Friday's Girls Basketball: Pirates Overcome Slow Start to Bury Mossyrock

ADNA — It’s been said that high school basketball doesn’t reach its full form until after the holiday break. There’s just too many fundamentals to cover and sets to get in for everything to come together in the first six weeks of the season.

Friday’s non-league girls contest here between the Pirates and Mossyrock was a classic bit of pre-Christmas hoops — there was promise on the court, but it was tangled up in the larger pieces of the game that still need a bit of work.

Specifically, Adna and Mossyrock combined for 61 turnovers and missed 72 of 104 shots from the field as the Pirates took their time securing a 55-33 victory over their Central 2B foes.

The teams were separated by only six points at the half before Adna came out and torched the Vikings in the third quarter to the tune of 28-7. That lopsided quarter gave the Pirates a 48-21 advantage and allowed the home team to start emptying their bench for the final eight minutes.

Ellie Sliva was instrumental to that decisive third quarter from the Pirates as she drilled four three-pointers, including a corner three at the buzzer. Sliva, a 5-foot-5 sophomore, finished with a game-high 17 points, all of which came in the second half.

“I think the whole team we just came out kind of dead. We didn't really work together but then we had a good talk at the half and it kind of sparked everyone,” said Sliva, who noted coach Chris Bannish implored her to start looking for her shot more often during the intermission. “He harped on me and when Bannish harps on me I usually get kind of pumped, so I hit that first one and then I was like, ‘Okay, I got this.’”

For his part, Bannish said that there was no special sauce involved in his halftime rant, but it proved effective nonetheless.

“There was nothing Xs and Os. It was just about hard work. We’d turn them over and then turn it into a turnover ourselves. And that’s the part that I don’t understand,” he said. “I kind of challenged our older girls and said, ‘You’re the ones who are making mistakes and if you guys are going to turn the ball over then we’re going nowhere fast.’”

Bannish added that he was not surprised to see Sliva heat up in the second half.

“The first game of the year she had 25 and she had seven threes. She’s one of those kids that could start but she understands her role and she knows that her role is to shoot the ball and nobody else was really doing much from the perimeter,” noted Bannish. “Once we were able to knock down some shots and get to the free throw line we were able to set up our press and that really hurt them.”

Payton Aselton added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds for Adna while Tyas Pannette added 12 points and six rebounds.

Mossyrock coach Autumn Moorcroft noted that last year’s point guard, Shania Hadaller, is out for the season with a torn ACL suffered during volleyball season. That critical loss has left her team with just two returning varsity players from last season and an empty gravy boat of experienced ball handlers. She also said that her team has an unfortunate tendency to leave its momentum in the locker room after halftime.

“Our third quarter right now is our weakness. I don’t know what it is but with that press we just want to throw it away into their hands,” said Moorcroft.

Moorcroft noted that there is plenty of season left to right the ship so she’s focusing on the little things, like keeping the game within six points during the first 16 minutes.

“I just have to celebrate the small victories to get their confidence up and make them realized that they can do it,” she said. “They can be in these games.”

Heather Edgar led Mossyrock with 10 points while Faith Mulligan added seven points and Madison Vigre chipped in six.

Adna (4-1) will host Toutle Lake on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. Mossyrock (2-3) will host Kalama on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Cleveland-Barrera Sisters Lead Loggers Past Kalama

ONALASKA — Sisters Alex and Carmen Cleveland-Barrera each posted a double-double, and Onalaska rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Kalama, 46-38, here Friday in nonleague 2B girls hoops action.

Alex Cleveland-Barrera, a freshman, scored 12 points and hauled in 18 rebounds, while Carmen, a junior, scored 13 with 15 boards.

The Loggers, however, lost Eryn Duryea and Callie Lawrence early on to foul trouble and were without those two starters for nearly the entire first half.

“(Raelee) Holmes did a great job of stepping in for Callie, but again, we were playing different people in different spots and had to adjust to that,” Logger coach Dracy McCoy said. “We had quite a few turnovers, and that hurt us in the first half.”

Kalama led 30-28 after three quarters, but Onalaska poured in 18 points in the fourth quarter — including a few key free throws late from Alex Cleveland-Barrera — to pick up the win.

Adalee Sabin added four points, eight rebounds and eight assists for Onalaska.

Akura Rocha led Kalama with 14 points.

Onalaska (4-3) hosts Hoquiam on Monday

Schaplow Paces Toledo in Win Over Napavine

NAPAVINE — Kal Schaplow scored 21 points, and Toledo cruised in a 59-27 win over Napavine here Friday in 2B non-league girls basketball action.

The Indians led 26-12 by halftime and shot 48 percent from the field in the win.

