GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL
2B District IV Tournament
Raymond 44, Napavine 27
The Seagulls used a dominant second quarter to advance in the 2B District IV Tournament with a 44-27 win over Napavine on Tuesday in Raymond.
Kyra Gardner’s scoring was a big part of Raymond’s victory, as the freshman guard put up a double-double with 20 points and 10 steals.
After playing a tight first quarter that had Raymond nursing a 12-9 lead, the Seagulls found their rhythm in the second frame.
The Seagulls started the second quarter on a 8-0 run, forcing the Tigers to call a timeout.
Raymond’s Anna Silva drives past Napavine defenders on her way to the hoop on Tuesday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Gardner still scored six points in the second quarter and said making more plays off the ball was the key to opening up the offense.
“I just tried to make the easiest pass and if they’re open, they’re open,” she said. “I just tried to pass it to them and look for the open court.”
In addition to Gardner’s scoring, Raymond also got a big lift from Hannah Miller who added 12 points with her work in the post.
Raymond went into the halftime break with a 30-14 lead and head coach Jason Koski said he was pleased with the way his team handled Napavine’s zone defense.
“They went with a 1-3-1 zone and we ran some good sets against that and it let Gardner get shots. We could have got her 50 shots if we needed to, but other kids stepped up,” he said. “Hannah Miller did a great job for us in the post and we rebounded the ball well”
Raymond out-rebounded the Tigers 38-29 in the contest, including 28 defensive rebounds that limited second-chance point opportunities for Napavine.
Miller had 12 total rebounds and six offensive boards that turned into points off putbacks.
The Seagulls’ season will continue as they advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket to face Toledo.
Raymond’s Kyra Gardner, left, blocks the shot of Napavine’s Sydney Purvis in the first quarter on Tuesday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
A combination of inclement weather that will force Raymond to play on back-to-back nights and Toledo’s first-round bye means the Indians will enter Wednesday’s matchup the better-rested team.
Koski played his starters most of the game and is confident his team can regain its energy by Wednesday.
“It’s a short turnaround with that snow day. For a team like us its challenging because we played the regulars a lot of minutes, but the kids are pretty resistant.” he said.
Toledo’s Kal Schaplow has made life difficult for opposing defenses this season with her play from the perimeter.
Koski expects Schaplow to be a challenge to his team, but he is hoping there is an advantage to having his team get its first playoff game out of the way.
“Toledo is big and physical. Kal Schaplow is a really good basketball player and they have a good sized big kid inside,” he said. “It’ll be a big challenge for us, but we’ve already played one game so we got those first-game jitters out of our system.”
Toledo and Raymond will square off at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Rochester High School.
Napavine 9 5 8 5 — 27
Raymond 12 18 9 5 — 44
Top Players: Gardner (20 pts., 7 reb., 10 stl) Miller (12 pts., 12 reb.); Napavine — Riley Beeson (15 pts.)
Tumwater 63, Aberdeen 28
Aberdeen fell behind early and never recovered in a 63-28 home loss to Tumwater in the season-finale on Tuesday.
Aberdeen (1-19, 0-10 Evergreen 2A) was down by four heading into the second quarter, but were outscored by 12 in the frame to trail 31-15 at the half.
Things didn’t get much better on offense for the Bobcats in the second half, as Aberdeen was outpaced 32-13 over the final 16 minutes, including losing the fourth quarter, 18-2.
Despite her team’s offensive struggles, Aberdeen head coach Rachel Wenzel saw some improvement over the last time they played the Thunderbirds (18-2, 9-1).
“We had a much better outing against them that the first time,” she said. “We took care of the ball much better.”
After going through a rebuilding phase in her first season as Aberdeen head coach, Wenzel said she was “thankful” for players Ryder Heikkila, Alex Bruner and Randi Stewart for “buying into the program.”
Tumwater 9 22 14 18 — 63
Aberdeen 5 10 11 2 — 28
Top Players: Aberdeen — Aliyah Tageant (8 pts.), Kaely Chum (6 pts.), Heikkila (5 pts.); Tumwater — Isabella Lund (15 pts.), Natalie Sumrock (13 pts.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
BOYS PREP BASKETBALL
2B District IV Tournament
Morton-White Pass 55, Raymond 54 (OT)
Raymond had a chance to come away with the buzzer-beating shot to beat Morton-White Pass, but couldn’t get the 3-point attempt to fall in the Seagulls’ 55-54 overtime loss on Tuesday in the first round of districts.
The home loss eliminates Raymond from the 2B District IV tournament.
Raymond’s Carl Enslow attempts a layup in the third quarter against Morton-White Pass on Tuesday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
The Gulls were down by one with approximately eight seconds to go with possession of the ball. Devin Souvannavanh drove the lane and kicked the ball out to an open McCartney Maden in the corner for the 3-pointer with the team down 55-54.
Raymond head coach Derek Rask said Souvannavanh made the right play when the Timberwolves shut down his driving lane.
“We were hoping for a couple of different options. Ultimately, we wanted to attack the hoop, but they made the right play and kicked it out,” he said. “It was a great look we just missed the shot. The kids executed the way I asked them to so that wasn’t the issue. We just came up a bucket short.”
Buckets were hard to come by for both teams in the extra period, with Morton-White Pass and Raymond only hitting one shot from the field each.
