LACEY — W.F. West survived a last second heave by River Ridge to come away with a 62-59 Evergreen 2A Conference girls basketball win here Tuesday night.
What a shocker it was for the Hawks — who came into the game undefeated and ranked No. 1 throughout this season — on their senior night.
“It was nice to see them get rewarded for their hard work,” Bearcat coach Henri Weeks said. “Playing hard on a visitor’s court, all the girls were huge.”
The list of huge performances was led by Kaylee Hartman and Uriah Thomas, who scored 18 and 14 points, respectively. Hartman shot 7 of 13 from the field, 3 of 4 from the charity stripe, and also brought down seven rebounds.
A key turning point, according to Weeks, was when River Ridge was hit with a technical foul with around 5 minutes left. Chehalis then sank four free throws and got the ball back for more potential points.
“That put us up by 8,” Weeks said. “Then it was just a matter of hanging in there.”
River Ridge hit a key 3-pointer to cut the lead late, and got the ball back with 7 seconds remaining and a 3-point deficit, before missing the potential tying bucket.
Chehalis used a 21-15 advantage in the second quarter to pull in front, before playing steady with River Ridge for the rest of the game, as each team scored 31 in the second half.
“Every time they got our lead to within 3,” Weeks said, “our girls would answer and hit a key field goal.”
W.F. West shot 20 of 33 from the line, and was selective from the field — making 19 buckets on 39 attempts to River Ridge’s 19 of 51.
“That says it right there,” Weeks said. “And not turning the ball over.”
Weeks commended the guard play of Megan O’Hara, Caitlin Linehan and Lauren Fisher for handling the Hawks’ full-court pressure, and working the ball around.
“That was huge for us,” he said. “Taking care of the ball was number one, and keeping their composure and being patient on offense to get a high percentage scoring was huge.”
W.F. West (9-10, 5-8 league) hosts Centralia Friday, and Weeks hopes to get a win and stay in contention for the fifth seed into districts, as Aberdeen lost to Tumwater — who swept Chehalis during the season — Tuesday night.
“Hopefully we get a shot at it,” the coach said.
