Sharaya Brydon scored a game-high 19 points and Charli Sampson-Eastman made big shots down the stretch as Hoquiam pulled away from Aberdeen for a 38-33 victory on Saturday in Aberdeen.
The Grizzlies (4-1 overall), who were playing in their fourth game in a week and for the second straight day, showed no signs of tired legs in the first half, jumping out to a 23-19 lead in the first half.
Brydon led Hoquiam to the first-half lead, scoring 14 of her 19 points in the first half on 6-of-9 shooting from the field.
“Sharaya Brydon just comes out and keeps us steady all the time,” Hoquiam head coach Chad Allan said. “Her energy, her rebounds, all of those things just kind of came out.”
Allan admitted the Grizzlies came out flat in the third quarter and Aberdeen took advantage.
The Bobcats quickly took the lead shortly after halftime. Maddie Gore opened the half with a 3-pointer to cut Hoquiam’s lead to one followed by a three from Marina Maril to put Aberdeen up 25-23 with 6:15 to go in the the quarter.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Aberdeen’s Marina Maril, background, hits a long-range shot during the Bobcats’ 38-33 loss to Hoquiam on Saturday in Aberdeen.
Maril continued to stay hot, extending Aberdeen’s lead to six points on an offensive rebound and putback followed by a long jump shot for a 29-23 Bobcats lead halfway through the third.
“(Aberdeen) came out of the half and we didn’t come out at half in some ways,” Allan said. “They kind of took it to us and kind of took us out of our game.”
But Aberdeen couldn’t extend the lead further and Brydon and the Grizzlies went to work to cut into the Bobcats lead. Brydon hit 1-of-2 free throws to make it a 29-24 game with 2:22 in the third and, after a free throw by Aberdeen’s Abby Martinez, scored on an offensive rebound and putback to make it a 30-26 game.
Brydon was fouled on the play and missed the bonus free throw, but Chloe Kennedy scooped up the loose ball off Brydon’s miss and scored to bring the Grizzlies to within a bucket at 30-28 with just over a minute left in the period.
A Kaely Chum free throw in the final minute gave Aberdeen a precarious 31-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Hoquiam’s Sadie Carlyle puts up a shot during Saturday’s Myrtle Street Rivalry game in Aberdeen. The Grizzlies won the game 38-33.
Chum opened the final frame with a steal and breakaway bucket to put Aberdeen up 33-28, but that would be the only points Aberdeen would score in the quarter as the Bobcats went ice cold from the floor.
Hoquiam, which admittedly had not been shooting lights out either, began to chip away at the Bobcats lead.
A Kennedy free throw, a Brydon running jumper and a Sadie Carlyle free throw brought the Grizzlies to within a point a 33-32 with 4:06 left in the game.
Hoquiam’s Charli Sampson-Eastman then stepped up and calmly buried a 3-pointer from the elbow to give Hoquiam its first lead since halftime at 35-33 with 2:21 left.
With just under a minute left in the game, Sampson-Eastman came up clutch again, drilling another long set shot with her toe on the 3-point line for a 37-33 lead.
Carlyle added a free throw with 34 seconds left to secure the Bobcats’ 38-33 Myrtle Street Rivalry victory.
“I was hesitating in the beginning because I just wasn’t making my shots,” Sampson-Eastman said, adding that the coaching staff instructed her to forget about the misses and just keep shooting. “I needed to get more confidence in my shot. … (Allan) told me to have confidence and just keep shooting, so I kept shooting.”
“We kind of lost a little bit of confidence (in our shooting),” Allan said. “Charli and others know we believe in them and we kind of gained that confidence in the end when they were open. They took (the open shots) and hit them and that sparked us.”
Aside from Brydon, Hoquiam was led by Kennedy, who had eight points to go along with a team-high 13 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.
Sampson-Eastman finished with six points for a Hoquiam team that shot 9-for-41 from the field (22%) and 11-for-25 from the free-throw line (44%).
Aberdeen (1-3) was led by Maril, who scored 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting (43%) from the floor.
Gore added eight points for a Bobcats team that shot 11-for-43 from the field (26%), including 3-for-18 (17%) from 3-point range.
Hoquiam 10 13 5 10 — 38
Aberdeen 10 9 12 2 — 33
Montesano 48, Rainier 20
Playing in its third game in three days and fourth game since Tuesday, Montesano defeated Rainier 48-20 on Saturday in Montesano.
The Bulldogs (4-1 overall) were led by Paige Lisherness’ 11 points and 14 rebounds as Monte jumped out to nine point lead after the first eight minutes of play.
Monte shut out Rainier 15-0 in the fourth quarter to earn the convincing victory.
Maia Young scored nine points and Jaiden King had a solid all-around floor game with eight points, five steals and four deflections for Monte.
“We knew we’d be tired so it was going to be more of a mental thing,” Montesano head coach Mark Mansfield said. “I thought our girls really stepped up tonight as far as the energy on the floor.” … Our defense was really good and we did a nice job of flying around on the floor. We didn’t look tired.”
Mansfield added that his girls were tired by the end of the game, but proved to be of strong mind after going 4-0 over the physically-challenging week.
“We asked them afterwards ‘Who is tired?’ And everybody’s hand went up,” Mansfield said. “Mentally, they did a nice job tonight of battling through that. … I think today really helped. … We mentally just didn’t have a lot of breakdowns today as far as making silly mistakes and when you are tired, you tend to do that. … We moved on to the next play and limited their opportunities.”
Rainier 5 8 7 0 — 20
Montesano 14 8 11 15 — 48
Raymond 52, Northwest Christian 40
Raymond’s Karsyn Freeman scored 19 points to lead the Seagulls to a 52-40 victory over Northwest Christian on Saturday in Lacey.
Kyndal Koski scored nine points with Izzy Silvernail adding eight points for Raymond, which led 25-21 at the half.
Raymond hit 18 field goals in the game and went 7-of-12 (58%) from the free-throw line.
With the victory, Raymond moves to 3-1 overall and in the 2B Pacific League this season.
Raymond 10 15 16 11 — 52
NWC 5 16 8 11 — 40
Other scores
Black Hills 49, Elma 39
BOYS PREP BASKETBALL
Montesano 72, North Beach 48
Montesano had its most balanced offensive performance of the early season in a 72-48 win over North Beach on Saturday in Ocean Shores.
The Bulldogs (4-1 overall) had three players score in double figures and jumped out to a huge first-half lead en route to the victory.
Cayden Lovell led Monte with 22 points on 10-of-16 (63%) shooting as the Bulldogs shot 32-for-64 (50%) as a team.
Montesano also hit on 7-of-16 shots from beyond the arc (44%).
Tyler Christian had 18 points including four 3-pointers and Trace Ridgway added 10 points for Monte.
The Hyaks shot a respectable 43% from the field on 16-of-37 shots, but had trouble against the sheer volume of Monte’s offense.
“We had a tough time matching up with Monte,” North Beach head coach Larry Moore said. “They did a good job of recognizing and taking advantage of mismatches. Our kids played extremely hard and I think we learned a few things today.”
Josh Bighead lead North Beach with 18 points.
The Hyaks’ Kyle Frye added 10 points with JT Mail blocking four Montesano shots in the contest.
Montesano 19 18 27 10 — 74
North Beach 9 7 12 15 — 46
