Aberdeen’s girls and boys basketball teams opened their seasons, and Elma made clutch plays late in the game to beat Black Hills in Monday’s sports action on the Twin Harbors.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Tumwater 72, Aberdeen 17

Not much went right for the Aberdeen Bobcats in their season-opening game on Monday, losing 72-17 to the Tumwater Thunderbirds at Sam Benn Gym in Aberdeen.

The Bobcats (0-1 overall, 2A Evergreen) were never really in it, falling behind 11-0 to start the game, forcing Aberdeen head coach Rachel Wenzel to call a time out to try to right the ship.

It didn’t help as Aberdeen continued to turn the ball over and allow gaps in its defense, and Tumwater took advantage.

The Thunderbirds (1-0) hit 10 field goals in the first quarter while the Bobcats finished the first eight minutes of the game without scoring a point, leading to a 21-0 deficit for Aberdeen.

Aberdeen broke the goose egg when Zoe Filan hit 1-of-2 free throws with 7:34 left in the second quarter for the Bobcats’ first points of the season and making it a 21-1 score.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen’s Zoe Filan (15) passes the ball during the second half of the Bobcats’ 72-19 season-opening loss on Monday at Sam Benn Gym in Aberdeen.

With 5:21 left in the first half, Aberdeen scored its first field goal of the game when Marina Maril grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to make it a 27-3 game.

Skyler Taylor scored a field goal for Aberdeen with less than a minute left in the half as the Bobcats trailed at halftime 37-5.

In the second half, the Bobcats broke double digits when Abby Martinez scored on a shot from the paint to make it a 39-10 ballgame.

But a few minutes later with 3:30 to go in the third quarter, Tumwater’s Cassie Kaufman scored to put the Thunderbirds up 51-10, past the 40-point threshold needed for a running clock.

Aberdeen trailed 58-15 at the end of the third en route to the 72-17 loss.

Tumwater went 12-for-21 (57%) from 3-point range as the Bobcats allowed for many unchallenged shots from both long range and in the paint. Aubrey Amendala led all scorers with 21 points, including five 3-pointers.

Aberdeen was led by Maddie Gore, who scored nine points, including a nice steal and breakaway layup, after being shut out in the first half.

The Bobcats made just six field goals in the game while committing 23 turnovers.

DAILY WORLD FILE PHOTO Elma’s Sawyer Witt scored 14 points to lead the Eagles in a 51-50 win over Black Hills on Monday at Elma High School.

BOYS PREP BASKETBALL

Elma 51, Black Hills 50

Elma made clutch plays down the stretch to emerge with a victory over visiting Black Hills.

After trailing by 10 at the end of the first quarter, Elma (1-1 overall) trimmed the deficit to 31-24 at halftime and tied the game at 38-38 heading into the fourth quarter.

In the final frame, the game remained close and was tied at 50-all in the final minute.

With the Wolves holding possession in the final 30 seconds, Elma’s Cobey Moore made the first of two clutch plays that would decide the game. As a Black Hills player was dribbling up the court, Moore got a hand on the ball and poked it away, causing a backcourt violation and giving Elma the ball with a chance to win the game.

In the final possession, Elma’s Canon Seaberg’s shot went off the back iron, but Eagle big man Derique Richey grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 0.02 left on the clock. Richey buried the first free throw to give Elma the 51-50 victory.

“Those were outstanding plays at the end,” Elma head coach Jeff Niemi said of Moore and Richey’s crucial plays at the end of the game before adding what he thought were the keys to the comeback. “We started to play really good defense in the second quarter and rebounded well.”

Sawyer Witt led Elma with 14 points, with Canon Seaberg (12 points) and Cason Seaberg (11 pts.) also scoring in double digits, the latter hitting several big 3-pointers to keep Elma in the game.

Forks 54, Raymond 34

Raymond’s offense experienced its fair share of woes in a loss to Forks in Raymond.

Raymond (0-3) allowed 20 turnovers in the first half alone, leading to a 44-9 halftime deficit.

Fortunes didn’t improve for the Seagulls in the second half as Raymond was outscored 11-3 in the third quarter against a sharp Forks defense.

“We really struggled to score tonight,” Raymond head coach Derek Rask said. “Forks is big and physical and they disrupted any type of offense we tried to put together for three quarters.”

Jarrod Gunderson led Raymond with 12 points and freshman big man Talan Yearout was cited by Rask for having “a solid second half.”

Other scores

Tumwater 71, Aberdeen 43

GIRLS PREP BOWLING

Capital 2, Aberdeen 0

Aberdeen opened its season with a 2-0 loss to Capital High School at Westside Lanes in Olympia.

Aberdeen was led by Joele Hyde, who had the Bobcats high-game score (152) and high series (295) of the match.

Cerrenitty Smith bowled Aberdeen’s first turkey of the year during the match.

The league has instituted a new scoring format for this season, in which the team with the highest pin total wins the game and two to three games will be played per match with four bowlers per team.

Aberdeen (Game 1, Game 2 and Series score) — Jennifer Guzman-Ramirez (97, 112, 209); Joele Hyde (152, 143, 295); Cameryn Micheau (137, 106, 243); Bailee Taylor (105, 100, 205)

Capital — Moira Kelley (113, 122, 235); Melinda Nguyen (122, 129, 251); Abbey Swan (127, 183, 310); Gabi Boyer (182, 166, 348)