Elma and Hoquiam now know their playoff seeds as we review Thursday’s prep basketball action on the Harbor.

~~~

BOYS PREP BASKETBALL

Elma 66, Hoquiam 54

Elma locked up the 1A Evergreen League’s third playoff spot by locking down Hoquiam 66-54 on Thursday at Elma High School.

The Eagles (12-7 overall, 4-4 1A Evergreen) led after each of the first three quarters of the game, extending their lead from 36-30 at the half to 54-40 by the start of the fourth period.

Elma did so by getting big games from standouts Isaac McGaffey and Traden Carter and played stifling defense on Hoquiam’s high-scoring point guard Lincoln Niemi.

Carter hit a three-quarter court bank shot to close out the first quarter while McGaffey scored 18 points in the first half and held Niemi to three points on the evening.

McGaffey (23 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks) and Carter (22 pts., 5 reb., 4 assists) combined to score 45 points in the game – 68% of Elma’s total points – while senior Armani Phan added 12 points on Senior Night.

PHOTO BY MIKE ROBERTS Elma’s Traden Carter (0) scored 22 points in a 66-54 win over Hoquiam on Thursday in Elma.

“McGaffey and Carter were both unstoppable. That would be a good way to put it,” Hoquiam head coach Jeff Niemi said. “They did their thing when they wanted it and how they wanted it. They played very well.”

“McGaffey had an awesome game. Traden Carter played incredibly well,” Elma head coach Matt Ferrier said of his the junior forward and senior guard, respectively. “My seniors did a great job and we were composed most of the night and did a great job attacking the zone. We scored near 70 points on the night, which is pretty fun.”

The Eagles hit 54% of their shots on 28-of-54 shooting and committed 13 turnovers in the game.

Hoquiam (6-13, 2-5) was led by guard Ryker Maxfield, who had a career-high 20 points as the Grizzlies shot 47% on 21-of-45 shooting.

“He’s the reason why they stayed in the basketball game,” Ferrier said. “He made it difficult for us to help off of him and held their composure together and continued to help them score when we were denying Niemi and (guard Joey) Bozich.”

“He was huge tonight,” Coach Niemi said of Maxfield. “We don’t stay in the game without him.”

PHOTO BY MIKE ROBERTS Hoquiam’s Ryker Maxfield (1) is defended by Elma’s Matthew Wood (11) during the Eagles’ 66-54 win on Thursday at Elma High School. Maxfield scored 20 points to lead the Grizzlies.

Bozich had 15 points for Hoquiam – 10 in the fourth quarter – in the losing effort.

The Grizzlies had 16 turnovers in the game and were outrebounded by the Eagles 27-26.

“I thought we battled fairly well to match some of their shooting, but they really shot well all night,” Coach Niemi said. “We just couldn’t get stops when we needed to. … Credit to Elma. They played well and beat us.”

“Incredibly energetic on our Senior Night,” Ferrier said. “Just played great defensively and had a lot of energy. … We played powerful. We played muscle basketball. They zoned us the entire night and we attacked the heart of their zone. … We just played incredibly tough.”

Elma honored seniors Carter, Phan, Theo Flores, Spencer Olson and Luke Schneider on Senior Night.

Both teams now know their playoff seeds heading into the final week of the regular season.

Elma is locked in at the 1A Evergreen League No. 3 spot while Hoquiam is set as the league’s fourth district-playoff seed.

Hoquiam hosts Aberdeen in a Myrtle Street Rivalry matchup at 6:45 p.m. on Monday.

Elma can play spoiler to Montesano’s bid for a league title when the two face off in an East County Civil War game at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Elma.

Hoquiam 13 17 10 14 – 54

Elma 17 19 18 12 – 66

Scoring: Hoquiam – Maxfield 20, Bozich 15, Byron 8, Dayton 4, Abbott 3, Niemi 3. Elma – McGaffey 23, Carter 22, Phan 12, Moe 5, Schneider 2, Olson 2.

~~~

W.F. West 66, Aberdeen 49

Aberdeen saw the game slip away in the third quarter of a 66-49 loss to W.F. West on Thursday at Aberdeen High School.

The Bobcats (6-10, 3-5 2A Evergreen) trailed 32-30 after a competitive first half but were outscored by the Bearcats (9-10, 5-3) 24-6 in the third quarter.

Guard Xanta Raya led Aberdeen with 17 points and five steals while junior Isaac Garcia scored 12 points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds for the Bobcats.

Aberdeen went 19 of 56 from the field (34%) – including 5 of 19 from the 3-point line (26%) – and hit 6-of-17 free throws (35%).

The Bobcats had 21 rebounds, 13 steals and nine turnovers in the game.

Aberdeen sits in a tie with Shelton for fourth place in the 2A Evergreen Conference.

The Cats host Montesano in a non-league matchup at 7 p.m. on Friday.

W.F. West 17 15 24 10 – 66

Aberdeen 14 17 6 12 – 49

Scoring: W. F. West – Westlund 22, Potter 11, Rogerson 6, Vallejo 6, Kelley 5, Rooney 5, Brumfield 4, McMillan 3, Ledgerwood 2, Grisham 2. Aberdeen – Raya 17, Garcia 12, Scott 6, Matthews 5, Quezada 3, Martin 2, Kelly 2, Jones 2.

~~~

GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL

Raymond-South Bend 73, Chief Leschi 43

Raymond-South Bend standout Kassie Koski had arguably the best game of her prep career in a 73-43 win over Chief Leschi on Thursday in Puyallup.

Koski kickstarted the Ravens offense by scoring 13 of her game-high 32 points in the first quarter as RSB (13-5, 5-1 2B Pacific) jumped out to an early 24-8 lead over the Warriors (8-10, 2-5) after one period of play.

Koski made eight threes in the game and did all of her scoring in just three quarters of play.

“Hats off to Kassie for her shooting tonight,” said Ravens head coach Jason Koski of his daughter’s career-high performance that also included a team best six steals. “Great team win lots of assists and good finishes by the shooters. Good off-the-bench play by our younger kids. They are starting to gain some confidence, which can be a real positive for us heading into district play.”

Ava Stigall added 14 points, Ava Baugher had nine points and a team-best nine rebounds, and point guard Megan Kongbouakhay had four steals and a game-high 13 assists for the Ravens in the rout.

With the win, RSB is tied with Forks for the top spot in the 2B Pacific League.

The Ravens host Aberdeen in a non-league game at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Raymond.

RSB 24 13 24 12 – 73

Chief Leschi 8 11 10 14 – 43

Scoring: RSB – Koski 32, Stigall 14, Baugher 9, Lewis 5, San 5, Kongbouakhay 3, Mark 3, Pine-Isaksen 2.

CL – Walden 19, Yates 8, C. Dillon 6, Earl 4, Roy 3, P. Dillon 3.