CENTRALIA — The Vikings rode a stellar performance from senior Claire Swayze to a 65-53 win over Pe Ell here Wednesday.
Swayze finished the night with games highs in points (26) and rebounds (18) as Mossyrock hung on for another day in the District IV 2B Girls Basketball Tournament.
“Claire played huge tonight,” said Mossyrock coach Gale Bridges. “She has been a leader all year and she really got everybody going tonight.”
With the Vikings down 6 at the intermission, Bridges reminded his team that “there is no tomorrow” with a loss.
Mossyrock responded outscoring the Trojans 40-20 in the second half to earn a spot in a loser-out, winner-to-state game against Napavine tonight at 8:30 p.m. in Rochester.
“The girls came out and played hard in the second half,” said Bridges. “They made Pe Ell take a lot of tough shots.”
Pe Ell shot 18 of 42 from the field on the night, while the Vikings were 18 of 43. Mossyrock, though, was 18 of 25 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.
After turning the ball over 11 times in the first half, Mossyrock cleaned up its act and turned the ball over just four times in the final 16 minutes.
Swayze scored 12 of her 16 points in the final half of play, while teammate Jordan Nelson got all of her 12 points in the second half.
Pe Ell was a led by freshman Alissa Brooks-Johnson, who finished the night with a team-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Cassie Johnson had a team-high 12 rebounds to go with her 5 points, and Sami-Jo Robinson had seven assists.
“My girls played really hard and competed all season long,” said Pe Ell coach Dawna Robinson. “We never really gave up at all this game.
“I’m really proud of they way they worked as a team,” added Robinson.
The Trojans finish their season 12-12 and lose one senior, Samantha Denney, who, according to Robinson, has played with a torn ACL since Dec. 18.
“She just really held the team together,” said Robinson.
The season continues for Mossyrock tonight when they take on Napavine, who fell to Wahkiakum 47-40 in the semifinals in Chehalis Wednesday night.
“Napavine beat us pretty solidly last time,” said Bridges. “But the girls are excited to take the court against them one more time.”
