Girls Prep Basketball Roundup: Hoquiam squeaks by Elma to advance to state tournament

Published 7:15 am Monday, February 23, 2026

Hoquiam advanced to the state tournament as we review girls prep basketball games on the Harbor.

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GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL

Hoquiam 35, Elma 32

Hoquiam held on down the stretch to punch a ticket to the 1A State Tournament with a 35-32 victory over Elma in a 1A District 4 elimination game on Saturday at Centralia High School.

The Grizzlies (16-8 overall) trailed the Eagles (7-11) 10-4 after a jumper by Eagles senior forward Olivia Moore with just over three minutes to play in the first quarter.

Despite leading scorer Aaliyah Kennedy sidelined for much of the second quarter with five fouls, the Grizzlies got contributions from the likes of seniors Lexi LaBounty and Sydney Gordon to tie the Eagles 16-16 by halftime.

With the game tied at 20-all with 2:30 left to play in the third quarter, Kennedy gave the Grizzlies the lead when she drove to the basket, made an off-balance shot and was fouled. The sophomore forward converted the free throw to put Hoquiam up 23-20.

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Kennedy followed with an offensive rebound and putback and Gordon drove and scored a layup a few moments later to stake the Grizzlies to a 27-20 lead with 29 seconds left in the third.

With two minutes left in the game, Hoquiam’s Makalah Haskey scored on a layup for a 34-28 lead.

Hoping to stave off elimination, Elma made a run.

Eagles junior guard Kahlea Tolentino hit two free throws with 1:46 to play followed by a Moore drive and layup to cut the Grizzlies lead to a single possession at 34-32.

After a Hoquiam turnover on a travelling call, Elma had a chance to tie or take the lead with a minute to play, but two Elma field-goal attempts were off the mark.

Kennedy made the first of two free throws to put Hoquiam up 35-32 with 12.6 seconds left.

Elma freshman Mercedes Carter found Moore on the elbow. The senior standout received the pass and took a deep three that just bounced off the back iron and out.

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Kennedy tapped that rebound out to LaBounty, who held on to the ball for the final seconds to secure Hoquiam’s trip to the state tournament and end Elma’s season.

“In true Grizzly fashion, we found a way with grit and teamwork to put ourselves in the position to make it to state,” Hoquiam head coach Chad Allan said. “We did not make life easy on ourselves today and created more challenges for ourselves than we needed to. But, together we found solutions. So happy and proud of this group of seven athletes representing our team fantastically in front of the best playoff atmosphere you could ask for. Our eighth man today was definitely the energy that came from our crowd and cheer section. Winning ugly is still a win.”

Kennedy led the way with 17 points, 17 rebounds and four assists while Gordon had eight points and 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies.

Kennedy, Gordon and Brodhead combined to grab 37 of Hoquiam’s 53 rebounds while Kacee Kruger, Haskey and Brodhead were credited by Allan for holding Elma’s two leading scorers – Moore and sophomore Mikayla Roberts – to 13 points combined.

“So many people contributed today,” he said. ” I want to give the most credit to my assistant coaches who worked their tails off tonight keeping our athletes emotionally in the game when things did not go well. I would also like to give a huge shout out to (Elma head coach) Brandi Henry and the stellar job she has done improving that Elma program. I would also like to acknowledge Olivia Moore for Elma, who has just been dominant for all year and one of the classiest players we have in our league.”

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With the win, Hoquiam received a No. 15 seed in the state tournament and will face No. 10 Cascade Christian in an elimination game at 8 p.m. on Friday at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

“I am happy for our players, happy for our program and happy for our community to make these positive moments come alive,” Allan said.

Elma 10 6 4 12 – 32

Hoquiam 7 9 9 8 – 35

Scoring: Hoquiam – Kennedy 17, S. Gordon 8, LaBounty 5, Haskey 2.

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Adna 57, Raymond-South Bend 34

Raymond-South Bend placed fourth in the district after a 57-34 loss to Adna in the 2B District 4 third-place game on Saturday at W.F. West High School.

The Ravens (18-7) led 7-2 early over the Pirates (20-4), but saw that lead evaporate and trailed 18-7 at the end of the first quarter.

RSB never caught up, trailing 36-20 by halftime and – despite holding Adna to eight points in the third quarter – scored just 14 points over the final 16 minutes of play.

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“Too many turnovers early and missed defensive assignments led to easy buckets for them,” RSB head coach Jason Koski said. “In the second half, we competed on both ends better, just not enough to chip away. We got it down to 13, but couldn’t get a stop-and-score consistently to get any closer.”

RSB was led by senior guard Megan Kongbouakhay with nine points while senior post Ava Baugher had 10 rebounds for the Ravens.

Raymond-South Bend had 22 turnovers as a team, 10 more than the Pirates.

The Ravens earned a No. 12 seed in the 2B State Tournament and will face No. 13 La Conner in an elimination game at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Tumwater High School.

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RSB 7 13 8 6 – 34

Adna 18 18 8 13 – 57

Scoring: RSB – Kongbouakhay 9, Koski 7, Stigall 6, Baugher 4, Glazier 2, Mark 2, San 2, Pine 2. Adna – Torrey 15, Carroll 13, Freeman 13, Beebe 11, Humphrey 3, Kissner 2.

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Other games

1B District 4 Elimination game

Taholah 66, Wahkiakum 27

(No. 14 Taholah hosts No. 19 Concrete in a 1B State Tournament elimination game at 7 p.m. Tuesday)