Zeitler, Haynes lead Van Buren to fourth straight win

Makenzie Zeitler recorded a triple-double ? three assists shy of a quadruple-double ? and the Van Buren girls ran away with their fourth victory in as many tries Tuesday.

The 18 points, 10 boards and 11 steals supplied by the senior helped the Warriors (4-0, 4-0 SEISC south) to their most lopsided victory yet in a season filled with them, beating Holy Trinity 79-31.

?There were no faults in our game,? said Van Buren head coach Matt Zeitler. ?The coach of Holy Trinity said ?Holy mackerel, we didn?t play bad.? And it wasn?t that they played bad ? Van Buren was just on.?

The Warriors opened up the game on a 16-0 tear on their way to taking a 20-6 first-quarter advantage. From there, the Warriors built a 40-15 lead at the break and continued to add to the lead until the finish.

After the strong start, Zeitler played his bench often, giving eight players time in all four quarters. The ninth player, freshman Shayla Filson, played in two quarters.

In addition to Zeitler?s triple-double, fellow senior Jessica Saunders led the team with 21 points, and junior Hanna Haynes had quite the all-around game herself. Haynes recorded a double-double while contributing in five categories: 17 points, 17 rebounds, five assists, seven steals and five blocks.

Also for the Warriors, Payten Hughes returned to the court and was just shy of a double-double with 11 points and eight boards. Paige Gaston tallied seven points and Jordan Billups added five.

On the defensive end, the Warriors? pressure got to the visiting Crusaders as they swiped 23 steals and allowed just eight field goals the entire game.

Next up for Van Buren is a trip to Central Lee Friday.

?I hope they can carry this on to Friday night,? said Zeitler. ?If they do, we should have a pretty good time.?

VAN BUREN ? Saunders 8-17 5-8 21, Gaston 3-5 0-0 7, Hughes 4-7 3-6 11, Haynes 8-16 1-5 17, Filson 0-0 0-0 0, Zeitler 6-13 2-6 18, Billups 1-5 3-6 5, Heckenberg 0-0 0-0 0, Wells 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 30-65 18-34 79

3-point goals ? Gaston 1. Rebounds ? Haynes 17, Zeitler 10, Hughes 8. Assists ? Zeitler 7, Haynes 5, Gaston 2, Billups 2. Steals ? Zeitler 11, Haynes 7. Blocks ? Haynes 5, Zeitler 3.