MONTESANO — Montesano was dealt a crushing defeat when a last-second second shot attempt rolled off the rim as time expired in a 70-68 home loss to Forks on Friday.
The Bulldogs (11-8, 5-2 Evergreen 1A) had the ball with about 15 seconds to go when they called a timeout to run an inbound play. Sam Winter took took a 3-point shot that drew iron allowing Forks to come away with the rebound, which forced Montesano to foul.
The Bulldogs got their second chance to push the game to overtime when the Spartans missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Tanner Nicklas grabbed the rebound of a missed free throw and sent an outlet pass to Trace Ridgway. Ridway sprinted down the floor, split the defense and rose for a potential game-tying layup, but the ball rolled off the front edge of the rim as the buzzer sounded.
Monte head coach Doug Galloway said the final play was one of many that could have changed the outcome of the game.
“We had a great look at the end and it is what it is. Trace Ridgway had a great game for us,” he said. “That shot did not lose that game for us. There were 100 other plays where we could have been better. We missed about 10 layups in the last two minutes. What about those 10? This stuff just happens.”
The Spartans (14-4, 5-1) suffered a cold stretch in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter but got off to hot start in the first.
Forks had 22-12 lead by the end of the first quarter and got nine points in the opening period from Seth Johnson, who ended the night with 27.
Johnson found success with his jump shot and also contributed cutting to the basket throughout the contest.
Galloway said he was impressed with the energy and hustle Forks showed on both ends of the floor.
“They were very aggressive at the basket,” he said. “They’re active offensively and defensively. They get their hands on a lot of basketballs defensively and they get a lot of extra opportunities on offense.”
Montesano’s Shaydon Farmer hits a mid-range jumper in the first quarter against Forks on Friday. Farmer led the Bulldogs with 20 points in the 70-68 loss. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Monte started getting more of its jump shots to fall in the second quarter and got back to within striking distance down 41-40 going into the locker room at halftime. Ridgway was a big part of the second-quarter surge with nine points including two 3-pointers.
Monte stayed hot going into the third quarter and ended the period with a 59-56 lead before falling short in the fourth quarter.
Though the result did not go his way, Galloway was pleased with the way his team shot the ball.
“I’m proud of them. They put up 68 points, they held them to no points for almost two minutes at the end of the game and the kids played hard,” he said. “Forks was really hot in the beginning and things like that happen sometimes.”
Montesano’s Shaydon Farmer, left, and Tanner Nicklas, right, double try to steal the ball from Forks’ Trey Baysinger. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
The loss puts Montesano in second place behind Forks in the 1A Evergreen League with one more league game to go. The Bulldogs will close out the season at Elma on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Monte will need to beat Elma and have the Spartans lose to either Elma or Hoquiam in its last two games of the regular season for the Bulldogs to capture a league title.
Galloway wasn’t too discouraged by the loss and expects Forks to be one of the teams to beat when the district tournament tips off on Feb. 7.
“Forks has only lost four games all season. It’s not like it’s a fluke that they’re winning. They have a good methodology and they consistently play well,” he said.
Forks 22 19 15 14 – 70
Montesano 12 28 19 9 – 68
Top Players: Montesano – Shaydon Farmer (20 pts.), Ridgway (14 pts.); Forks – Johnson (27 pts.), Cort Rose (21 pts.).
Aberdeen 62, WF West 53
Aberdeen picked up the pace of play in the second and third quarters to pull ahead of WF West and earn a 62-53 road victory on Friday night.
Ben Dublanko led his team with 22 points and Wyatt Johnson posted his highest point total of the season with 18.
Aberdeen (13-4, 4-3 Evergreen 2A) trailed 19-18 after eight minutes of play but ended up taking a 33-27 lead into halftime once the Bobcats’ transition game got going.
Bobcats head coach Mark Buckman said all of his starters did well in their roles to help Aberdeen capture the victory.
“Wyatt Johnson ran the floor and got a lot of run-out lay-ins. His eight points in the first quarter really sparked us,” he said. “Javier (Bojorge) did a really good job of changing his role to passer tonight to keep us rolling. It was the first game of the year we put together on both ends of the floor.”
