Montesano won its third game in four days as we review girls prep basketball games on the Harbor.

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GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL

Montesano 50, Aberdeen 30

After starting the season with four losses in its first five games, the Montesano Bulldogs have turned it around.

Monte won for the third time in the past four days with a 50-30 victory over Aberdeen on Monday at Montesano High School.

After getting off to a slow start and trailing the Bobcats (2-2 overall) 11-7 after the first quarter, the Bulldogs (4-4) settled in and found their game.

Monte hit the boards hard and used an aggressive defense to hold the Bobcats to 10 points combined in the second and third quarter, turning a four-point first-quarter deficit into a 32-21 lead by the start of the fourth quarter.

Montesano put the game away with an 18-9 fourth quarter and led by as much as 22 points in the game.

“It wasn’t pretty in the first half. We kind of looked like we were in quicksand a little bit,” said Monte head coach Mark Mansfield, who was without the services of Carsyn Wintrip, Ashlyn Lytle and Makena Blancas due to injury. “But we picked it up in the second half, especially on the defensive end. We made things tough on them and executed a little better on offense.”

Star senior forward and reigning 1A Evergreen League MVP Jillie Dalan had a big game with 26 points on 10-of-24 shooting (42%) and completed a double-double with 11 rebounds, five on the offensive glass.

Montesano had 47 rebounds in the game, 22 on the offensive boards as a team, to just 20 total rebounds (five offensive) for the Cats, a key to the game according to Aberdeen head coach Dan Brown.

“The big difference in the game was Montesano’s ability to obtain offensive rebounds,” he said. “We are a fresh team and we are still learning new concepts. Each night we see positives but still have not put together a full game. The girls are working hard and improving each day.”

The Bobcats were led by guards Sophia Knutson and Bentley Brown with 16 and 10 points, respectively.

Montesano shot 32% from the field on 19-of-60 shooting and made 12-of-22 free throws (55%).

Aberdeen went 10 of 45 from the floor (22%) and made 7-of-11 free throws (64%).

The Bobcats host Mark Morris at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Monte will be back in action at 1 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 29 when it takes on Franklin Pierce in the Adna Holiday Classic.

Aberdeen 11 5 5 9 – 30

Montesano 7 13 12 18 – 50

Scoring: Aberdeen – Knutson 16, Brown 10, Shoemaker 2, Baker 2. Montesano – Dalan 26, Williamsen 9, Forster 7, Vandevender 4, Perry 2, Busz 2.

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Other games

King’s Way Christian 53, Elma 30