The Lady Bearcats have encountered a few bumps in the road as of late as the regular season comes to a close, and Tuesday night was no different as the combined efforts of Emma Duff and Lindsey Nurmi proved to be too much for W.F. West as Black Hills took a 64-48 Evergreen 2A Conference victory at Bearcat Gymnasium in girls hoops action.
Duff gave the Chehalis defense fits all night long, scoring 28 points on 6 of 20 shooting while going 13 of 14 from the free throw line.
"It was a combination of our poor defense and her just being a good player," W.F. West coach Tom Kelly said of Duff. "We weren't closing out well. We just gave up too many points."
Nurmi helped the Wolves' cause as well, scoring 17 points as Black Hills went 22 of 57 from the field and 15 of 20 from the charity stripe.
The Bearcats went to post player Lexie Strasser once again when in need of offense and she answered the call, scoring a team-high 19 points and bringing down eight rebounds.
"She's been playing well and shooting a high percentage," Kelly said. "We'll take those kind of looks all day."
Erika Brumfield also established a presence down low, albeit more on the glass, scoring 7 points and snagging 13 boards for Chehalis.
While Strasser thrived, the rest of the offense couldn't pick up the rest of the slack to make up for the dynamic scoring from Duff and Nurmi. The Bearcats also recorded a season low for free throw attempts, shooting 12 from the stripe, of which they made just 4.
"We're struggling to get into our offense," Kelly said. "But I'm seeing some things we can really build on as we go into our last game before districts."
The loss makes things interesting in the EvCo, as the Bearcats move to a league record of 2-3 (12-7 overall). They face rival Centralia on Ron Brown Court Friday night with raised stakes: the second place spot in the EvCo.
Tigers Lock Down Tumwater, 51-34
TUMWATER — Centralia picked up its second Evergreen 2A Conference win of the season here Tuesday night, holding down the Thunderbirds in the second and fourth quarters for a 51-34 win.
Alyx Fast scored 18 and Madi Crews added 15 for Centralia (2-3), which hosts rival W.F. West on Friday to close out the regular season.
Tumwater was coming off an upset of W.F. West last week, and jumped out to an 18-13 lead after a quarter on Tuesday.
“Defensively we came out and just struggled,” Centralia coach Doug Ashmore said. “They were pretty much doing whatever they wanted, and defensively, after that, the girls just started playing really good team defense.”
Tumwater was held to 3 points in the second quarter and 2 in the fourth, and the Tigers shot 15 of 34 from the field and 18 of 23 from the foul line — including going 12 of 13 from the stripe in the fourth quarter.
“Defensively, I was just really happy,” Ashmore said. “They’re a good ballclub, and it’s a tough place to play.”
Crews went 8 of 9 from the foul line, including hitting seven freebies in the fourth quarter.
Chloee Aikens, Maddy Alviar and Hannah Porter all played well off the bench, Ashmore added.
Centralia (12-7, 2-3 league) and W.F. West (12-7, 2-3 league) face off Friday in Centralia, with the winner taking the No. 2 seed — and a first-round home game — into the District 4 tournament.
