Leyton girls cruise past Garden Co. on the road

With the help of a strong shooting night from Natalie Cruise, the Leyton Lady Warriors concluded their regular season with a strong showing against their district rival Garden County Lady Eagles.

Despite a slow offensive start for the Warriors, Cruise hit on five of six three-point attempts to pace Leyton to a 40-24 win. The Warriors head into subdistricts with a record of 9-11 with Garden County slipping to 3-12.

With Leyton being installed as the top seed in the upcoming subdistrict tournament and Garden County as No. 2, the game was a possible precursor to the subdistrict finals which are scheduled for next Thursday in the Cabela’s Athletic Facility at Sidney High School.

The Warriors are a strong favorite in the tournament as they went 5-0 in District D2-11 this season. Garden County defeated Leyton in the subdistrict finals last season.

While the Warriors trailed 11-9 at halftime, they heated up in the third quarter with a 14-5 edge. In the final quarter Leyton outscored the Eagles 17-8 to post the easy victory.

Cruise’s total of 19 points was tops on the Warriors’ scoring sheet while Kaitlyn Berner added eight, Dani McKay seven and Diedra Waite six.

Shaela Jenkins was hard for the Eagles to control on the boards as she led all players with nine rebounds. Cruise added to her strong performance with eight rebounds.

Berner and McKay chipped with with three steals apiece.

The Warriors will begin their quest for a subdistrict crown on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. when they face the winner of Monday’s Minatare versus Banner County contest.