The Bearcats (7-11, 4-3) were led by Colton Baker who put up 18 points, but WF West had trouble finding scoring elsewhere as he was the only player in double figures.
Aberdeen moves ahead of WF West in the standings to take third place in the league with the win.
The Bobcats will try to take a shot a second place when they take on Centralia on the road at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Aberdeen 18 15 16 13 — 62
WF West 19 8 11 15 — 53
Top Players: Aberdeen — Johnson (18 pts.), Dublanko (22 pts., 7 ast., 9 reb.) Gio Pisani (11 pts.); Baker (18 pts.)
Life Christian Academy 72, Willapa Valley 50
Willapa Valley faced a different Life Christian Academy team than the one they beat earlier in the season.
The Vikings fell behind early and never recovered against the Eagles in a 72-50 loss on Friday in Menlo.
“We came out and we were ready, and they had three new players since the last time we played them,” Willapa Valley head coach Jay Pearson said, referencing his team’s 70-59 victory over the Eagles on Jan. 25.
According to Pearson, LCA (15-3, 14-2 Pacific 2B) featured at least three new players that were not in uniform during the first meeting between the two teams.
“They ramped up the pressure on us. They were bigger and quicker at every position,” Pearson said. “They played a different game in every aspect.”
Willapa Valley (16-2, 14-2) started the game on a 9-0 run to take an early lead. But after an Eagles timeout, LCA went on a 22-0 run to end the first quarter.
The Vikings cut the deficit to 12 at halftime, but never got to within striking distance in the second half.
“I was proud of our guys. They never quit and battled and fought the whole way,” Pearson said.
Willapa Valley was led by Matt Pearson, who scored 17 points to lead the Vikings.
Logan Walker added 16 points for the Vikings, which now sit in second place behind LCA in the 2B Pacific League with two games left on the schedule.
If Willapa Valley wins its final two games of the regular season, they will earn the league’s No. 2 seed entering the postseason.
The Vikings host Ilwaco for their Senior Night game at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Life Christian 22 14 22 14 — 72
Willapa Valley 9 15 14 12 — 50
Top Players: Willapa Valley — Pearson (17 pts., 6 reb.), Walker (16 pts., 6 reb.), Peter Hamilton (7 pts., 8 reb.), Beau Buchanan (4 pts., 6 reb.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
Tenino 54, Elma 41
Tied entering the third quarter, Elma’s chances at snapping a 12-game losing streak vanished as the Eagles were outscored in the final period, losing to Tenino 54-41 on Friday in Tenino.
“They had a big fourth quarter and we struggled to score,” said Elma head coach Jeff Niemi, whose Eagles were outpaced 19-6 in the final period.
Elma (1-17, 0-6 Evergreen 1A) outrebounded Tenino (11-7, 2-5) 36-24, but the Eagles committed 10 more turnovers than the Beavers (22-12) and were outshot at the free-throw line by a wide margin. Tenino hit 14-of-27 from the charity stripe while the Eagles made 1-of-6.
“We dominated on the glass but committed too many turnovers on poor passing,” Niemi said. “We have to find a way to get to the line more, as we have been tripled up by our opponent the last three games. Not sure why we don’t get to the line like our opponents do but it’s up to us to adjust.”
Elma was led by Sam Schneider, who scored a team-high 15 points on 5-of-8 from the 3-point line.
Brady Johnston added seven points while Cody Vollan chipped in with six points and a team-best 15 rebounds for the Eagles.
Elma takes on Forks at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday at Forks High School.
Elma 15 10 10 6 — 41
Tenino 16 9 10 19 — 54
Top Players: Elma — Schneider (15 pts.), Johnston (7 pts., 3 reb.), Vollan (6 pts., 15 reb., 4 asst.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL
Montesano’s Zoe Hutchings, left, battles for position under the basket with Forks’ Chloe Leverington. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Montesano 49, Forks 31
Montesano made quick work of Forks on Senior Night with a 49-31 home win on Friday night.
