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Pressure defense got Westside going and kept the game under control.

The Lady Renegades jumped to a 29-5 lead and cruised on to a 72-36 victory over Wyoming East on Wednesday night at Clear Fork.

WHS improved to 8-0 and has won 36 straight overall.

“We knew they were young, and we wanted to use our pressure defense and our experience to them to make mistakes,” said WHS coach Jamie Lusk.

The plan worked. The Lady Renegades forced turnovers and converted them into buckets early and often.

Westside scored the first nine points. Hope Lester scored on a put back, and a steal led to a Megan Endicott basket.

Faith Davis hit a three from the left corner, and another steal turned into a Danielle Brown lay up.

Hailey Lowman nailed a three for the Warriors, but Westside scored 13 unanswere points—which included a couple of hoops from Lester and Hope Davis three—to go up 22-3.

Hannah Ford scored inside twice in a 6-0 East run that trimmed the margin to 29-11 in the second period.

Brown’s three-pointer started a 13-1 spurt that stretched the margin to 30.

It was 44-16 at the half.

“Westside shot the ball,” said WEHS coach Angie Boninsegna. “They had four different girls hit threes.

“We got down early, and that’s a hard team to try to come back against,” she added.

The Renegades held East to just four three throws in the third period, and the lead swelled to 65-20.

East got no closer than the final score after that.

Despite the lopsided win, Lusk didn’t think his team was sharp.

“Wyoming East came out and played tough, but I think our experience was the difference,” he remarked. “But we have to try to get better every night. We need to stay crisp and play smooth.”

Lester tossed in 16 for the winners. Faith Davis scored nine, and Lakyn Walker, Endicott and Hope Davis added eight each. Brown had seven.

Lowman notched 12 for East, Brianne Pertee managed nine.

Lusk says he is pleased with how the season has gone so far.

“I think our defense has been excellent, and nobody has scored more than 46 points against us,” he commented. “I think we’ve been good at passing the ball and finding each other.”

Westside will host Shady Spring next Wednesday and visit Wyoming East on Thursday.