Montesano and Raymond-South Bend’s girls basketball teams picked up key league wins as we review Wednesday’s local sports.

GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL

Montesano 53, Elma 32

Entering the season, there were questions whether the young Montesano Bulldogs could hold their position atop the 1A Evergreen League after graduating the bulk of last season’s district-championship team.

If the first three games of the league schedule are any indication, Montesano’s pups are still the top dogs.

Big games from sophomore Jillie Dalan and freshman Tieander Olson led the Bulldogs to a 53-32 win over Elma on Wednesday at Elma High School.

Monte (7-6 overall, 3-0 1A Evergreen) opened up an 8-3 lead in the first quarter when Dalan grabbed on offensive rebound and scored – a theme repeated throughout the evening – with 2:00 on the clock.

Dalan would close out the first period with another offensive rebound and putback to put Monte up 10-5.

A Dalan bucket in the low post off an assist from Olson followed by a Lex Stanfield steal and assist to Olson on the break put Monte up 14-5 early in the second quarter, forcing an Elma timeout.

The Bulldogs would go up 11 when another Dalan offensive rebound and score just after the timeout, a lead Monte extended to 21-7 on a Dalan free throw at the 4:33 mark, capping an 11-2 run to start the period.

Elma (4-6, 1-1) rallied with a three from sophomore post Olivia Moore followed later in the second quarter with a layup by senior guard Malia Sibbett to trim Monte’s lead to 22-12.

PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Montesano’s Jordyn Wade (5) hits a 3-pointer during the Bulldogs’ 53-32 victory on Wednesday in Elma.

But with 1:32 to go in the first half, Monte freshman reserve guard Jordyn Wade hit a three as the Bulldogs went into the half leading 25-12.

Leading 29-16 in the third quarter, Olson got hot, drilling a three followed by a jumper to put Monte up 34-16.

A bucket by Dalan extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 36-16 with 3:25 to go in the third quarter, forcing another Elma timeout.

The Bulldogs outscored the Eagles 8-2 after the timeout, capping a 19-6 quarter when Olson banked in a rushed 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Leading 44-18 entering the final period, Montesano was able to sub out its starters en route to its third-straight league win.

Monte head coach Mark Mansfield said the key to his team’s better play in the second half was mostly due to playing within the system.

“We kind of got lost where we were supposed to be. Our angles weren’t very good and (Elma) did a nice job of adjusting to what we were doing early,” he said. “We made a couple of adjustments and I think we kind of settled down, intensity-wise. … We were maybe a little too amped up. So we got back to what we were supposed to do and where we were supposed to be.”

“We had a really rough pre-season, so we knew that during league we had to show out,” Dalan said. “We were nervous at the beginning just because it’s Elma. We were excited to play them and wanted to win so bad. Then we just calmed down, realized it’s just another league game and we had to come out with a calm mentality and perform.”

Dalan led Monte with a huge game. The sophomore post scored 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting (50%) to go along with 19 rebounds, 10 on the offensive glass.

“We did a really nice job of finding Jillie,” Mansfield said. “She worked really hard on the boards to get second opportunities for us. … She kind of controlled the middle and we did a nice job of finding her.”

“(Monte) really took advantage off those second and third opportunities. We went zone in the third quarter and kind of lost sight of Dalan and that really hurt us,” Elma head coach Brandi Henry said. “She does a great job cleaning up under the hoop so we had to quickly get out of our zone and get back to man so we could find her and put a body on her.”

Olson had 14 points to go along with eight assists, six rebounds and a pair of steals.

PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Montesano’s Tieander Olson (2) and Elma’s Olivia Moore compete for a rebound during the Bulldogs’ 53-32 victory on Wednesday in Elma.

Monte shot 40% from the floor on 23-of-58 shooting and had 37 rebounds as a team, 16 being on the offensive boards.

Elma was led by senior guard Eliza Sibbett with nine points for an Eagles squad that handled Monte’s press defense well, but struggled to score, hitting just 13-of-42 shots (31%) from the field.

Free-throw shooting was also an issue for Elma. The Eagles went 4 of 14 from the charity stripe (29%), including 1 of 10 in the first half.

“I thought we did well breaking the press, we knew it was coming and we expected that,” Henry said. “Oh those free-throws killed us in the first half. It was tough from the free-throw line tonight. Down the stretch that gap could have narrowed a bit but the shots weren’t dropping for us. We were getting good looks and swinging the ball really well, but nothing was dropping in. You need the ball to go in the basket to win basketball games.”

With an unblemished 3-0 league record thus far, Montesano – which has just one senior on its roster – sits 1.5 games above Hoquiam, Elma and Eatonville atop the league standings.

After going through a challenging non-league schedule, Dalan believes the current iteration of the Bulldogs has come far since the season began on Nov. 29.

“I think we’ve progressed a lot from the beginning of the season,” she said. “We were really starting from the bottom at the beginning and it wasn’t looking to good for us, but I think we’ve come a long way.”

Elma has a quick turnaround as it will host Tenino at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Monte hosts White River at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Montesano 10 15 19 9 – 53

Elma 5 7 6 14 – 32

Scoring: Montesano – Dalan 24, Olson 14, Stanfield 8, Wade 3, Parkin 2, Busz 2. Elma – E. Sibbett 9, Aaleigha Weld 6, Spencer 5, Moore 5, Bol 4, Ashlynn Weld 3.

Raymond-South Bend 55, Ocosta 24

Raymond-South Bend defeated Ocosta 55-24 in a 2B Pacific League game on Wednesday at South Bend High School.

The Ravens (9-5, 4-2 2B Pacific) were led by a defense that held Ocosta to 10 points in the first half and forced 33 turnovers by the Wildcats (4-7, 2-4).

RSB was led by Ava Lynn Stigall with 15 points, 11 of those coming in a fourth quarter that saw the Ravens outscore Ocosta 16-7.

Emma Glazier (11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) also scored in double figures while Kassie Koski (10 pts., 12 stl., 9 reb.) was one rebound shy of a triple-double for the Ravens.

“Defensively, I thought we set the tone early and kept our intensity up the whole game. Offensively, early in the game we were able to space the floor well and create open looks, we just didn’t knock shots down,” RSB head coach Jason Koski said. “In the third and fourth we were able to make shots created off of our defense.”

RSB had 14 assists as a team on 20 made shots, led by guard Megan Kongbouakhay with six.

Ocosta was led by sophomore post Anna Davis with 11 points, 13 rebounds and five steals.

Senior Alexia Bradley had eight points and six board for the Wildcats.

Ocosta faces Chief Leschi at 6 p.m. on Friday in Puyallup.

Raymond-South Bend plays at Ilwaco at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Ocosta 6 4 7 7 – 24

Raymond-South Bend 15 11 13 16 – 55

Scoring: Ocosta – Davis 11, Bradley 8, Towle 5. RSB – Stigall 15, Glazier 11, Kas. Koski 10, Kyn. Koski 8, Kongbouakhay 8, Baugher 2, Morley 1.