SOUTH BEND — The South Bend Indians played spoiler on Monday night, knocking the Ocosta Wildcats out of league-title contention with a 40-37 victory at South Bend High School.

“Defense, Defense, Defense,” South Bend head coach Gary Wilson said after his team held Ocosta to 26 percent shooting on the evening (13-for-50). “Our girls did a great job focusing on the shooters and controlling the paint.”

Down by five after the first quarter, the Indians (11-8, 11-6 Pacific 2B) outscored Ocosta 27-14 in the second and third quarters, led by Jessica Sanchez. After going scoreless in the first frame, the 5-foot-8 Sanchez scored 19 of her game-high 23 points in the middle periods to lead South Bend to the upset victory.

“We wanted to control the game tempo and try to take advantage of their triangle-and-two and box-and-one defenses,” Wilson said. “Jess did a great job of taking over when the opportunities were there. Everyone contributed tonight in one way or another. That was the best part of the game.”

Sanchez also had nine rebounds and seven steals for an Indians team that forced 17 Ocosta turnovers in the game.

South Bend’s Jessica Sanchez, right, attempts a steal against Ocosta’s Layne Martin during a 2B Pacific League game on Monday at South Bend High School. Sanchez finished with 23 points and seven steals in the Indians’ victory. (Photo by Larry Bale)

“We were slow to get the offense going and it was one of our worst shooting games,” Ocosta head coach Jason Barnum said. “Great win for Coach Wilson and the girls. My hat is off to them. We played hard but just came up short.”

Ocosta was led by Kjirstin Hopfer, who was the only Wildcat in double digit with 11 points.

The loss, combined with Ilwaco’s win over Willapa Valley on Monday, clinches the league-title for Ilwaco and locks Ocosta in the second-slot in the 2B Pacific League.

The Wildcats host Ilwaco at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

With the season-defining victory, South Bend sits alone in the league’s fourth spot, a half-game up on Raymond.

The Indians close out the regular season with a chance to secure the No. 4 seed win a win over the Seagulls at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Ocosta 10 9 5 13 — 37

South Bend 5 13 14 8 — 40

Top Players: South Bend — Sanchez (23 pts., 9 reb., 7 stl.), Alise Rohr (7 pts.), Hanah Byington (6 pts.), Karley Reidinger (3 pts., 5 stl.), Zaira Medina (4 asst.); Ocosta — Hopfer (11 pts.), Layne Martin (9 pts.), Kaylee Barnum (8 pts., 10 reb.), Kristi Raffelson (6 pts., 16 reb.).

Ilwaco 60, Willapa Valley 52

The Willapa Valley Vikings were within striking distance late in the game, but it was Ilwaco that emerged with a 60-52 victory on Monday night in Ilwaco.

Willapa Valley (15-4, 13-4 Pacific 2B) trailed 36-24 at the half against the league’s top team, but cut the deficit to four points with 1:27 left in the game.

The Fishermen (18-1, 17-0 Pacific 2B) responded, however, making plays down the stretch to preserve the league-clinching victory.

“(Ilwaco) is a fine basketball team,” Willapa Valley’s John Peterson said. “They don’t lose too many at home. … We were right there, we just couldn’t get over the hump.”

Willapa Valley’s Brooke Friese scored a game-high 25 points while grabbing seven boards on the evening.

Despite the loss, Peterson was satisfied with his team’s gritty performance in a tough road environment against a high-quality opponent.

“I told (my players), ‘I like my team,’” he said. “It was a heck of a game and I thought we played one of our better games of the season.”

In addition to Friese’s high-scoring performance, Willapa Valley got significant contributions from Hannah Cook (8 points) and Cami Swartz (6 pts., 7 rebounds).

Peterson also noted the play of Hailee Layman and Katelyn McGouch for their defensive play off the bench.

“They were as solid as can be,” he said.

Ebby McMullen scored 17 points to lead Ilwaco while Erika Glenn, who Peterson said was “the best player in our league,” scored 14 points.

Willapa Valley hosts Pe Ell at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in its regular-season finale.

Regardless of the outcome, the Vikings will be the No. 3 league seed entering the playoffs.

Willapa Valley 16 12 13 11 — 52

Ilwaco 17 19 13 11 — 60

Top Players: Willapa Valley — Friese (25 pts., 7 reb., 2 stl.), Cook (8 pts.), Swartz (6 pts., 7 reb., 2 asst., 2 blk.); Ilwaco — McMullen (17 pts.), Glenn (14 pts.), Kylie Gray (17 reb.).

