LACEY — There were no upsets here Friday night.
River Ridge used a 21-7 third quarter advantage over W.F. West to race out to a 59-42 District IV 2A Girls Basketball Tournament win.
“I can’t be too upset with the girls’ effort and heart,” said Bearcat coach Henri Weeks, whose team upset River Ridge 52-49 to end the Evergreen 2A Conference season.
“It was our fourth game in eight days,” added the coach, whose team had to fight through loser-out games with Aberdeen and Washougal just to make districts. “So it was a little bit of fatigue in terms of the mental part and battling tough.”
To the Bearcats’ credit, they held strong until halftime — only being outscored by 5 (25-20) — but the Hawks shot 11 of 21 from long range to seal the win.
“We came out, had a decent first quarter,” Weeks said. “We had too many turnovers in the second quarter and third quarter.”
Rebounding — a 28-16 Hawk advantage — was also a problem for Chehalis.
“We didn’t keep them off the offensive glass,” Weeks said. “They got way too many offensive boards in the third and fourth quarters.”
But, for a Bearcat team that has more size than speed, Weeks was impressed with the way his guards — Megan O’Hara (6 points) and Caitlin Linehan (13) — ran the floor against the McDonalds (Samira and Jasmine) from River Ridge.
“Caitlin and Megan did an excellent job as guards,” Weeks said. “They played great defense and did a lot of other things to make me proud.
“We had our share of turnovers, but I thought we played a pretty solid game except for the rebounds.”
Kaylee Hartman chipped in 8 points — all on free throws — to the Bearcat attack, and Uriah Thomas also finished with 8.
W.F. West (12-11) continues its postseason Tuesday night against Ridgefield in Centralia, with a time to be determined, Weeks said.
“I think we can use this game to our advantage when Tuesday comes around,” he added. “We just have to do a better job rebounding offensively and I think we’ll be okay.”
Notes: Both teams had strong performances at the free throw line, with Chehalis shooting 16 of 20 and River Ridge going 11 of 13.
