Columbia Basin waited nearly 20 minutes to open the scoring Thursday, but by the time the whistle sounded on a 3-0 win over Blue Mountain, the Hawks had dominated from wire to wire. The result pushed the Hawks to 4-0-1 overall and a perfect 2-0-0 in league play.
The opening period was as lopsided as any Columbia Basin has played this season. The Hawks put up 18 shots before halftime alone — more than four times Blue Mountain's total for the entire match — and needed only one of them to find the net. Iva Hunt broke through in the 20th minute, redirecting a feed from Yadricia Aguilar-Gomez for her first region goal of the year. It was Hunt's fifth shot attempt of the day, part of a stretch that saw Kylee Kukes, Morgan Sanchez, and Katee Huskic all test Blue Mountain keeper Riley Eagan before the half was over. Eagan finished with eight first-half saves, nearly matching her team's entire shot output.
Columbia Basin didn't take its foot off the gas after the break, and the second half is where the game turned from close to comfortable. Beth Ribellia doubled the lead in the 61st minute off a Morgan Sanchez assist, and Kukes made it 3-0 just over three minutes later, capping a night in which she led all players with six shot attempts. Hunt finished with five shots of her own, three on frame, while Lynette Grimaldo added three more attempts in a 29-minute shift off the bench.
The night's only real hiccup for Hawk defense was a first half rebounded corner that found a T-Wolf player but her shot bounced off the side post and out of the box. Elaina Queral took over in goal for the second half and needed to make just one save to preserve the shutout, part of a defensive effort that limited Blue Mountain to four shots on the entire afternoon.
By the shooting numbers, it wasn't particularly close: Columbia Basin out-shot Blue Mountain 24-4 and won six corner kicks to Blue Mountain's three, a shot disparity that underscored a match the Hawks controlled from the opening whistle to the final one.
CBC will hit the road next week with a trip to Wenatchee Valley and then to region rival Spokane on Saturday for a showdown of undefeateds.Â
