Willapa Valley showed no ill effects of a Christmas layoff as the Vikings opened their home holiday tournament with a 67-46 victory over Winlock on Thursday.
Willapa Valley (9-0 overall) started hot, hitting 9-of-14 shots in the first quarter, including a perfect 5-for-5 from the 3-point line to jump out to a 23-6 lead after the first eight minutes.
At a time of the season where coaches deal with long holiday layoffs, Willapa Valley head coach Jay Pearson thought his players responded with early energy.
“That was our direct challenge (to the team), was to come out with energy and make our open shots,” he said. “A big Christmas break with a different routine … We talked about bringing our own energy, and boy, did we ever.”
It was Willapa Valley’s usual suspects leading the charge in the game’s early going. Leading scorer Matt Pearson did most of his damage in the opening frame, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts for nine of his total 13 points.
The Vikings were a perfect 5-for-5 from beyond the arc and made nine field goals in the quarter.
“We really came out and accomplished that goal of being ready to play,” Coach Pearson said.
Willapa Valley didn’t slow down in the second quarter, as though their shooting slightly cooled, their defense remained vigilant.
“One thing we’ve been working really hard on is our defense and playing with intensity,” Coach Pearson said. “Against that dribble weave they were running, … We did a much better job tonight at jumping that handoff and picking the ball. We’re just getting better at defense.”
Pearson added that forward Peter Hamilton was one of the keys to Willapa Valley’s defense, which held Winlock (3-7) to just 13 points in the first half. Hamilton scored eight points in the game, most of those coming off of fast-break opportunities after the senior had made a steal or deflection of a wayward Cardinals pass.
Willapa Valley’s Peter Hamilton rises for a layup during the Vikings’ victory over Winlock on Thursday. (Ryan Sparks | Grays Harbor News Group)
The Vikings took a comfortable 38-13 lead into halftime, increased the lead by one after the third, and got their starters some rest in the fourth period as they cruised to a win at their home tournament, which is named after famed former Willapa Valley head coach Jack Pearson.
The Vikings current coach beams with pride and emotion on the thought of what it means to be coaching in the tournament named after his father.
“It’s just a great tradition,” Jay Pearson said of the 11th iteration of the Jack Q. Pearson Holiday Classic. “If he could see his grandson (Matt Pearson) play the way he has, he’d be very proud. It means a lot. It’s emotional. It’s a small school and that’s our community. It’s neat to see.”
Logan Walker led Willapa Valley with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Matt Pearson added seven rebounds and four assists to go along with his 13 points for the Vikings.
Sophomore Beau Buchanan had six points and eight rebounds. The 6-foot-5 center also made the highlight-reel with a rim-rocking two-handed jam that brought a roar from the crowd in the third quarter.
Willapa Valley hosts Adna at 6:30 p.m. tonight in the final game of the tournament.
Winlock 6 7 11 22 — 46
Willapa Valley 23 15 12 17 — 67
Top Players: WV — Walker (18 pts.), Pearson (13 pts., 7 reb., 4 asst.), Hamilton (8 pts., 5 reb.), Buchanan (6 pts., 8 reb.); Winlock — Bryce Cline (13 pts.).
Bellevue Christian 72, Montesano 71
Bellevue Christian forward Ken West’s 3-pointer with less than five seconds to go was the difference as Montesano fell to the Vikings 72-71 in the Cloud 9 Christmas Classic on Thursday at Lynden Christian High School.
Montesano (6-5) led by two points with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game, but BC’s 6-foot-7 senior hit a step-back three with 4.8 second left to give the Vikings the one-point lead.
After a Bulldogs timeout, Monte failed to get a shot off in the final seconds of the contest.
“We played a good team and played probably our best game of the season,” Monte head coach Doug Galloway said.
Tanner Nicklas led the Bulldogs in scoring with 17 points. The junior center also grabbed seven rebounds in the contest.
Sam Winter and Evan Bates had 16 points each for the Bulldogs.
Trace Ridgway also scored in double figures for Monte with 12 points.
With the loss, Monte moves to 6-5 on the season.
Montesano 15 15 23 18 — 71
Bellevue Christian 16 14 26 16 — 72
Top Players: Montesano — Nicklas (17 pts., 7 reb., 2 blk.), Winter (16 pts., 4 asst., 2 stl.), Bates (16 pts.), Ridgway (12 pts.).
Astoria 37, Elma 25
Elma couldn’t get shots to fall at Astoria on Thursday in a low-scoring 37-25 loss at the Astoria Holiday Classic.
Elma (2-8 overall) turned the ball over 12 times but shot 16 percent from the field in the loss.
The Eagles also didn’t have any of its players reach double-digits. Cody Vollan ended up being the leading scorer with nine points and nine rebounds.
“The kids played exactly how we want, just couldn’t buy a bucket,” Elma head Coach Jeff Niemi.
Elma will continue play at the Astoria tournament on Friday and Saturday.