Hutchings had 17 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double while Lexi Lovell used a couple of 3-pointers to chip in with 10 points of her own in the victory.
Montesano’s got scoring from up and down the bench as all six seniors got on the scoresheet in their last regular-season home game of their high school careers.
Montesano head coach Julie Graves was pleased with her team’s energy for the most part, though some of her players had Senior Night festivities in the back of their minds.
“I thought we got out there and played hard but I don’t think it was as hard as we could have played,” she said. “We were lacking a little bit of energy and I think with the anticipation of Senior Night, we burned some of that energy before the game.”
Montesano (12-7, 6-1 Evergreen 1A) took a 23-14 lead into halftime thanks in large part to its inside scoring. The Bulldogs found a lot of success going inside and getting to the free-throw line.
The Bulldogs hit one 3-pointer in the first half and picked up eight points in the first half at the charity stripe.
Matti Eckerson said ball movement into the post was one of the keys to victory.
“I think we got into our posts pretty well,” she said. “We passed the ball and moved it around to our shooters and they were knocking down shots.”
Montesano’s Matti Eckerson shoots a jump shot in the second quarter against Forks on Friday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
After going through a bit of an offensive lull where the Bulldogs only hit one shot from the field in the second quarter, Montesano found its rhythm again and posted 15 points in the third.
The win keeps Monte in first place, a half-game up on Elma.
Monte hits the court next at Elma on Thursday. Depending on the result of Elma’s game against Forks (7-10, 1-5) on Tuesday, Thursday’s game could decide the league title.
Graves said she would like to cut down on her team’s turnovers before facing the Eagles.
“We have to continue to take care of the basketball. We had several unforced turnovers and you just can’t have those in a close game,” she said. “We need to continue to get better rebounding as well. Those are the two things you can always improve on.”
Forks 10 4 7 9 — 31
Montesano 17 6 15 11 — 49
Top Players: Montesano — Hutchings (11 pts., 10 reb.), Lovell (10 pts.), Katie Granstrom (5 ast., 6 stl.).
Willapa Valley 61, Life Christian Academy 24
Willapa Valley rolled past Life Christian Academy with the help of a well-balanced scoring effort to pick up the 61-24 road win on Friday.
Hallie Layman led the Vikings (15-3, 13-3 Pacific 2B) with 10 points and Hannah Cook created havoc on defense with six steals.
Life Christian (0-18, 0-16) didn’t hit a shot from the field in the first half and was limited to one point, while the Vikings put up 23 points in the first eight minutes.
Willapa Valley head coach John Peterson said he liked the way his team ran the floor and shared the ball on a night where the Vikings assisted on 15 of their 24 made field goals.
“We’re not very big so we have to pressure and we did that really well tonight,” he said. “ We attacked the hoop and moved the ball really well. We had scoring from a bunch of different players so it was a good win.”
Willapa Valley will take on league-leading Ilwaco on the road on Monday at 7 p.m.
Willapa Valley 23 17 9 12 – 61
Life Christian 1 9 8 6 – 24
Top Players: Layman (10 pts.), Cook (9 pts., 6 stl.), Katie Adkins (9 reb.), Brooke Friese (8 pts.).
Ilwaco 50, Raymond 34
The Ilwaco Fishermen held Raymond to 10-points or less in three of four quarters en route to the Seagulls’ 50-34 victory on Friday in Raymond.
The Seagulls (10-7, 9-6 Pacific 2B) fell behind 14-7 at the end of the first quarter and could never get its offense on track against a stout Fishermen defense.
Down by 12 at the half and playing in a physical game that saw a total of 55 foul shots, Raymond fought back to cut the lead to 10 on two separate occasions, but never got closer as the Seagulls were sunk by the Fishermen (17-1, 16-0).
“In the second half I was really proud of how hard our kids fought to keep their lead from getting out of control,” Raymond head coach Jason Koski said. “Rebounding and untimely turnovers continue to be a sore spot for us as we keep giving our opponents to many extra opportunities to score.”
Raymond lost the rebounding battle 46-28, including a 23-8 disadvantage in offensive rebounding.
Ilwaco totalled 19 steals in the game to nine for the Seagulls.