“I think Toledo did a great job. They kind of owned us,” Napavine coach Shane Schutz said. “They came out well-prepared and they did what they needed to do. Their coach has to be happy with their performance against us.”

Stacie Spahr added 12 points for Toledo. Sydney Purvis led Napavine with 11 points. Riley Beeson chipped in eight.

Napavine (1-6) hosts Winlock Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in its Central 2B League opener as part of a girls-boys twinbill. The JV boys game starts at 5:45 p.m., followed by the varsity boys game.

Toledo (4-3) plays at Winlock on Wednesday.

Winlock Falls to Rainier

RAINIER — Winlock had no answer for Rainier’s Kaeley Schultz and Faith Boesch as the two combined for 46 points in a 59-31 win in a non-league girls basketball game here on Friday.

Schultz and Boesch each scored 23 points.

Addison Hall led Winlock with 13 points and seven rebounds. Jenna Jones also grabbed seven rebounds and Makayla Allbritton added eight points.

The Mountaineers shot 46 percent from the field while Winlock shot just 28 percent.

“We did not show up defensively. We let Schultz and Boesch do whatever they wanted,” Winlock coach Tori Nelson said. “We didn’t come to play. We weren’t really turning it over a ton in the first half, it was a lack of defense. We got some shots off, we just didn’t connect.”

Rainier led 21-5 after a quarter and extended the lead to 35-10 at halftime.

Winlock (2-5) faces Napavine at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in its first Central 2B League game of the season.

Winter Sparks Warriors’ Fourth-Quarter Comeback in Win Over Beavers

TENINO — Paige Winter came through in the fourth quarter, leading Rochester to a 56-40 win over rival Tenino here Friday in non-league girls hoops action.

The host Beavers led 34-32 after three frames, but Winter — a 6-foot junior post saddled with four fouls — scored 16 of her game-high 23 points in the final stanza to help the Warriors leave the Stone City with a comfortable win.

“(She) definitely had an amazing fourth quarter,” Tenino coach Brandi Thomas said. “She really buckled down and pulled through for them.”

Lexi Jones-Sederberg added 10 points for Rochester. Kaylee Schow paced Tenino with 13 points.

Tenino (5-2) plays at Eatonville on Saturday in a non-league game. Rochester (4-3) hosts Woodland on Monday.

Winter Sparks Warriors’ Fourth-Quarter Comeback in Win Over Beavers

TENINO — Paige Winter came through in the fourth quarter, leading Rochester to a 56-40 win over rival Tenino here Friday in non-league girls hoops action.

The host Beavers led 34-32 after three frames, but Winter — a 6-foot junior post saddled with four fouls — scored 16 of her game-high 23 points in the final stanza to help the Warriors leave the Stone City with a comfortable win.

“(She) definitely had an amazing fourth quarter,” Tenino coach Brandi Thomas said. “She really buckled down and pulled through for them.”

Lexi Jones-Sederberg added 10 points for Rochester. Kaylee Schow paced Tenino with 13 points.

Tenino (5-2) plays at Eatonville on Saturday in a non-league game. Rochester (4-3) hosts Woodland on Monday.

Mules Bust Down the Barn Doors in East County

RANDLE — Wahkiakum continued to lay waste to the Central 2B League here Friday even though it was another early season non-league contest. The stakes mattered little to the Mules as they ran by Morton-White Pass by a score of 75-40 in girls basketball action.

The Mules scored at least 21 points in the first three quarters to claim a 69-27 lead before allowing their bench players to get in on the action. That effort included a 16 point and 11 rebound double-double from Jansi Merz and a team-high 19 points from Macie Elliott. Wahkiakum also outshot MWP from the field 37 percent to 29 percent, while simultaneously winning the free throw battle and besting the T-Wolves in rebounds 46-22.

“We got pounded on the boards,” said MWP coach Tom Griffith.

While there were plenty of takeaways for Griffith to focus on at the next practice he was not entirely discouraged by his team’s play against the consensus number one team in the C2BL.

“Wahkiakum is everything they are cracked up to be. They are good. They are big. They are fast and they shoot the ball well from the field,” said Griffith. “They are just good and they are good from top to bottom.”

Jacie Dunlap led all scorers with 21 points for MWP. Kaylen Collette added nine points and a team-high six rebounds while Hannah Smathers scored five points and grabbed five rebounds.

“I was especially happy with our girls tonight because they probably played harder than they have the previous six games. Even knowing they were playing a very quality opponent they played hard,” said Griffith. “It’s probably a weird thing to say when you get beat by 35 but still I can’t fault their effort. They played very hard all the way through the end.”

MWP (1-6) will travel to Kalama for their first league contest on Wednesday.