BOYS PREP BASKETBALL
Northwest Christian 60, Ocosta 38
Ocosta stayed within striking distance for most of the contest but couldn’t make enough defensive stops down the stretch in a 60-48 loss to Northwest Christian in Lacey on Saturday night.
The Wildcats (7-7, 7-5 Pacific 2B) fell behind in the first quarter but stormed back to take a slim lead in the second quarter.
Ocosta grabbed a 24-23 lead with 4:35 to go before halftime, but the Navigators (11-3, 10-2) ended the quarter on a 9-0 run.
With Ocosta nearly playing even with the Navigators for most of the second half, Wildcats head coach Jason Quinby said that the late-second quarter run was one of the differences in the game.
“We had some defensive breakdowns that I felt allowed the game to get away from us,” he said. “The end of the second quarter, in the last few minutes, wasn’t every good on our part and there was a stretch in the third quarter where we went from down six to down 12. The way that Northwest Christian defends, it’s really tough to try to come back.”
One of the players that Ocosta had a hard time guarding was Nick Tarabochia. Tarabochia got to the paint with regularity and scored 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Ocosta’s Cole Hatton, right, applies full-court pressure to Northwest Christian’s Nick Tarabochia in the fourth quarter on Saturday night. Northwest Christian defeated Ocosta 60-38. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Ocosta failed to make any significant cuts into the deficit and found itself down 47-37 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats used a 3-2 zone for most of the game but switched to a man defense for the first few minutes of the final frame.
The Navigators and Wildcats traded buckets for most of the fourth quarter with Ocosta’s deficit never getting below eight points. The Wildcats then switched to a press looking to force turnovers, but were not able to jump into any passing lanes, which allowed the Navigators to find their way to the hoop for open layups.
The Navigators defense allowed the Wildcats some open looks from beyond the arc, but Ocosta couldn’t hit them with consistency as it tried to mount a comeback in the second half.
Despite shooting only 6-of-25 from 3-point range, Quinby thought his team scoring was close to where it should be and blamed defensive struggles for the loss.
“I told the guys coming in that with the way Northwest Christian defends this was probably going to be a 50-48 type of game. I think if we play defense for four quarters it probably is 50-48,” he said.
Cole Hatton was one of the more consistent scorers on the floor for the Wildcats as he tallied a team-leading 15 points.
The loss puts the Wildcats in fifth place in the 2B Pacific League. The team would have to get at least a fourth seed to host a playoff game at districts and avoid playing in a single-elimination game in the first round of the postseason.
Ocosta will be hoping to start its climb in the standings when it hosts North Beach on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Quinby noted that his team will need to be up to task the next time they face a higher-caliber opponent.
“Northwest Christian is a high-quality team. They beat the last undefeated team in our league and they’re playing with extreme confidence right now. They don’t miss when you make a mistake,” he said. “We’re treating these teams above us in the league standings like it’s a playoff game. We need to run somebody down to get in that top four.”
Ocosta 7 17 12 11 — 48
Northwest Christian 19 18 15 13 — 60
Top Players: Ocosta – Hatton (15 pts.), Even Waara (9 pts.); NWC – Tarabochia (16 pts.), Landon Koukal (13 pts), Tyler Fox (14 pts.).
Raymond 60, Chief Leschi 37
Defensive intensity allowed the Seagulls to take flight in their 60-37 home win over Chief Leschi on Saturday night.
Tre Seydel made an impact on both ends of the floor with 17 points and four steals. Devine Souvannavanh was also solid with four steals and five assists.
Raymond head coach Derek Rask talked with his team about the importance of beating the Warriors (5-7) and thought his players stepped up when they needed most.
“I thought our guys responded to the challenge. This was a huge win for us,” he said. “I thought the difference in the game was our defense. Our kids did a nice job of sticking to our gameplan. They communicated well and stayed locked into it.”
Raymond (4-10, 4-8 Pacific 2B) are still holding on to the seventh and last playoff seed after the win and maintained their one-game lead over North Beach in the league standings.
The Seagulls travel to Pe Ell on Tuesday at 7 p.m. to take on the Trojans.
Raymond 18 18 14 10 – 60
Chief Leschi 8 18 7 4 – 37
Top Players: Raymond – Seydel (17 pts., 4 stl.), Maden (11 pts.), Souvannavanh (5 asst., 4 stl), Cesar Delgado (9 reb.); Chief Leschi – Delshae Gower (8 pts.).
Willapa Valley 67, North Beach 44
The Willapa Valley Vikings responded to their first loss of the season with a resounding 67-44 win over North Beach on Saturday at North Beach High School.
Senior guard Matt Pearson led the way with 27 points for a Willapa Valley team that pulled away from the Hyaks with 28 points in the third quarter.
