The senior forward torched Shorewood for a season-high 27 points in the Bruins’ 69-50 victory on Saturday.
“It was probably all around her best game (of the season)” Cascade coach Dave Roberts said. “She was posting up good. She was rebounding both defensively and offensively, and played some pretty good defense, too.”
The agile 5-foot-11 post has picked up her scoring from last year when she was second in the league at 17.2 points per game. Auckland has scored 20 or more points in four of five games this season, and is averaging 21.8 points per contest.
Auckland scored 10 points in the first quarter Saturday. Roberts said she began several fast breaks by pulling down a rebound and pushing the ball up the court herself.
“She doesn’t have to look for the outlet, and you can look to run a little bit quicker,” said Roberts, whose team improved to 3-2.
Other top girls basketball performers: Katie Holloway, Lake Stevens; Quinn Brewe, Meadowdale; Kirsten Thompson, Monroe; Anne Martin, Meadowdale; Ashley Fenimore, Meadowdale.
The 6-foot-7 junior helped Shorewood win its first game of the season by scoring 25 points in a 69-45 victory over perennial power Garfield on Saturday at KeyArena.
“He came out pretty hot in the first quarter,” Shorewood coach Jeff Denny said. “In fact, I think he had our first eight points. He got us going.”
Diederichs, who led the Western Conference South Division in scoring at 22.2 points per game last season, has scored 19 or more points in each of Shorewood’s first five games. Denny said Diederichs’ teammates finally put together a solid collective effort to help the Thunderbirds – picked by many to win the division – halt a season-opening four-game losing streak.
“Rob said after the game, ‘We got the gorilla off our backs,’” Denny said. “We had more guys score some points off the bench. I felt like our defense was OK (during the losses), but I felt like we needed some more point production from some guys other than Sean Tracey (12.6 points per game) and Rob.”
Diederichs’ 6-foot-5 freshman brother, Tim, did most of the bench’s damage by contributing 10 points.
Girls bowling athlete of the week: Markeeta Munger, Cascade.
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