For the first 16 minutes of Tuesday’s game featuring the top two teams in the 1A Evergreen League, Montesano and Tenino traded blows and battled to an even score.

In the second half, Monte found another gear and Tenino couldn’t keep up.

The Bulldogs used a smothering defense and an energized effort on offense to pull away from the Beavers in the second half en route to a 57-43 victory in Montesano.

Montesano (5-1 overall, 3-1 1A Evergreen League) held a slim lead through much of the first half, never getting out to more than a three-point edge.

Tenino’s top scorer, junior forward Ashley Schow, and Monte’s standout junior, Paige Lisherness, each scored nine points in a first half that ended in a 25-25 tie.

Montesano head coach Mark Mansfield discussed being “mentally tough” with his team halftime after Monte had lost the lead when Schow scored on a step-through layup just before the first half ended.

“We talked at halftime about being mentally tough … just stay after them,” he said. “We’re better when we can get some offense out of our defense. We need to play fast most of the time and we talked about staying with them defensively and not letting them turn the corner on us.”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Paige Lisherness (23) and Cassadie Golding (2) challenge the shot of Tenino’s Grace Vestal during the Bulldogs’ 57-43 win on Tuesday at Montesano High School.

Monte traded its basketball shoes in for track cleats as the Bulldogs turned on the jets, and turned up the heat, against the Beavers.

Jaiden King hit a jump shot to open the half and give Monte a lead it would never relinquish, as the Bulldogs pressed and swarmed Tenino ball-handlers, crashed the boards and attacked the Beavers’ basket the entire second half.

After the two teams traded turnovers and misses for two minutes in the third quarter, Monte scored eight straight points, and Zoee Lisherness had a hand in all of them.

The senior forward scored consecutive buckets on shots in the paint followed by a steal and perfect feed to King for an open layup.

Zoee Lisherness then scored off an assist from younger sister Paige to give Monte a double-digit lead at 35-25 with just under four minutes left in the third.

Schow followed with a jumper to finally get a shell-shocked Tenino team on the board in the second half at the 2:15 mark, but King responded with a slashing bank shot to put Monte back up by 10 at 39-29.

A few Monte free throws over the final minute of the quarter gave the Bulldogs a 43-29 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

In the fourth, Monte continued to apply pressure.

The Bulldogs pushed the lead to 16 when King hustled to grab her own rebound off a missed set shot and scored to put Monte up 45-29 with 7:05 left in the game.

Tenino (4-2, 3-1) responded to cut the deficit to 47-39 on a Schow free throw with 3:26 remaining, but Monte never let off the gas, extending the lead back to double digits when the Lisherness sisters connected on a nifty give-and-go, no-dribble-necessary bucket for a 49-38 lead at the 3:11 mark.

Zoee and Paige Lisherness combined to score the final eight points for Monte in the convincing 57-43 victory.

“Once we got a few turnovers, our confidence started to build,” Mansfield said of the victory. “At their place, they took it to us pretty good and we didn’t have the same energy (in Monte’s 45-29 loss on May 7). Tonight, I thought we came out alright in the first half but in the second half we picked it up, which was nice to see.”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano defenders Maia Young (13) and Jaiden King hound Tenino guard Abby Severse during Tuesday’s game in Montesano. The Bulldogs outscored Tenino 32-16 in the second half to run away with a 57-43 victory.

Zoee Lisherness scored 23 points — 14 in the second half — and grabbed 13 rebounds in a double-double performance that garnered high praise from Mansfield.

“Zoee really stepped up tonight. It was her best game in quite a while,” he said. “She’s been healthier and running better and it really showed tonight. She did an incredible job.”

Paige Lisherness (13 points, 11 rebounds, four steals, four assists) and Jaiden King (10 points) also had great floor games in a Monte victory that was keyed by its defense and rebounding.

“I thought Jaiden did a great job making it tough for them to get the ball up the court and when we went to the zone, the girls up top did a great job of flying around, getting to their shooters and making it tough on them,” said Mansfield, whose team outrebounded Tenino 48-23 with 25 offensive rebounds. “One of our keys tonight was rebounding. We rebounded and were able to get the ball out and go. … We made them have to run the floor.”

