Hoquiam snaps long losing streak against Montesano

Published 1:30 am Monday, January 12, 2026

MONTESANO–A long losing streak was snapped as the Hoquiam Grizzlies washed away 13 years of futility against the Montesano Bulldogs.

In a game that often resembled a rugby scrum rather a basketball game, the Grizzlies rode a strong first-quarter performance to lead throughout a 40-28 win over Montesano on Friday at Montesano’s Bo Griffith Memorial Gymnasium, ending a 26-game losing streak to the Bulldogs that dated back to Jan. 4, 2013.

“This is one of our biggest wins I think we’ll have this season,” Hoquiam senior guard Lexi LaBounty said. “We started off with good energy and followed our game plan and it worked.”

The Grizzlies (6-5 overall, 1-0 1A Evergreen) got off to a good start thanks in large part to LaBounty, who scored nine of her team’s 16 points in the first quarter to stake Hoquiam to a 12-point lead.

“You can’t ask for anybody better than Lexi to get down and dirty and do the hard work,” Hoquiam head coach Chad Allan said. “Her experience being a senior really pays off. She’s just a leader and everybody behind her is like, ‘We better step it up as well too.’”

Hoquiam took as much as an 18-point lead in the first half when junior forward Aaliyah Kennedy hit 1-of-2 free throws to put the Grizzlies up 27-9 with 1:45 to play in the second quarter.

Montesano (7-6, 1-1) broke double-digits shortly thereafter when sophomore Jordyn Perry responded with a 3-pointer, but a jumper in the paint from Grizzlies senior post Sydney Gordon with just under a minute in the frame gave Hoquiam a 29-13 lead at the half.

The Bulldogs opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run, trimming the deficit to 10 points on a Perry three to make it a 29-19 ballgame with 5:06 to play in the period.

But after a Hoquiam timeout, the Grizzlies pushed the lead back up to 14 points on two free throws sandwiched around a Gordon bucket from the low post to take a 33-19 lead.

Monte senior guard Josie Forster hit a short jump shot with 10 seconds to play in the frame to cut Hoquiam’s advantage to 33-21 heading into the final eight minutes of the game.

A pull-up jumper from standout senior forward Jillie Dalan followed by a three from junior guard Makena Blancas pulled Monte to within double digits for the first time in the second half, trailing 33-25 with just over two minutes left in the game.

But it was all for not as Dalan fouled Gordon for her fifth personal foul, forcing the reigning 1A Evergreen League MVP to the bench for the rest of the game.

Gordon made both free throws to put Hoquiam back up by 10 at 35-25 with 1:57 to play.

For good measure, LaBounty scored on a layup off a pass from Kennedy and returned the favor a half-minute later, feeding Kennedy who made a nifty post-pivot move for a basket to put the Grizzlies up 39-25 with 52 second to play.

It turned out to be more than enough as without Dalan on the floor, Monte had no answers as Hoquiam opened its 1A Evergreen League schedule with a clutch win over the Bulldogs.

“We had a game plan for Jillie and we followed it,” LaBounty said. “We kind of got in her head a little bit and it worked.”

In a game that was typified by press defenses, turnovers, fouls and scrambles for loose balls, neither team shot the lights out.

Hoquiam went 14 for 41 from the field (34%) and made 8-of-20 free throws (40%).

Montesano was 11-for-50 shooting (22%) and went 3 of 15 from the line (20%).

The two teams combined for over 50 turnovers in the game – Hoquiam with 28 and Montesano with 25 – while each team had 18 personal fouls.

“It’s going to be a grind-it-out type of a game between both teams. That was the expectation,” Allan said. “We were trying to do something we haven’t done in 13 years and their trying to make us feel the pressure of having us not do that. So with that kind of thing, a few fouls, a lot of loose balls, a lot of rebounds, a lot of tie-ups, nobody was backing down. It was a great game in that all the kids were just all playing hard. I’m just so proud of my kids for just getting better.”

“We picked up the defense in the second half, but too many mistakes led to baskets in that first half and they cashed in,” Monte head coach Mark Mansfield said. “We just have to get back to work and clean up the things we’re not doing well. … We’re still kind of a young group and sometimes, we are are own worst enemy.”

With each defense keyed on slowing down the opponents leading scorers in Kennedy and Dalan, it was LaBounty that found a rhythm early on to give her team the spark it needed.

One of the senior leaders for the upstart Grizzlies, LaBounty finished with a game-high 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go along with five rebounds and a team-best six steals.

Gordon had 12 points while linking up with lanky freshman teammates Bethany Betancourth and Makalah Haskey to shadow Dalan throughout the game on the defensive end, limiting the Montesano star to six points and on 3-of-6 shooting.

“We have the most healthy respect for Jillie to be able to try to do what we did defensively,” Allan said. “We had Betancourth and Haskey doing the job for us and everybody else helped. Those two were a huge factor today. (Jillie) is last year’s MVP and a tremendous player. They focused on her and then our others were doing their job to make it hard for (Jillie) to get open and get the ball.”

Kennedy had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds to go along with five steals and four blocked shots in the game.

“When you got Aaliyah, Lexi and Syd, you have a nice combination of pieces,” Allan said. “I couldn’t be prouder of them on our journey, but it’s far from over. … The hard part for anybody is maintaining it.”

Perry led the Bulldogs with 10 points while Dalan pulled down 13 of Monte’s 26 total rebounds.

“I think Hoquiam really wanted this and played like they wanted it,” Mansfield said. “They just played harder then we did. … They were more aggressive and stronger in wanting to go to the basket.”

Hoquiam plays at Aberdeen at 6 p.m. on Monday.

Monte faces Rochester in a league game at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday at Rochester High School.

Hoquiam 16 13 4 7 – 40

Montesano 4 9 8 7 – 28

Scoring: Hoquiam – LaBounty 17, S. Gordon 12, Kennedy 11, Brodhead 1. Montesano – Perry 10, Dalan 6, Forster 5, Wintrip 4, Blancas 2, Williamsen 1.