By JOE ECKSTROM
OBSERVER Sports Reporter
WESTFIELD - Jenna Einink's triple-double was more than enough to propel the Chautauqua Lake Lady Thunderbirds to victory in the Westfield Winter Classic with a 62-40 win over the Randolph Lady Cardinals.
Einink's 22 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists were also good enough for tournament MVP.
Despite the 22-point victory, the Lady Thunderbirds got off to a rough start.
Randolph jumped out to a 16-9 lead in the first quarter behind some hot shooting from McKenna Maycock, who netted 12 points in the first eight minutes.
"We did get off to a little bit of a slow start," Chautauqua Lake coach Eric Schuster said. "We made some changes on defense and it really seemed to frustrate them."
The defensive adjustment swung momentum in the favor of Chautauqua Lake went on a 13-2 run midway through the second quarter to take a 22-21 lead.
At halftime the Lady Cardinals held the lead, 27-26, but the Lady Thunderbirds kept up the pressure in the second half.
"We just ran out of gas," Randolph coach Shawn Huntington said. "Getting on the bus you can tell how a game is going to go. Chautauqua Lake is a good team and did a good job forcing turnovers."
Chautauqua Lake outscored Randolph 17-9 in the third quarter and bettered that in the fourth as the Lady Thunderbirds scored 15-4.
Another big contribution for the winners was Ashton Albanesius who charted a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards.
"It didn't matter what offense we were running, we knew our goal was to get the ball to our bigs," Schuster said. "Our bigs were big all night and Hewes did a good job handling the ball for us, especially in the second half."
Hewes finished with eight assists.
As for the Lady Cardinals, Maycock finished with 18 points, while Mandy Finch had nine points, nine rebounds, four steals and four assists.
Both Maycock and Finch were named to the all-tournament team, while Chautauqua Lake's Courtney Hewes was also voted to the list.
In the consolation game, the host Lady Wolverines met up with the Clymer Lady Pirates and put on quite a show in the first half.
However, foul trouble doomed the Lady Wolverines as Clymer took third place in the tournament with the 58-41 win.
Westfield got out of the gates on an 11-1 run before Clymer could find its footing.
"Before the game we tried making too many adjustments," Westfield coach Rich Morrison said. "We decided to just do what we do. We put a lot of pressure on the ball. We played like we practice and had some fun."
The Lady Wolverines continued to roll even as the Lady Pirates were able to find some offense.
"I don't know why we start slow," Clymer coach Scott Neckers said. "It's just something we do, but it is something we need to fix, because somewhere down the road there is going to be a team that makes us pay for our slow start."
Westfield finished the first quarter with a 19-12 lead and kept it within one point even though they were outscored 12-4 in the second quarter.
The biggest downfall for the Lady Wolverines was the fact that they were in foul trouble a majority of the game.
"Free throws probably made up the difference in scoring in this game," Morrison said. "We did do a better job on defense though with our backside help and I think we frustrated them on offense a little at times."
The second half was a different story as the Lady Pirates as the free throw attempts started to add up.
"We made 20 of our 39 attempts, which we usually do a little bit better, but it was still a big deal," Neckers said. "We were very aggressive. Our hustle was a lot better."
Clymer cruised through the second half on their way to victory with an excellent offensive showing.
Leading the way for the Lady Pirates was Dani Reinwald who had 22 points and 17 boards, while Carly McAfoose had 11 points and eight boards.
Jo-Linda Rhodes had eight points and five assists, which was enough to earn her a spot on the all-tournament team with Reinwald.
Miranda Warner led the Lady Wolverines with 11 points, while Carson Hauser had nine points.
"We love hosting this tournament," Morrison said. "We brought in three of the best teams in the area and maybe we were a little bit over our heads, but the only way to get better is to pay the best competition."
