Tacoma, WA – The Trojans opened up the 2022-2023 season in Tacoma for opening weekend at the Titan Classic, and matched up against the host Titans on Friday night.
The first quarter of action was a defensive battle and both teams held the other in check with low field goal percentages. Each time TCC made a bucket, the Trojans answered and after seven and a half minutes the score was tied 8-8. Tacoma hit a three and converted on another bucket to go up five, but the Trojans were able to cut the lead to one on a Mikail Montez layup right before the buzzer. Montez led all scorers with 8 first quarter points.
Everett's defense really clamped down in the 2nd quarter, giving up just three points and holding TCC to 8% shooting. Meanwhile the offense continued to steadily come up with buckets. Five different players scored in the quarter and the Trojans went into the half with a 23-16 lead.
Coming out of the break, Everett put together their best offensive quarter of the game, shooting 44% led by Maddy Thoma who put up 7 points and the Trojans started to pull away, the lead now at 14.
Kendall Carroll had a big 4th quarter for EvCC, scoring 8 of the teams 13 points and pulling down 4 rebounds. Once again the defense held Tacoma to single digit scoring with just 8 points and EvCC cruised to win number one on the season, 54-35.
Sophomore Mikail Montez led all scorers with 14 and also came down with 9 rebounds bringing her career total to 368, surpassing Lily Hilderbrand on the EvCC all-time career rebound list at #7. Another sophomore, Maddy Thoma came up with 13 points and 6 rebounds, and sophomore Kendall Carroll had a career day with 12 points and 6 rebounds off the bench.
The Trojans will play tomorrow, again down in Tacoma and will face Wenatchee Valley at 12:00pm. The Knights fell to Shoreline in an earlier contest 60-52, but had two standout performances from Monica Miller and Alexes Stein who posted double-doubles.