ELMA — Wire-to-wire basketball victories were the order of the night at Elma’s gym on Tuesday.

Never looking back after scoring the game’s first seven points, Elma’s girls blitzed Forks, 72-26, in an Evergreen 1A League opener.

Forks’ boys blasted out to a 20-2 lead en route to a 68-46 win over Elma in the second half of the co-ed doubleheader.

GIRLS Eagles 72, Spartans 26

Switching between zone and man-to-man, Elma gave Forks’ ball-handlers fits with either defense.

The Eagles (1-0, 5-6) came up with 18 steals as a team — and probably had at least another half-dozen deflections that didn’t result in turnovers.

Peyton Elliott and Molly Johnston formed a formidable outside-inside combo for Elma.

Doing most of her business on drives and in the transition game, Elliott led all scorers with 17 points. The 6-foot Johnston, who demonstrated some nice spin moves, finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Neither Elliott nor Johnston played during the fourth quarter.

After freshman Quin Mikel opened the scoring with a rebound basket, Elliott hit a 3-pointer and went the length of the court following a steal to give the Eagles a 7-0 advantage with the game barely 90 seconds old.

Although Elma coach Lisa Johnson had emptied her bench by the mid-point of the second quarter, the Eagles led 37-15 at the half. The final 4:28 was played under the 40-point running clock mercy rule.

Johnson was pleased that her team, who played a rugged non-league schedule in December, took care of business early against an overmatched opponent.

“We played to our level, we didn’t play down,” Johnson observed. “We got the intensity up and executed. I can’t ask for more than they did.”

All 10 Eagles who suited up cracked the scoring column. Freshman Kali Rambo tallied 12 points — 10 of those in the fourth quarter. She also swiped four steals.

Elma also controlled the boards, with Mikel pulling down a team-high 14 rebounds.

Freshman Rian Peters topped Forks (0-1, 1-7) with 14 points.

BOYS Spartans 68, Eagles 46

Elma outscored the Spartans by 10 after a series of malfunctions rendered the scoreboard inoperable for much of the second half.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the 51-19 lead Forks (1-0, 7-1) erected prior to the first outage assuredly counted.

Elma was unable to match up against 6-foot-9 Spartan center Marky Adams. Despite seeing little action in the final 12 minutes, Adams registered a game-high 24 points — many of those on putbacks.

“He’s a load,” Elma coach Marvin Prince saluted. “He’s 6-9 and he plays like a 6-9 kid should. He’s a pretty dang good high school basketball player.”

In addition, Forks sophomore Cort Prose knocked down three 3-pointers, all with defenders’ hands in his face, in the opening two minutes. The Spartans owned a 20-2 advantage at the 3:37 mark of the first quarter.

Led by the Browns, Avery and A.J., the Eagles (0-1, 2-8) trimmed the deficit to 22-11 early in the second quarter before the Spartans countered with a 12-3 run that put the game out of reach. The Spartans shot 56 percent from the field in the first half.

“Once we settled down, I felt we did some good things,” Prince said. “It’s just how consistent we’re going to be.”

Avery Brown scored 18 points and A.J. Brown 14 for Elma. Cody Vollan pulled down a team-high eight rebounds for the Eagles.

Both Elma teams will travel to Hoquiam later this week. The boys take on the Grizzlies on Thursday, while the girls invade Hoquiam Square Garden on Friday.

GIRLS

Forks 7 8 5 6 — 26 Elma 16 21 17 18 — 72

Forks (26) — Olson, DeMatties 8, Peters 14, Baar, Woodruff, Rowley, Hoaglund 2, Kratzer 2, Rondeau. FG — 9-38 (.237). FT — 6-8.

Elma (72) — Elliott 17, Sutherby 2, Neary 3, Mikel 8, Johnston 16, Rambo 12, Bieker 3, Heller 5, Johnson 3, Olson 3. FG — 23-71 (.324). FT — 20-28.

BOYS

Forks 22 22 11 13 — 68 Elma 8 11 5 22 — 46

Forks (68) — Schumack 2, Baysinger 14, Browning 9, Prose 12, Adams 24, Flores 2, Johnson, Ramsey 2, Tejano 3, Baar. FG — 29-63 (.460). FT — 5-7.

Elma (46) — A.J. Brown 14, Thompson 8, Vollan 2, Spalding, Avery Brown 18, Tep, Peterson 4, Horton. FG — 16-53 (.302). FT — 4-6.