Unable to stop Wahkiakum’s Reigha Niemeyer all night, the Morton-White Pass girls basketball team came up just short in a road contest in Cathlamet, falling in a Central 2B contest, 51-40, Friday night.
Niemeyer had a game-high 29 points to lead all scorers by a wide margin, and thanks to a big third quarter run, helped the Mules get a home win over the Timberwolves in a key matchup.
“We didn’t have an answer for her,” MWP coach Curt Atkinson said. “Sometimes we don’t come out and play well in the third, it didn’t work tonight. Wahkiakum is a tough place to play, it always is. They were getting frustrated and we didn’t come out too strong in the third. Niemeyer drove on us all night.”
The Timberwolves had seven players score, but none crack double figures, led by McKenzee Mays’ nine points and Keira Miller’s eight.
Though the scoring was balanced, the T-Wolves were outdone on the offensive glass, where Niemeyer and the Mules did most of their damage. The Mules grabbed 16 offensive boards, to MWP’s eight.
“We didn’t do a great job boxing out tonight,” Atkinson said. “We had good moments defensively, we have to get back to some fundamentally defensive stuff. We’ll get there, we just have some things to fix.”
The Timberwolves take on Napavine next Wednesday in Randle.