PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Elma 67, Seattle Christian Academy 37
The Eagles used their defense to fuel a third-quarter run and pull away from Seattle Christian Academy to earn a 67-37 win Saturday in Elma.
Elma beat the Warriors (1-3 overall) by a comfortable margin with the help of an 11-0 third-quarter run that gave the Eagles a 37-20 lead after the game appeared to be headed for a close finish.
The Eagles (7-0) came out of the halftime break protecting a 26-20 lead and were determined to get some breathing room.
Elma’s defense was active in the second half, grabbing eight steals in the first three minutes of the third quarter to help extend the lead to 17 points.
Elma head coach Lisa Johnson said she told her team to pick up the defensive intensity in the second half.
“We were flat and we had no energy in the first half,” she said. “We got outhustled to loose balls. We just weren’t playing how we normally play, so we talked at halftime about picking the energy up and putting the press back on.”
Elma’s Quin Mikel shoots a mid-range jumper against Seattle Christian Academy on Saturday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
The Eagles found their groove in the second half which stood in contrast to their first half, where the game appeared to be up for grabs. The Warriors and Eagles played a tight, back-and-forth first half that featured five lead changes as both teams struggled for control.
Seattle Christian Academy got a big lift from Olivia Clark, who was the only Warrior in double figures with 20 points.
Elma’s Jalyn Sackrider kept the offense afloat in the first half, scoring nine of her team-leading 19 points before halftime.
Kali Rambo added 15 points and made her biggest impact on the defensive end of the floor with eight steals.
Rambo agreed with her coach that the Eagles lacked energy in the first half and added that missing team leader Molly Johnston, who is sidelined with an ankle injury, made it difficult to keep focused.
“We didn’t practice very hard yesterday. It wasn’t a very intense practice,” she said. “We were down a little bit after losing Molly, but we’re going to do our best to keep in it until she gets back.”
Elma never found itself down again in the contest and shot 18-for-32 from the field in the second half.
With another win under their belts, the Eagles will prepare for the Seaside Tournament in Seaside, Oregon where they will play three games in three straight days beginning Thursday.
Johnson said her team needs to stop coming out slow in the first half with the league schedule — which begins against Hoquiam on Jan. 5 — approaching quickly.
“We’re not going to be able to do that against better teams. We have to come out of the gate fired up and ready to go,” she said.
Seattle Christian Academy 10 10 9 8 – 37
Elma 14 11 23 15 – 63
Top Players: Elma – Sackrider (19 pts.), Rambo (15 pts., 8 stl., 4 asst.), Quin Mikel (15 pts., 11 reb.); Seattle Christian Academy – Olivia Clark (20 pts.)
Raymond 53, Life Christian Academy 12
Raymond freshman Kyra Gardner hit 6-of-10 3-point shots and scored a game-high 28 points to lead the Seagulls to a 53-12 rout over Life Christian on Saturday in Raymond.
Hannah Miller added 14 points and nine rebounds for a Raymond team that led 29-2 at the end of the first period and 40-4 at the half against a winless Eagles team.
“We were able to jump out to an early first quarter lead and make liberal use of our bench throughout the first half and third quarter,” Raymond head coach Jason Koski said. “Eight of our 10 suited-up players scored and it was great to see everyone make contributions throughout the game.”
Gardner had a double-double in the game, adding 10 steals to go along with her high-point production.
“Kyra had another good floor game, but I was most pleased to see Hannah Miller put some good stats up. Sidney Swogger continues to improve and is slowly getting used to the pace of the game at the varsity level.,” Koski said. “We will need to continue to get our guards to play with a confident purpose as we head into the next stretch of games before the holiday break.”
With the win Raymond keeps pace in a highly-competitive 2B Pacific League with a 3-1 league record (3-2 overall).
The Seagulls face undfeated Ilwaco at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Ilwaco High School.
Life Christian 2 2 0 8 — 12
Raymond 29 11 10 3 — 53
Top Players: Raymond — Gardner (28 pts., 10 stl., 6 reb.), Miller (14 pts., 9 reb.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
BOYS PREP BASKETBALL
Elma’s Killian Acuff grabs an offensive rebound and scores on the put back against Seattle Christian Academy on Saturday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Seattle Christian Academy 76, Elma 36
Elma fell victim to a 12-0 run to start the game and never found its footing in a 76-36 home loss to Seattle Christian Academy on Saturday.
Elma (1-4 overall) was plagued by turnovers and poor defensive rotations on the perimeter that allowed the Warriors to score six 3-pointers in the first quarter and put the game out of reach early.
“They did what we expected. They just hit some shots, a lot of shots,” Elma head coach Jeff Niemi said. “We were out on some of them, but not on all of them and (hitting 3-pointers) gave the Warriors a lot of confidence and they just rolled from there.”
One of the Warriors who benefited from open looks was Connor Knack. Knack had a game-high 22 points and hit five 3-pointers.
Elma stopped the bleeding a little bit in the second, quarter but still found itself down 52-25 at halftime.
Seattle Christian (2-5) ended up shooting 48 percent from the field while the Eagles shot just 31 percent.
In addition to Elma’s shooting woes, the Eagles also struggled to hold on to the ball and committed 23 turnovers.
Despite the lopsided loss, Niemi liked the defensive effort after a rough first quarter and plans on working on to finding shots against zone defenses.
“Our goal was to get back within 15, but we didn’t score. Our defense stepped up big time but we had trouble scoring against their zone. We have to go back to work on that,” he said.
The Eagles will host Aberdeen at Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Seattle Christian Academy 31 21 9 15 – 76
Elma 8 17 4 7 – 36
Top Players: Elma – Cody Vollan (7 pts.); Seattle Christian Academy – Connor Knack (22 pts.), Amir Yusuf (13 pts.), Alex Clear (13 pts.)
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Walla Walla 73, Grays Harbor 51
Grays Harbor College kept the game close for three quarters but couldn’t hold back Walla Walla in the final frame, losing 73-51 on Saturday in Vancouver.
Sandin Kidder led the way for the Chokers (4-3 overall) with 15 points and was the only Grays Harbor player to reach double figures.
Walla Walla’s Kaileigh Dietrich-Denton led the way with 21 points and dominated from beyond the arc, sinking six of her nine shots from 3-point range.
The Warriors (7-3) held a 51-38 lead heading into the fourth quarter and put the game out of reach by outscoring the Chokers 22-13 in the game’s final period.
“We held tough for three quarters but just could not make enough runs to catch up,” Chokers head coach Chad Allan said. “We will improve from this experience.”
Grays Harbor will play Clark College on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the final game of the Clark Crossover Tournament in Vancouver.
Grays Harbor 17 8 13 13 – 51
Walla Walla 24 11 16 22 – 73
Top Players: GHC – Kidder (15 pts., 5 reb); Walla Walla – Dietrich-Denton (21 pts., 8 reb.), Sailor Liefke (14 pts.), McKenzie Gunter (12 pts., 8 reb., 5 asst.)
