Aberdeen will play for third place after falling to Columbia River 2-0 in a 2A District 4 semifinal game on Thursday in Vancouver.

Aberdeen (7-6 overall) fell behind in the first half as Columbia Adventist used a strong possession game to keep the Bobcats chasing.

The Rapids (10-0) scored on a long shot after Aberdeen had managed to keep the game scoreless through the first 25 minutes of the contest.

Ten minutes later, Columbia River scored off a rebound to take a 2-0 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Aberdeen had its chances to get back into the game, but a failure to finish on scoring opportunities doomed the Bobcats. Miguel Martinez missed a close shot in the opening minutes of the half and a shot on target by Antonio Hernandez was deflected away for an Aberdeen corner kick 10 minutes later. Off the ensuing corner, Edwin Quintana narrowly missed putting in a rebound to the far post, keeping Aberdeen scoreless for the game.

Both defenses held firm for the remainder of the match.

Despite the loss, Aberdeen head coach Larry Fleming was proud of the way his team played in its biggest game of the year.

““It was an excellent job of following the game plan of playing solid defense while counter-attacking when the opportunity presented itself,” he said. “Great hustle and effort by the entire team.”

Fleming cited Logan Sias and AJ Sanchez for playing “outstanding defense the entire match” and Carlos Campos, Javier Garcia, Alan Avalos and Hugo Garcia for having solid defensive games for the Cats.

Aberdeen will host Woodland in the district third-fourth place game at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Stewart Field.

Aberdeen 0 0 — 0

Columbia River 2 0 — 2

PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL

Ilwaco 43, Raymond 40

A late rally led to a gut-wrenching loss for the Raymond Seagulls as they fell 43-40 to Ilwaco on Thursday in Ilwaco.

The Seagulls (1-1 overall, 2B Pacific) led 40-35 with 1:15 left in the game before Ilwaco standout Erika Glenn scored eight straight points to secure the come-from-behind victory.

“Untimely offensive rebounds by Ilwaco and turnovers by ourselves in the late stretch of the game hurt our chances,” Raymond head coach Jason Koski said.

With Ilwaco’s defense focusing its attention on high-scoring Seagulls guard Kyra Gardner, Raymond eighth grader Karsyn Freeman stepped up with 17 points to lead the Seagulls.

Gardner finished the game with 15 points.

“I thought our young guards energized our stagnant team tonight and Freeman gave us good guard play off the bench tonight,” Koski said.

Glenn was the high-scorer on the night, accounting for 36 of her team’s 43 points.

Raymond 14 5 7 12 — 40

Ilwaco 10 13 5 15 — 43

Willapa Valley 34, Pe Ell 25

Willapa Valley’s defense came up big in a 34-25 victory over Pe Ell on Thursday at Pe Ell High School.

The Vikings (2-0 overall, 1B Columbia Valley) held Pe Ell leading scorer Annika Mason to just six points on 6-of-18 shooting in holding the Trojans (1-1) to less than 10 points scored in each of the first three quarters.

Cami Swarts led the Vikings with 16 points and five blocks while Lanissa Amacher had eight rebounds for Willapa Valley.

“(Amacher) was very willing to rebound and pass the ball,” Vikings head coach John Peterson said of one of his featured scorers. “I thought we did a good job of swinging the ball against their 2-3 zone.”

Ana Chavez added seven points for Willapa Valley while Pe Ell was led by Charlie Carper, who scored 11 points in the game.

“The kids did a great job defensively,” Peterson said. “We’re pleased to get the win.”

Willapa Valley 10 13 8 3 — 34

Pe Ell 6 7 2 10 — 25

Forks 44, South Bend 37

South Bend battled back in a physical game but couldn’t get over the hump in a 44-37 loss to Forks on Thursday at Forks High School.

South Bend (0-2) fell behind early, trailing by seven after the first quarter and made several rallies to close the gap to four points.

But Forks’ Keira Johnson got hot in the third quarter to extend the Spartans’ lead to 33-22 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Indians rallied for their best quarter of the game in the fourth, scoring 15 points but it wasn’t enough as Forks held on for the victory.

“We had way to many turnovers and unforced errors that we need to fix,” South Bend head coach Randy Carlson said.

South Bend was led by Elli Capps’ 10 points with Blakeli Jeries scoring seven points and Hannah Jewell chipping in with four points for the Indians.

South Bend was also without starter Kim Conner, who suffered a broken nose in the second quarter and was unable to return to the game.

“After losing to Ilwaco big on Tuesday I wasn’t sure how we would respond,” Carlson said. “Our girls played with heart from the get go and never gave up. With Conner hurt other players stepped up playing spots we have never asked of them.”

South Bend 8 4 10 15 — 37

Forks 15 4 14 11 — 44

Ocosta 50, Chief Leschi 46

After a slow first half, Ocosta nearly doubled its output in a 54-46 victory over Chief Leschi on Thursday in Ocosta.

Ocosta (1-1) scored just 17 points in the first half but responded with 33 points in the second half to pick up its first win of the season.

All seven Wildcats that played in the game scored for Ocosta, led by Davina Andersen, who scored 14 points to go along with nine rebounds and two steals.

Alexia Bradley (12 points, 11 rebounds) had a double-double and Ronni Graham scoring nine points for Ocosta.

Annika Hollingsworth had a game-high 16 rebounds for the Wildcats.

“Everybody who set foot on the court worked hard for me,” Ocosta head coach Rissy Ness said. “All seven (Ocosta players) contributed in scoring points and getting offensive and defensive rebounds and because of that we came away with the win tonight.”