Lake Quinault 34, Wishkah Valley 28

The Lake Quinault Elks used a balanced offensive attack to upend Wishkah Valley 34-28 on Monday at Wishkah Valley High School.

Three Elks players — Katlynn Neeland, Christin Saavedra and Kiya Kalama — scored nine points apiece to lead Lake Quinault.

Wishkah (6-6, 4-5 Coastal 1B) was led by Char Gutierrez, who scored 13 points while grabbing 13 rebounds.

Loggerettes head coach Dave Busz didn’t mince words after the loss.

“We got outplayed, no doubt,” he said before turning his attention to Neeland, who held Wishkah’s top scorer, Erica Bomhoff, to two points on the night. “Neeland was all over the floor. She was outstanding tonight.”

Wishkah takes on Montesano’s junior varsity team at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday before hosting North River at 5:45 p.m on Friday.

Wishkah and Lake Quinault are currently tied for third place in the 1B Coastal League with a Monday evening coin flip to decide the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds entering the district playoffs.

At the time of this writing, no further information was available.

Lake Quinault 5 9 7 13 — 34

Wishkah Valley 9 6 6 7 — 28

Top Players: LQ — Neeland (9 pts.), Savedra (9 pts.), Kalama (9 pts.); WV — Gutierrez (13 pts., 13 reb.), Brooke Haskey (6 pts., 14 reb.).

Raymond 66, Northwest Christian 35

Raymond got a double-double from Hannah Miller en route to a 66-35 win over Northwest Christian on Monday in Lacey.

Miller scored 19 points, tied with Kyra Gardner for the team high, and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Seagulls (11-7, 10-6 Pacific 2B) won for the fifth time in their last six games.

Raymond head coach Jason Koski was satisfied with multiple aspects of his team’s play on Monday.

“It was a great team game,” he said. “As a team, we did a wonderful job rebounding. … Defensively, we did a much better job tonight guarding the ball and not having to rely on help.”

Eight of 10 Raymond players got on the scoreboard and the Seagulls outrebounded the Navigators (1-18, 1-15) 34-19.

The win keeps Raymond a game back of South Bend for the fourth spot in the 2B Pacific League.

The two rivals will play each other at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at South Bend High School.

Raymond 15 14 20 14 — 66

Northwest Christian 7 10 9 7 — 35

Top Players: Raymond — Miller (19 pts., 10 reb.), Gardner (19 pts., 4 reb., 5 stl.), Isabel Mora (8 pts.); NWC — Whitley Stepp (15 pts.).

Other scores

Pe Ell 36, North Beach 27

BOYS PREP BASKETBALL

Hoquiam 54, Onalaska 51

Hoquiam’s Rayyon Dayton scored a game-high 23 points in the Grizzlies’ 54-51 non-league victory over Onalaska on Monday, but it was his final two that were the most important.

Leading 52-51 with seven seconds left in the game, Dayton grabbed an offensive rebound after teammate Garrett Dick’s missed free throw. Dayton was fouled and subsequently buried both free throws to give Hoquiam the three-point victory.

Dayton scored eight of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as Onalaska (9-10, 2-8 Central 2B) attempted a comeback.

“Rayyon did a great job tonight, especially in the fourth quarter,” Hoquiam head coach Curtis Eccles said of his 6-foot-5 junior center, who also had 20 rebounds and four blocks in the game.

Matt Brown added 12 points for the Grizzlies (9-9, 4-2 Evergreen 1A).

Hoquiam had built a 19-point lead midway through the third quarter, but led by Carter Whitehead’s team-high 12 points, Onalaska cut the lead to 11 by the fourth quarter and down to two points with less than two minutes to go.

“(Onalaska) did a good job of coming back and hit shots when they needed to,” Eccles said. “We relaxed a little bit and they started chipping away, but our guys did a great job down the stretch.”

Hoquiam hosts Tenino at 7 p.m. on Tuesday followed by a Friday evening home contest against Forks, also at 7 p.m.

If the Grizzlies win out, they will earn a share of the league championship.

Hoquiam 12 15 12 15 — 54

Onalaska 7 7 14 23 — 51

Top Players: Hoquiam — Dayton (23 pts., 20 reb., 4 blk.), Brown (12 pts.); Onalaska — Whitehead (12 pts.).