FORKS — Forks started strong in its season opener, building up an early 10-0 lead against North Beach, downing the Hyaks 60-43 in a nonleague boys basketball game.
The Spartan girls also won their season opener 35-23 over North Beach.
“We pushed the ball and got some easy buckets,” Spartans coach Rick Gooding said.
“We ate them up inside in man [defense] with Austin [Flores].” Flores scored 13 points to lead Forks.
Cort Prose added 11 points and Braton Armas had 10, eight coming in the first quarter.
“Armas started for us tonight and he’s a pretty athletic kid,” Gooding said. “He moves around well.”
“It was a pretty typical opening game. We left a ton of free throws out there and when they went to a 2-3 zone, like all high school kids we fell in love with the 3-point shot.”
The Spartans lead hovered above 20 for much of the fourth quarter before North Beach hit some late buckets.
Gooding said 11 players saw time in the game, important with Forks playing seven of its 20 games in the next week-and-a-half.
The Spartans (1-0) visited Aberdeen late Wednesday and host Klahowya on Friday.
Forks 60, North Beach 43
North Beach 9 13 9 12— 43
Forks 19 12 16 13— 60
North Beach (43) — Washington 17, Robles 8, Sotomish 7, Pope 6, Charley 3.
Forks (60) — A. Flores 13, Prose 11 Armas 10, Johnson 8, Jacoby 3, T. Baysinger 4, Archibald 4, T. Flores 3, Baar 2, Morton 2, Reaume.
Mary M. Knight 52, Crescent 30
JOYCE — The Loggers got 14 points from K.C. Spencer and 14 from Eric Emery, but only managed eight points after halftime in a 30-22 season-opening loss to the Owls.
“For a first game, we did a lot of good things,” Crescent coach Chris Ferrier said. He said there are some things the team can do to tighten up on defense. But, ultimately, while the Loggers were able to get their shots, the shots didn’t fall. Crescent ended up shooting 13 for 57 (23 percent).
“We were getting what we wanted,” Ferrier said. “But shooting 23 percent, you’re not going to have a lot of success.”
The Loggers were only down 30-22 at the half, but Ferrier said they came out flat and unfocused in the second half, scoring just four points in the third quarter and four in the fourth.
The Loggers (0-1) next play at home at 4:45 p.m. Saturday against Oakville.
Mary M. Knight 52, Crescent 30
MMK 10 20 10 12 — 52
Crescent 6 10 4 4 — 30
Crescent (30) — Spencer 14, Emery 14, Ward 2.
Girls Basketball
Forks 35, North Beach 23
FORKS — The Spartans got their season off to a solid start, taking a 10-0 lead into the second quarter en route to a win over the Hyaks.
Sophomore Rian Peters, coming off a solid freshman season last year, led the Spartans with 18 points while freshman post player Chloe Leverington had six points. Kesia Rowley added five points.
New coach David Hurn said the team played good defense, holding North Beach to just eight points by halftime, but that they struggled a bit with their shooting.
“They missed a lot of easy shots. This is a really young team with three freshmen and two sophomores. There was a lot of excitement [for an opening game] and they missed a lot of layups and open threes,” Hurn said.
Still, a win was a good start to the season, Hurn said, as he looks to raise expectations for a Spartans program that hasn’t had a lot of success in recent years.
“We need to raise our own expectations, no one is going to do it for us,” Hurn said.
Forks (1-0) played at Aberdeen Wednesday. The Spartans’ next game is at 5:45 p.m. Friday at home against Klahowya.
Mary M. Knight 54, Crescent 30
JOYCE — The Loggers got dinged for 26 points from the Owls’ Kaylee Sowle in a season-opening loss.
Coach Kelly Serrianne said the Loggers struggled a bit with their defense, especially with Sowle, but otherwise, she was happy with how the team played.
“I was very excited with what I saw last night for our first showing of the season. We have some brand new girls to the sport who, while showing their inexperience last night, I know are going to do awesome things this season, as well as, a strong core of returners,” she said.
“Overall, the girls played hard and now we know what to improve on and where to go from here,” she said.
Crescent was led by Hannah Lee with 13 points, while Raine Westfall had 10 rebounds and five points. Jasmine O’Neel added 12 rebounds.
The Loggers (0-1) next play at at 5:45 p.m. Saturday, or after the boys’ game is finished, at home against Oakville.