“After our loss (to Northwest Christian on Thursday), we challenged our players and told them that good teams respond,” Vikings head coach Jay Pearson said.
Respond they did. Willapa Valley (13-1, 11-1 Pacific 2B) turned a close game in the first 16 minutes of play into a second-half rout by outscoring North Beach 28-13 in the third quarter.
“We missed a lot of putbacks in the first half,” Coach Pearson said. “In the third quarter the offense started flowing and they looked like the team I recognized.”
Logan Walker, who drew much of the focus of North Beach’s diamond-and-one defense, scored 14 points for the Vikings.
Willapa Valley’s Peter Hamilton had what Coach Pearson described as his best game of the season with 13 points and season-high 19 rebounds.
“Peter decided he was going to get that rebound no matter what,” Coach Pearson said. “And when he started focussing on his rebounding, he started to score.”
The 3rd-ranked Vikings play at Chief Leschi at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Willapa Valley 14 14 28 11 — 67
North Beach 12 10 13 9 — 44
Top Players: Willapa Valley — M. Pearson (27 pts., 5 reb.), Walker (14 pts.), Hamilton (13 pts., 19 reb.), Chad Flemetis (9 pts.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL
Ocosta 48, Northwest Christian 29
A shorthanded Ocosta team didn’t have too much trouble against Northwest Christian, coming away with a 48-29 victory in Lacey on Saturday night.
One of Ocosta’s leading scorers, Kristi Raffelson, was sidelined with a knee injury she sustained in a previous game, allowing Kjirstin Hopfer to step up and lead the team with 14 points.
Ocosta’s Kjirstin Hopfer tries to hit a floater deep in the paint against Northwest Christian. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Kylee Poirier started in Raffelson’s place and scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Ocosta head coach Jason Barnum said he wanted to experiment with some different plays on offense and thought his team had some trouble adjusting to the new offensive sets.
“I think Kylee Poirier had a decent game, but we struggled in the offense a little bit without Kristi Raffelson there,” he said. “They were learning to look to someone else besides her right away and I felt that the girls adjusted well.”
Northwest Christian (1-12, 1-9 Pacific 2B) were led by Mikayla Lanham, who was the only Navigator in double digits with 12 points.
Ocosta (10-2, 10-1) will head to Wahkiakum for a road game on Monday at 7 p.m. Though the game is a non-league matchup, Barnum thinks it could be good test for the Wildcats to face a team they may have to play in the district tournament.
“That’s going to be a battle. I wish I had Raffelson, so we’re not going to be full staffed,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough one, but we’ll take it and learn from it. If that’s a team we come up against in districts, hopefully, Raffelson will be back around and we can give them a different look.”
Ocosta’s Emily Snider tries to get by Northwest Christian’s Becca Sowers on Saturday. Ocosta defeated Northwest Christian 48-29. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
NW Christian 4 7 7 11 -29
Ocosta 6 18 13 11 – 48
Top Players: Ocosta – Hopfer (14 pts. 4 stl.), Poirier (11 pts., 10 reb.), Kaylee Barnum (6 stl
White River 71, Montesano 62
Montesano held tough against the 2A section’s No. 7 team, but White River proved to have too much firepower as Monte fell 71-62 at home on Saturday.
Monte (8-7, 2-1 Pacific 2B) held a first-quarter lead, but White River (13-2) got hot in the second frame, hitting three 3-pointers to tie the game at 28-28 by halftime.
The Hornets poured it on after the break by outscoring the Bulldogs, 25-8.
“In the first five minutes of the third, they hit five threes and scored 22 points,” Montesano head coach Julie Graves said. “And we just couldn’t get anything to drop in the third quarter.”
Monte turned the page and responded with a 26-point fourth quarter, but couldn’t get any closer than nine points in the period as they were forced to foul late in the game.
White River’s Kara Marecle scored 35 points, including six 3-pointers, to lead a Hornets team that shot 12-of-28 from beyond the arc.
Monte junior Zoe Hutchings had a big game, scoring 27 points to go along with 15 rebounds. She also went an impressive 11-for-12 from the free-throw line.
Monte shot 21-for-56 from the field and 16-of-20 from the charity stripe.
White River shot 22-of-61 and hit 15-of-21 free throws.
Monte currently sits a half-game behind second-place Tenino and a game back of league-leading Elma in the 1A Evergreen League standings.
They’ll host the Eagles in an important league matchup at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
White River 11 17 25 17 — 71
Montesano 17 11 8 26 — 62
Top Players: Monte — Hutchings (27 pts., 15 reb.), Zoee Lisherness (7 pts., 8 reb.), Lexi Lovell (7 pts., 5 asst.), Katie Granstrom (8 pts.), Glory Grubb (8 pts.). White River — Marecle (35 pts.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