Elma 7 3 3 12 — 25
Astoria 10 10 9 8 — 37
Top Players: Elma — Vollan (9 pts., 9 reb.), Carter Jacobson (5 pts., 5 reb), Cobey Moore (5 pts., 5 reb.).
— Hasani Grayson, Grays Harbor News Group
South Bend 49, Rainier 42
Drew Rose scored 23 points to lead the South Bend Indians to a 49-42 win over Rainier on Thursday in the Pe Ell Tournament at Pe Ell High School.
Rose recorded a double-double in the game, grabbing 11 rebounds to go along with his game-high 23 points.
Logan Stamos added 11 points for the Indians (2-7) and Nathon Ashley had eight rebounds and four steals for South Bend.
The Indians host Raymond in a 2B Pacific League matchup on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
No additional statistics were available for this game.
PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Willapa Valley 58, Toutle Lake 20
Willapa Valley had three players score in double figures as the Vikings rolled to a 58-20 win over Toutle Lake in their first game of the Jack Q. Pearson Holiday Classic at Willapa Valley High School on Thursday.
Brooke Fries led the Vikings (7-2, 6-2 Pacific 2B) with 14 points.
Hannah Cook added 11 points and eight steals and Hallee Layman had 10 points in what Vikings head coach John Peterson called “her best game of the year.”
Ten of the 11 Willapa Valley players that competed in the game scored at least two points.
The Vikings held the Ducks (1-8) to eight points or less in each quarter of the game.
Molly Donald led Toutle Lake with eight points.
Toutle Lake 4 8 2 6 — 20
Willapa Valley 16 16 18 8 — 58
Top Players: WV — Friese (14 pts.), Cook (11 pts., 8 stl.), Layman (10 pts.); TL — Donald (8 pts.).
Bellevue Christian 51, Montesano 40
Despite a solid effort, Montesano couldn’t match the size of Bellevue Christian in suffering a 51-40 defeat to the Vikings in the Cloud 9 Christmas Classic on Thursday at Lynden Christian High School.
“I thought we battled really well being undersized against their height,” Monte head coach Julie Graves said. “We played really well and made some defensive adjustments in the second half, where we outscored them.”
Lexi Lovell led the Bulldogs with 18 points. Paige Lisherness and Katie Granstrom each had eight points for Monte (6-4).
Bellevue Christian’s Sophia Bold led the way with a game-high 20 points for the Vikings.
Monte high 17-of-49 shots from the field and went 3-for-10 from the free-throw line.
Bellevue Christian (7-0) went 23-for-46 from the field and 4-of-6 from the charity stripe.
After a long layoff, Graves was pleased to see her team compete in its first game back.
“We talked about trying to come out with some energy,” she said. “We haven’t played in eight days. … We tried to control the tempo and not get into a running game. We didn’t have to sub as much as I thought we would need to.”
Montesano 10 10 12 8 — 40
Bellevue Christian 16 17 18 10 — 51
Top Players: Montesano — Lovell (18 pts.), Lisherness (8 pts., 8 reb.), Granstrom (8 pts., 4 stl.), Janessa Otterstetter (6 pts.), Matti Ekerson (4 asst.); BC — Bold (20 pts.).
Taholah 63, North Beach 19
After a 15-day layoff, the Taholah Chitwhins shook off some early rust en route to a 63-19 win over North Beach on Wednesday at Taholah High School.
“We came out kind of rusty at first … We missed a lot of close shots,” Taholah head coach Fred Pope said.
Despite the rust, Taholah led 15-5 after the first quarter.
The Chitwhins (4-2) found a groove in the second half, outscoring the Hyaks (2-5) 35-10 over the final two quarters.
“In the second half our team turned up the heat on defense, got some steals, and turned those steals into points,” Pope said. “This was an overall team effort where the bench was just as important as the starters. Our bench provided great defense and allowed our starters to get a quick breather and back into the game.”
Taholah was led by Denise Curley Bear, who scored 21 points to lead the Chitwhins.
Nettie Mail added 18 points and eight rebounds for Taholah.
Lorin Cox led North Beach with 10 points on the evening. No other Hyaks player scored more than two points in the contest.
North Beach 5 4 6 4 — 19
Taholah 15 13 14 21 — 63
Top Players: Taholah — Curley Bear (21 pts.), Mail 18 pts., 8 reb.), Angel Archeta (7 pts.).
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Utah State University Eastern 70, Grays Harbor 55
Grays Harbor couldn’t muster enough offense in the fourth quarter in a 70-55 loss to Utah State University Eastern on Thursday.
Sandin Kidder paced the offensive attack in the first match up with 14 points and Armonnie Byrd chipped in with 11 rebounds.
Grays Harbor head coach Chad Allan said his team’s shooting will improve once his players recover from the two-week break.
“We were on our heals in first quarter, but after that started to fight back and play with them,” he said. “Post holiday shooting is still in the deep freeze, but that will warm up.”
USUE 16 12 26 16 — 70
GHC 15 16 16 8 — 55
Top Players: GHC — Byrd (10 pts., 11 reb.), Kidder (14 pts., 3 blk.).
— Hasani Grayson, Grays Harbor News Group