Raymond’s Hannah Miller led the Seagulls with 14 points, including going 6-for-8 from the free-throw line.
Ana Silva, Isabel Mora and Kyra Gardner each finished with six points for Raymond.
Ilwaco was led by guard Erika Glenn, who scored 26 points to lead all scorers.
“Our kids showed great grit and resolve for the whole 32 minutes,” Koski said. “They definitely have learned how to compete at a higher level since the beginning of the season. Hopefully we can continue to improve everyday as we wind up the league season.”
Raymond travels to Lacey to take on Northwest Christian on Monday at 6 p.m.
Ilwaco 14 16 12 8 — 50
Raymond 7 11 7 9 — 34
Top Players: Raymond — Miller (14 pts., 4 reb.), Gardner (6 pts.), Mora (6 pts.), Silva (6 pts.), Maddi Silvernail (4 reb.); Ilwaco — Glenn (26 pts.), Ebby McMullen (13 pts.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
South Bend 41, Pe Ell 29
The South Bend Indians fought through foul trouble and a sporadic offense to earn a 41-29 victory over Pe Ell on Friday at Pe Ell High School.
The Indians (10-8, 10-6 Pacific 2B) started the game on an 8-0 run, but went cold after that, scoring 12 more points the entire first half.
But while its offense may have struggled in the first half, South Bend’s defense was there to pick up the slack. The Indians D held Pe Ell (4-14, 4-12) to 17 points over the first three quarters despite having three of its top players — Hannah Byington, Karley Reidinger and Jessica Sanchez — in foul trouble for most of the game.
“We just couldn’t stay consistent (on offense), but played well on defense,” South Bend head coach Gary Wilson said. “The reserves did a nice job in a big role tonight. I am proud of our girls finishing strong down the stretch.”
South Bend was led by Alise Rohr, who scored a team-high 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Despite having limited minutes due to foul trouble, Sanchez finished with 12 points and six steals while Byington added 11 points and eight steals for the Indians.
South Bend sits a half-game up on Raymond for the No. 4 spot in the 2B Pacific League and hosts Ocosta at 7 p.m. on Monday.
South Bend 13 6 12 10 — 41
Pe Ell 7 4 6 12 — 29
Top Players: South Bend — Rohr (15 pts., 8 reb.), Sanchez (12 pts., 5 asst., 6 stl.), Byington (11 pts., 8 stl.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
PREP BOWLING
Aberdeen places 8th at district meet
The Aberdeen Bobcats girls bowling team’s season came to an end on Friday with an eighth-place finish at the 2A District 4 Meet on Friday.
The Bobcats (9-7, 6-4 Evergreen 2A) finished with 2,821 pins to finish eighth in the 10-team postseason tournament.
The Bobcats were led by Meghan Howell, who bowled Aberdeen’s high-scoring game of the contest (155) and placed 25th overall with an average of 140.3.
Mark Morris won the district title with a score of 3,841.
WF West (3,517) and Black Hills (3,507) placed second and third, respectively, to advance to the state tournament.
“In sports you hope to perform your very best in the post season. That was not our team story today,” Aberdeen head coach Dave Bruncke said. “We did OK. There were other teams that did better. … We had a great season and the only teams we lost to in league this year are moving on to state. We are graduating 11 seniors or exchange students from our 20 member roster and are looking for some new bowlers for next year.”
Aberdeen (2,821) — Howell (155, 138, 128, 421, 25th), Bryerlee Perry (126, 137, 142, 405, 29th), Iliana Mercado-George (126, 137, 139, 402, 31st), Kaitlyn Martin (125, 149, 127, 401, 32nd), Annabelle Micheau (101, 92, 127, 320, 38th).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
Montesano’s Annalynn Farley advances to state tournament
Montesano’s Annalynn Farley bowled an average of 157 for her three games at Friday’s district tournament to qualify for the upcoming 2A state tournament.
Farely was one of six bowlers not on the three state-qualifying teams (Mark Morris, WF West, Black Hills) to earn a trip to state.
No further information was provided at the time of this writing.
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
