A defensive switch and solid free throw shooting down the stretch paved the way for Hoquiam to beat rival Aberdeen 56-45 in a non-league game at Sam Benn Gym on Saturday.

Hoquiam’s Izzy Hernandez had a career day to lead the Grizzlies (7-11) to a season sweep in the Myrtle Street rivalry. The senior added nine of her game-high 19 points in the final quarter and grabbed 12 rebounds in the contest.

“Izzy was trying to do too much at the beginning of the year and now she is playing within herself and she is doing what she does best,” Hoquiam head coach Mark Maxfield said. “She has a beautiful jumper and she has nice moves to the basket. She is very heady defensively and had lots of steals tonight.”

Aberdeen (6-10) attacked the basket, jumped ahead early and led by three, 20-17, at halftime, but Hoquiam switched from its man-to-man defensive attack and came out in a 1-3-1 zone in the second half. The change forced the Bobcats the work the ball outside and the shots didn’t fall for Aberdeen.

The Bobcats made just two shots over the first 6 1/2 minutes of the second half as the Grizzlies forced six turnovers and built a 5-point lead.

The teams traded the lead midway through the fourth quarter, but Hoquiam led 48-45 with 24 seconds left. On a missed foul shot by Hoquiam, it appeared Aberdeen’s Angel Jones had grabbed the rebound. However, the referee ruled Jones had made contact with Hernandez on her way to the ball. Aberdeen head coach Jeff Niemi disagreed with the call and was assessed a technical foul.

Hernandez made three of her four shots and put the Grizzlies out of reach for good.

“I’m really happy for our seniors,” Maxfield said. “It has been a struggle this year and I think we are finally coming together. We are a man team, but we wanted to change the tempo and we weren’t able to get our running game going on the man so I figured if we went to 1-3-1 they would have to shoot threes and I was hoping they’d miss them and we could get our transition game going and it worked.”

“It was a fun game to coach and I was happy with how we played,” Niemi said. “It is hard because it was a good game and I wish we could have had a chance to execute at the end. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. It was a tough pill to swallow, but it was a lot of fun. Both teams played really hard and I think we bring out a lot of good things out of each other and both teams brought up their game a little.”

Aberdeen attacked the basket early in the contest and it paid off with five separate trips to the charity stripe in the first quarter. The Bobcats went 8-for-10 from the free throw line in the first eight minutes and grabbed a 12-6 lead.

The rivals traded buckets in the second with Aberdeen maintaining a narrow lead at half.

Hoquiam’s defensive switch helped the Grizzlies grab control back in the third. Kyra Gallinger hit a 3-pointer to give Aberdeen the lead back midway through the quarter, but Hoquiam went on an 8-0 run, capped on a jumper by Hernandez, to pull back in front.

Hoquiam started out the fourth quarter with back-to-back layins from Maya Jump and looked to be running away with the game, but Aberdeen pulled back again. The Bobcats went on a 9-to-2 run, which included a 3-pointer by Jones and was capped by a steal and two free throws by Gallinger.

After the technical with 22 seconds to go in the contest, Hoquiam shot 6-for-8 from the free throw line down the stretch to close the door on the Bobcats.

Rylee Vonhof finished with eight points and six rebounds for the Grizzlies.

The Bobcats were led by 12 points and two steals from Glanz, while Gallinger finished with 10 points. Jones, Jillian Swor and Dani Buckman each added seven points for Aberdeen with Swor grabbing 12 rebounds.

Aberdeen travels to Centralia today, while Hoquiam travels to Montesano Friday.

Hoquiam 6 11 16 23 — 56 Aberdeen 12 8 11 14 — 45

Hoquiam (56) — Mode 5, Hernandez 19, Parson 2, Krohn 6, Vonhof 8, Cox 6, Jump 6, Bagwell 4, German. FG — 21-52. FT — 14-26.

Aberdeen (45) — Buckman 7, Glanz 12, Gallinger 10, Rabung 2, Swor 7, Walsh, Jones 7, Roberts. FG — 13-48. FT — 16-28.