Tuesday's 2B Girls Basketball: Lady Pirates Fend Off Hyaks

ADNA — The first half wasn’t pretty, but the Lady Pirates scored 19 points in the third quarter to pull away from North Beach and earn a 44-20 win in a District 4 2B girls basketball play-in game here on Tuesday.

Adna advances to face the No. 3 seed Ocosta out of the Pacific 2B League on Thursday at 6 p.m. in Rochester in the opening round of the District 4 2B tournament.

“We did OK, we struggled. I mean, you saw it first hand, didn’t shoot well, got a lot of open looks and they wouldn’t go,” Adna coach Chris Bannish said. “What I was really disappointed in was when we missed, it was like, I was worried about me. I’m not playing well. It’s not about me, it’s about what am I going to do now to help us out. I didn’t like that first half.”

Abby Kruger led the Pirates with 14 points and 7 steals. Ellie Sliva, Tyas Pannette and Sam Foster all recorded 8 points for Adna.

The Lady Pirates began the game on an 8-0 run and led 10-3 after one quarter. The two teams combined for 8 points in the second quarter, with Adna leading 15-6.

“I got into them pretty good in the second half and I thought Abby Kruger, the second half, really responded to what went on in that locker room,” Bannish said. “You’re a senior and you’ve got 15 points at home against a 7-seed on the other side and what are you going to do about it? Are you going to step up or are you guys going to feel bad for yourself? I thought she really stepped up in the second half.”

The halftime speech worked for Kruger, as she scored 11 points in the third quarter to help push Adna to a 34-14 lead after three, allowing the Pirates to cruise in the fourth quarter.

While the offense wasn’t playing well, Adna’s defense was solid, allowing just 6 North Beach field goals and recording 20 steals.

Adna lost another player to injury before tonight’s game, as junior Emily Sliva rolled her ankle on Saturday, putting the Pirates at 10 players entering the district tournament.

“Losing (Darian) Humphrey and now losing another starter, we’re just trying to keep our heads above water,” Bannish said. “For us to be where we’re at with 10 players heading in to play Ocosta, we’re happy with it.”

Bannish is aware of some of Ocosta’s weapons, including center Kristi Raffelson and guard Kaylee Barnum.

“We’ll game plan the heck out of it for Ocosta. We know what they have, they have four pretty solid players from last year back. We can be in the game, but like I told (Makaela) Meister and Ellie (Sliva), your minutes just went from 15 each a game to 20, possibly 25,” Bannish said. “You guys have got to be prepared for that moment because if Emily is out for an extended period of time, we’ve just got to try and survive this thing.”

Even with the injuries, the Pirates have battled this season and Bannish expects the Lady Pirates to do the same thing on Thursday.

“We’ll just go to work. I’m excited about it because not a lot of people even thought we’d be too far and to go 10-6 in league and now we’re sitting 13-8 on the year with a team that just keeps battling,” Bannish said. “Humphrey goes down, Emily stepped up. Now Emily’s down, her little sister steps up, so here we go.”

Morton-White Pass Takes Down Pe Ell

MORTON — Morton-White Pass’ Hannah Smathers scored 12 points to lead the Timberwolves to a 51-30 win over Pe Ell in a District 4 2B girls basketball play-in game here on Tuesday.

MWP advances to face Willapa Valley on Thursday at 6 p.m. at W.F. West in the opening round of the double elimination District 4 tournament.

Katie Salguero came off the bench and recorded 10 points and 6 rebounds. Shaylee Peters added 7 points and 9 rebounds and Sierra Dotson chipped in 7 points and 8 rebounds.

Pe Ell’s Alli Justice, Katie Davis and Maggie Elliott each scored 7 points.

MWP jumped out to a 13-6 lead after one quarter and extended the advantage to 25-15 at halftime. It was more of the same in the second half, as the Timberwolves outscored Pe Ell 26-15.

“It was just one of those grind it out games, nothing real pretty. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” MWP coach Tom Griffith said. “Most impressed with offensively was our balance. Smathers with 12, she doesn’t usually lead us with scoring but that was a pleasant surprise. I’m really happy with that. We had good production with 6 different girls, a pretty balanced group and it’s never the same girl. It’s a different one every night, that’s nice to see.”

It was the final basketball game for the Trojans’ Anna Nacht, Makayla Newell and Elliott. Pe Ell ends the season 4-16 overall and 4-12 in league games.

Onalaska Falls to South Bend

SOUTH BEND — Onalaska’s season came to an end here on Tuesday, as the Lady Loggers lost 40-22 to South Bend in a District 4 2B girls basketball play-in game.

Carmen Cleveland-Barrera led the Lady Loggers with 12 points and 16 rebounds, her 10th game with a double-double this season.

South Bend’s Jessica Sanchez led all scorers with 16 points.

Onalaska had trouble shooting on Tuesday, making just 9 of 51 field goals.

“We did not have our best game. I think there was a lot of nerves about a playoff game, took us a while to settle in and we never really did settle in,” Onalaska coach Dracy McCoy said. “We had a hard time. Things we prepared for we didn't’ follow through and run. We didn’t run the defense we prepared for and we struggled as a team.”

South Bend led 13-5 after one quarter and pushed the advantage to 19-8 at halftime. It was all Indians in the second half, outscoring Onalaska 21-14.

McCoy noted the strong season from Cleveland-Barrera, including tonight’s game.

Onalaska finishes the season 7-14 overall and 6-10 in league games.