BOYS PREP BASKETBALL

Ocosta 43, Morton-White Pass 42

Ocosta staved off elimination with a heart-pounding 43-42 victory over Morton-White Pass in the consolation round of the 2B District 4 Boys Basketball Tournament on Monday at Rochester High School.

Ocosta (12-11 overall) started off slowly, scoring just six points to trail 13-6 at the end of the first quarter.

But behind its press defense and improved offensive rebounding, the Wildcats rallied to take a 23-17 lead at the half.

Ocosta pushed its lead to nine points by the end of the third quarter, but the Timberwolves (12-11) responded by incorporating a half-court trap to get back in the game and took a three-point lead with under two minutes left to play.

Cesar Martinez hit a clutch 3-pointer for the Wildcats, tying the game at 40 with 1:10 left in the game.

MWP scored to take a 42-40 lead but Cole Hatton, who hit a key 3-pointer late in the Ocosta’s play-in game victory over Kalama six days earlier, repeated the feat by hitting a three with under a minute to play to give the Wildcats a 43-42-lead.

With just under nine seconds left, Martinez missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free-throw opportunity, giving MWP one last chance. But Hayden Young’s contested 23-footer at the buzzer was off-target, giving Ocosta the nail-biting victory and ending the Timberwolves’ season.

Hatton led Ocosta with 14 points.

“Both teams played their butts off tonight as neither team wanted to go home from this one,” Ocosta head coach Jason Quinby said. “I’m proud of how hard all the guys played tonight as we preached defense and rebounding and I thought we did a great job of slowing down their attack. On offense, it wasn’t always pretty, but usually winning district games isn’t about pretty basketball, it’s usually about toughness and making key shots when you need to. We’ve been living that motto for the last few weeks.”

Ocosta advances in the consolation bracket to face Wahkiakum at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Castle Rock High School.

Morton-White Pass 13 4 6 19 — 42

Ocosta 6 17 9 11 — 43

GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL

Raymond 47, Onalaska 34

Raymond rebounded from its opening-round upset loss on Saturday to defeat Onalaska 47-34 on Monday in an elimination game in the 2B District 4 Girls Basketball Tournament at WF West High School.

Kyra Gardner had a game-high 17 points and 12 rebounds while Raymond teammate Hannah Miller scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Seagulls (19-3) dialed up its offense in the second half, outscoring Onalaska (12-11) 34-14 over the final 16 minutes of the game.

“This game was a tale of two halves,” Raymond head coach Jason Koski said. “In the first half, we we were sluggish and couldn’t get out of our own way. In the second half, it looked like totally different players that could pass, catch, make shots and even get a rebound.”

With the win, Raymond survives to face Toledo (19-3) in a consolation game at 7:30 tonight at Rochester High School.

Onalaska 16 3 7 8 — 34

Raymond 11 2 21 13 — 47

Chief Leschi 47, Willapa Valley 43

Willapa Valley fell behind by double digits early and couldn’t recover in a season-ending 47-43 loss to Chief Leschi in the consolation round of the 2B District 4 Girls Basketball Tournament on Monday at Rochester High School.

Willapa Valley (13-9) fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter, after an 0-for-5 start from the floor with eight turnovers.

“I don’t want to say they were scared, but they were certainly nervous,” said Willapa Valley head coach John Peterson, who took part of the blame for running what he called was a “gimmick” defense. “We ran a box defense. It worked on the girl we were boxing, but not on anybody else. … That’s on me and not on the kids.”

The Vikings switched back to their bread-and-butter man-to-man defense, which slowed Chief Leschi (17-6) down, but the damage had already been done against a Willapa Valley team that has struggled to score at times throughout the season.

Katie Adkins led Willapa Valley with 17 points and six rebounds.

Cami Swartz scored 13 points and seven rebounds and Brooklyn Patrick scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists for Willapa Valley.

Peterson acknowledged the contributions of his seniors and was proud that all 12 Vikings were named to the Pacific League’s All-Academic Team (cumulative 3.7 GPA).

”I really thought we played hard and my seniors (Adkins, Britney Patrick, Georgi Ritzman and Olivia Betrozoff) gave me everything they had all year and are wonderful examples of student-athletes,” he said.

Willapa Valley 4 19 5 15 — 43

Chief Leschi 16 13 11 7 — 47

Taholah 48, Columbia Adventist 46

Natayla Russell’s bucket in the final moments of regulation led the Taholah Lady Chitwhins to a 48-46 victory over Columbia Adventist in a 1B District 4 Tournament semifinal game on Saturday at Castle Rock High School.

Taholah’s chances at defending its district title looked bleak early on as the Lady Chitwhins fell behind 20-3 at the end of the first quarter.

“We weren’t playing our game. We weren’t getting out on their shooters and we weren’t running our offense,” Taholah head coach Fred Pope said. “And Columbia Adventist wanted it more.”

But the Lady Chitwhins began to chip away at the lead, trailing 34-19 at halftime.

After the break, Taholah used its defense to get back into the game and trailed by just two points at 38-36 entering the fourth quarter.

“In the locker room (at halftime), we just talked about putting full-court pressure on them and running our offense,” Pope said. “Turnovers turned into lay-ins and open shots. We made big stops, got them into foul trouble and we were able to make our free throws.”

In a back-and-forth final period, Russell gave Taholah a late lead on a reverse layup with just three seconds left on the clock.

A last-second shot by the Kodiaks was off-target, giving the Lady Chitwhins a thrilling 48-46 comeback victory and securing a spot in the district championship game.

Taholah was led by Nakeah McCrory’s 22 points.

Ashley Hidalgo scored 11 points for the Lady Chitwhins, who earned a spot in the 1B State regional playoffs with the win.

Columbia Adventist was led by Leah Pearson and Maddie Dietrich, who scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.