College Place, Wash. – The Simpson University Red Hawks were in town on Saturday night to face the Wolves in what was the inaugural game of the 2018-19 season for both teams. The game was a chippy one from the jump, with both teams playing very solid defense. It was the Red Hawks who jumped out to an early lead after Estella Gutierrez hit a three to put her team up 5-0. As for the Wolves, their first points of this season came from sophomore guard Carolina Montes after she used a nice euro-step to get into the lane and lay it in plus a foul. Another drive inside by Raegan Williams, followed by a good move in the post by Jaqueline Saucedo cut the Red Hawks' lead to four at 10-6. The first quarter as a whole followed one theme: every slight run of momentum by Simpson was alleviated by the penetration from Carolina Montes and good post play from Jacqueline Saucedo. The Red Hawks went into the second quarter with a 16-10 lead.
 
Simpson came out with a ton of energy to start the second quarter, scoring six straight points to give themselves a hefty 12-point lead, and forcing Wolves' head coach Paul Starkebaum to call a timeout. The two teams were trading buckets as they moved into the last five minutes of the second half, with Simpson still holding a 12-point lead at 29-17. The Wolves continued to lean on the offense of Jacqueline Saucedo and Carolina Montes for the rest of the second half. It was with good reason, however, as they finished the first half with 15 of Walla Walla's 24 points. Nonetheless, the Red Hawks still had a 33-24 lead heading into halftime.
 
The second half started the same way the second quarter did, with Simpson scoring six straight points to force a Walla Walla timeout. The Red Hawks took their biggest lead of the game with six minutes left in the third after Estella Gutierrez pulled up and drilled a three to give her team a 44-26 advantage. The Red Hawks' lead would only continue to swell as the third quarter wound to a close. After back-to-back threes from Lexi Thompson and Ellie Hamel, Simpson possessed a 62-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
The fourth quarter was a stagnant one, as both teams struggled to establish a rhythm between the foul calls and turnovers. Walla Walla was unable to make any significant dents in the Red Hawks' lead throughout the duration of the fourth quarter, as Simpson went on to win by a score of 77-45.
 
The Wolves will not have time to dwell on the loss, as they will face Simpson University again tomorrow at 12:00p.m. here in College Place.