, got some blocks. I think everybody kind of fed off of her effort tonight.”

Defensive execution and rebounding aided the Olympians (6-0) in their high-scoring game. They forced 28 Bloomington North turnovers and held the Cougars to zero points for a 10-minute, 40-second stretch between the second and third quarters.

East went on a 36-0 run during that span.

“Our defensive pressure was really up-tempo, and that honestly gave us most of our offense the whole entire night,” said senior Addy Galarno, who finished with a game-high 20 points. “(A) 6-0 (record) is pretty good. We haven’t haven’t been like that in all four years that we’ve been here, so it’s a great start to the season.”

The Cougars (3-6) scored just eight field goals, shooting 8 for 43. The 21 offensive rebounds by East helped the Olympians gain extra possessions on their way to scoring 33 field goals on 76 shots. They also minimized their mistakes with just five turnovers.

East scored 21-plus points in the first three quarters before slowing down for a 10-point fourth quarter. The Cougars also finished with a 10-point fourth quarter, which was the highest scoring quarter for them.

Kristen Lyons added 10 points for the Olympians.

East got some solid minutes from its bench players, also. Sarah Park scored 16 points, and Katie Dougherty had three 3-pointers on her way to 15 points.

“We need an effort like that,” Brown said. “(Dougherty) is capable of knocking down shots. She’s pretty good at driving to the basket too. She needs to keep taking those shots because she can hit those.”