The Seagulls pulled out ahead halfway through overtime with a layup from Cesar Delgado, but Kaleb Rashoff answered with a 3-pointer about a minute later.
Raymond had a difficult time containing Rashoff as the guard led the Timberwolves with 14 points.
Rask said he thought his team executed its 2-3 zone well on the defensive end of the floor despite Rashoff’s scoring.
“I thought we tagged their shooters well. We had to understand where they were at all times,” he said. “They did get free a few times, good players do. Rashoff got free a few times. He found his spots and hit some good shots for them.”
Raymond’s Tre’ Seydel hits a 3-point shot in the second quarter against Morton-White Pass on Tuesday. Seydel led the Seagulls with 23 points in Raymond’s 55-54 overtime loss to the Timeberwolves. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
The Seagulls got some timely shooting from Tre’ Seydel down the stretch as well, hitting a 3-pointer with 2:45 to go that gave Raymond a 50-49 lead. Seydel put up a game-high 23 points.
Souvannavanh had struggled at free-throw line until the fourth quarter where he hit three of his last four free throw attempts to tie the game up at 52-52 in the final seconds of regulation.
Raymond had a chance to win the game in the final seconds of the fourth quarter when Syedel dished the ball to Maden, who put up a contested shot that clanged off the front of the rim.
With a few opportunities to win the game and advance to the second round of districts, Rask said there’s no way to sugarcoat how disappointing the loss is.
“This one stings for everybody,” he said. “This hurts and there’s no way to avoid that sting. I told them they could take away life skills from this and persevere beyond a loss.”
The Seagulls will be graduating four seniors this season, opening up an expanded role for some of the younger players who saw the floor this year.
The departure of Souvannavanh and Carl Enslow represents a combined 17 points a game the Seagulls will have to replace, but Rask is confident his team will come back strong next year.
“We do have a good young core. We have some juniors this year that played some good minutes for us and got some good experience,” he said. “We have a couple sophomores and a freshman coming back and I’m looking forward to working with them in the future.”
Morton White-Pass 9 21 14 8 3 – 55
Raymond 11 17 13 11 2 – 53
Top Players: Raymond – Seydel (23 pts.) Delgado (12 pts., 8 reb.) Souvannavanh (5 pts., 4 ast.); Rashoff (14 pts.), Hayden Young (14 pts.), Dylan Richards (12 pts.)
2B District IV Tournament
Winlock 57, Ocosta 50
Ocosta’s comeback attempt fell short in its first-round 2B District IV playoff game on Tuesday, losing to Winlock 57-50 in Westport.
“We got off to a pretty poor start again,” Ocosta head coach Jason Quinby said. “We were up 6-4 in the first quarter, then the lid was put on the hoop for us and we missed tons of shots and allowed them too many good looks.”
After a dreadful offensive first half that saw the 5th-seeded Wildcats fall behind 28-15, Ocosta (8-13 overall) rallied to make a game of it in the final 16 minutes of the game. Ocosta went on a 15-2 run toward the end of the third quarter to cut Winlock’s lead to two points entering the fourth quarter.
After No. 8 Winlock (6-14) stretched its lead back to 11 early in the fourth, Ocosta went on a run, sparked by Cesar Martinez’s three 3-pointers in the frame, to get two within a bucket at 53-50.
But that was as close as the Wildcats would get as Winlock hit free throws down the stretch while Ocosta came up with empty trips on the offensive end.
“We at least made things interesting down the stretch,” Quinby said. “But we had too many lapses on defense, especially early on, to overcome in playoff basketball.”
Cole Hatton led Ocosta with 16 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Kobe Beck added 12 points with Martinez dropping 11 for Ocosta.
With his season now over, Quinby recognized the contributions of his four seniors (Beck, Alex Bailey, Paul Bjornsgard and Jayden Matthews).
“I’d like to recognize (them) for all their hard work and dedication throughout the years,” he said. “They’ll be missed.”
Winlock 17 11 9 20 — 57
Ocosta 8 7 20 15 — 50
Top Players: Ocosta — Hatton (16 pts., 6 asst., 5 reb.), Beck (12 pts.), Martinez (11 pts.); Winlock — Bryce Cline (21 pts.), Noah Patching (15 pts.), Coleson Richendollar (12 pts.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
1B District IV Tournament
North River 53, Columbia Adventist Academy 37
North River notched its first playoff victory in 11 years with a 53-37 win over Columbia Adventist Academy on Tuesday in the first round of the 1B District IV Tournament.
The Mustangs got hot from beyond the arc and hit eight 3-pointers to come away with their first district victory since 2008.
Luis Nieves was one of the North River players who had the hot hand from downtown, scoring 22 points to lead the Mustangs.
North River head coach Sean Pierson said the big 29-12 halftime lead allowed him to rest his starters in the second half.
“We were feeling it from behind the arc and we had some other kids do a good job on the boards,” he said. “Once we got into halftime, we cruised from there.”
North River will try to continue its run in the district tournament with a game against Firm Foundation at Seton Catholic High School at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
North River 16 13 11 13 – 53
Columbia Adventist Academy 8 4 10 15 – 37
Top Players: North River Luis Nives (22 pts.) Adam Schreck (11 pts.); Garret Squieres (12 pts.)