The victory was a crucial one for Monte as the Bulldogs entered Tuesday night trailing Tenino by one game in the 1A Evergreen League standings.

“We knew that, especially with this shortened season, there’s not enough time to fall behind by two games,” said Mansfield, whose Bulldogs are now tied with the Beavers atop the league standings with six league games left on the schedule. “We knew if we wanted to be there at the end, we needed to take care of business tonight.”

Tenino 15 10 4 14 — 43

Montesano 16 9 16 16 — 57

Hoquiam 43, Elma 35

Hoquiam got double-digit scoring performances from Sharaya Brydon and Charli Sampson-Eastman en route to a victory over hiost Elma.

Hoquiam (4-2 overall, 2-2 1A Evergreen) led 19-13 at the half, but picked up its offense with 18 points in the third quarter to pull away from the Eagles (0-5, 0-4).

Brydon scored 13 points with Sampson-Eastman adding 11 points for the Grizzlies, who shot 40% from the field on 18-of-45 shooting in the game.

Chloe Kennedy added eight points for Hoquiam.

Elma was led by Ella Moore (8 pts.) and Janessa Sample (7 pts.) as the Eagles shot 15-of-55 (27%) from the floor.

Hoquiam 10 9 18 6 — 43

Elma 5 8 8 14 — 35

BOYS BASKETBALL

Montesano 52, Tenino 37

A big third quarter helped Montesano pull away from host Tenino.

Monte held a 19-12 lead at the half, but put the game away by outscoring the Beavers 19-9 in the third frame.

Trace Ridgway led Monte with 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Monte (5-1 overall, 4-1 1A Evergreen) shot 42% from the field on 23-of-55 shooting in a game that Bulldogs head coach Doug Galloway dubbed a “defensive game with quite a few turnovers.”

Bulldogs Carter Lutz and Trent Adams were cited by the Monte coaching staff for “providing energy off the bench.”

Montesano 10 9 19 14 — 52

Tenino 8 4 9 16 — 37

Willapa Valley 65, Mossyrock 55

Willapa Valley responded from a turnover-filled first half to earn a victory over host Mossyrock.

After trailing 28-26 at the half — due in large part to 14 first-half turnovers — the Vikings (5-2 overall, 5-1 1B Columbia Valley) rallied to score 39 second-half points — 21 in the fourth quarter — to pick up the victory.

Tyler Adkins led Willapa Valley with 20 points.

Beau Buchanan had a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds and Joseph Pulsipher scored eight points and snatched 10 rebounds for Willapa Valley.

South Bend 53, Raymond 46

South Bend defeated Raymond in South Bend.

Adrian Quintana led Raymond (0-5 overall, 2B Pacific) with 21 points.

Morgan Anderson added 12 points and nine rebounds for Raymond.

“I thought we started the game the way we wanted, but we quickly lost momentum in the first quarter which was disappointing,” Raymond head coach Derek Rask said. “We never really recovered for the rest of the game. We forced several turnovers tonight, but we just couldn’t capitalize and score when we had opportunities. Credit South Bend. I felt like they outworked us most of the game and they simply wanted the win more than us.”

No further information was available for this game at the time of this writing.

Other scores

Men’s College Basketball

Tacoma 91, Grays Harbor 83

GIRLS BOWLING

WF West 2023, Aberdeen 1322

Aberdeen lost to WF West at Westside Lanes in Olympia.

Playing in its sixth match in eight school days, Aberdeen struggled to play at peak performance while WF West had no such issues.

“We did not bowl our best today and WF West did,” Aberdeen head coach Dave Bruncke said. “Wow are they good.”

Camryn Micheau scored the high game (144) and high series (382) for Aberdeen.

Results (Game 1, Game 2, Game 3, Series)

WF West (2,023) — Jennifer Guzman-Ramirez (114, 113, 125, 352); Camryn Micheau (121, 144, 117, 382); Bailee Taylor (92; 117; 100; 309); Joele Hyde (91, 92, 96, 279)

Aberdeen (1,322) — Brianna Powel (166, 171, 201, 538); Clara Bunker (134, 127, 148, 409); Jessica Strasser (156, 179, 142, 477); Piper Chalmers (204, 203, 192, 599)