Willapa Valley kept its season alive and earned a trip to the state tournament as we review Thursday’s prep basketball district-playoff games on the Harbor.

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GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL

Willapa Valley 45, Naselle 39

Willapa Valley rallied to punch its ticket to the state tournament with a 45-39 1B District 4 elimination-game victory over Naselle on Thursday at Raymond High School.

The Vikings (13-10 overall) got off to a poor start as the Comets (12-9) led 16-7 after one period of play.

Valley held Naselle to five points in the second quarter, but scored just eight points itself to trail 21-15 at halftime.

“(Naselle) was forcing us to go fast, faster than what our pace usually is and it got us rattled a little bit,” Valley head coach Dawn Keeton said of her team’s first-half performance.

Keeton added her team needed to get back to dictating the pace in the second half if it hoped to continue its season.

“At halftime we told them to play our game and we adjusted a couple of things on the press defense (Naselle) was running and they came out and listened, which was huge,” she said. “That’s what they need to do, learn to adjust to what they give us.”

Valley did a better job handling Naselle’s press and man-to-man defenses in the second half, as evidenced by committing seven turnovers compared to 16 in the first half and outscored the Comets 29-18 over the final 16 minutes of the game to earn the win.

“At halftime, we asked them, “Who wants it more?” And they came out and proved who wanted it more,” Keeton said. “We had to slow it down and run our stuff. We had to recognize the mismatches and work the ball. … We just needed to work out some of the kinks.”

Willapa Valley was led by emerging star freshman Tylar Keeton, who recorded her 11th double-double in 22 games this season with a team-high 17 points and 16 rebounds.

Addison Merkel had 13 points while Lauren Matlock grabbed 16 rebounds for the Vikings, which shot 16 of 49 from the floor (33%), including 6 of 10 from 3-point range (60%), their best performance from beyond the arc this season.

With the victory, Valley earned a trip to the 1B State Tournament March 5-8 in Spokane.

“All the tears and heartaches we’ve had through the season, it is totally worth it,” Coach Keeton said. “Ultimately, I’m there to help them be good people. … There are a lot of life lessons that go into playing on a team sport. It’s huge for them to learn that and see the growth from when they started.”

Willapa Valley is scheduled to face Mary M. Knight in the district third/fourth-place game at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Montesano High School.

Naselle 16 5 5 13 – 39

Willapa Valley 7 8 13 16 – 45

Scoring: Keeton 17, Merkel 13, Fluke 6, Ashley 5, Hurley 3.

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Mossyrock 43, Raymond-South Bend 36

Raymond-South Bend’s season came to an end with a 43-36 loss to Mossyrock in a 2B District 4 Tournament elimination game on Thursday at Kelso High School.

The Ravens (14-7) and Vikings (12-10) played close throughout the first three quarters of play until Mossyrock hit multiple 3-pointers to extend its lead to nine points early in the final frame.

RSB played catch-up the rest of the quarter and was eventually forced to foul with time winding down, but Mossyrock was able to make enough free throws to beat the Ravens for the first time in three tries this season.

“Hard-fought, back-and-forth game,” RSB head coach Jason Koski said. “(In the fourth quarter,) we could never recover and had to foul to stop the clock and they hit free throws.”

RSB was led by standout junior forward Kassie Koski with 12 points while junior post Ava Baugher scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Ravens.

”All in all, a good season for our kids,” Coach Koski said. “We will miss senior Berklee Morley, but we return the starting five along with a good group of younger athletes.”

Mossyrock 11 10 12 10 – 43

RSB 12 6 8 10 – 36

Scoring: Mossyrock – Barrows 11, Cournyer 10, C. Schultz 9, Schwartz 7, Rashoff 6. RSB – Koski 12, Baugher 11, Kongbouakhay 4, Pine-Isaksen 4, Lewis 3, San 2.

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Other games

1B District 4 Boys Basketball Tournament

Wahkiakum 69, Taholah 60 (Wednesday)

(Taholah eliminated)