It took a quarter defensively and two offensively to get going, but the 2B No. 3 Adna girls basketball team came away with another win out west at the JQP Holiday Classic, beating host Willapa Valley 63-30.
“We didn’t play very well in the first half, and then in the second half we got things going,” Adna coach Chris Bannish said. “They took away our inside game, and we had to make some outside shots, and we were able to do that, and got to the free-throw line in the second half.”
Karlee VonMoos posted 16 points and six rebounds to lead the Pirates. Sophomore Gaby Guard — who went on to be named tournament MVP when the games were all said and done — scored 15, hitting three 3-pointers. Fellow sophomore Danika Hallom and senior Brooklyn Loose scored 12 points apiece, and freshman Bailey Chapman had six boards.
Early on, though, the Vikings hung around. Eight minutes in, Adna led, but only by a point a 12-11. By halftime, the lead was 28-16, after the Pirates held Valley to just five points in the second quarter.
In the second half, Adna found more of its desired rhythm, keeping Valley to seven points in both the third and fourth quarters, and turning that into offense on the other end of the floor.
“We switched our defense to more of a halfcourt trap, and they didn’t like that,” Bannish said. “That’s kind of what got us going. But to be honest, we were a half step slow today. I tried to tell them that if we’re going to be playing back-to-back days at districts, we’ve got to be able to show up and be ready… We just didn’t show up in the first half. Once we showed up, things went well.”
Adna is slated to face Onalaska on the road Wednesday, resuming C2BL play.
