By Pierre LaBossiere and Michael Carman
Peninsula Daily News
FORKS — Iesha Johnson’s 3-pointer with four seconds left boosted Forks to a 55-54 win over Hoquiam for the Spartans first Evergreen 1A League girls basketball win.
Friday’s game had wild swings of momentum from the get-go. The Grizzlies got off to a 9-0 start on Forks but then the Spartans outscored Hoquiam 28-13 over the rest of the first half to take a 28-22 lead into halftime.
The Grizzlies responded with an 18-8 third quarter to take a 40-36 lead into the fourth. Hoquiam was still holding on to a five-point lead with 1:20 left in the game when the Spartans made a final run, ending with Johnson’s game-winning shot.
Johnson had two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and scored 10 of her 15 points in the fourth. Jayden Olson also had a clutch 3-pointer in the fourth.
“They [Hoquiam] came storming back in the third quarter,” said coach David Hurn. “We faced a little bit of adversity. I was very proud of them, they responded well.”
Rian Peters led the Spartans with 18 points, while Chloe Leverington scored 12 and Olson nine.
Forks (1-5, 9-9) next plays at Montesano (5-1, 12-6) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Forks 55, Hoquiam 54
Hoquiam 15 7 18 14 — 54
Forks 8 20 8 19 — 55
Hoquiam (54) — German 17, Krohn 14, Vonhoff 9, Jump 8. M. Cox 4, J. Cox
Forks (55) — Peters 18, Johnson 15, Leverington 12, Olson 9, Rondeau 1.
Neah Bay 54, Ch. Kitsap 16 Neah Bay 79, Taholah 34
POULSBO — The Red Devils won their 13th straight game, walloping Chief Kitsap on the road to clinch the North Olympic League title.
Neah Bay had a 33-3 lead at halftime in Friday’s game. They also won Thursday in a nonleague game 79-34 over Taholah.
Against Chief Kitsap, Patience Swan led the Red Devils with 12 points, while Cheyanna Svec scored 10, Ruth Moss nine and Shilaily Woodruff eight.
Against Taholah, the Red Devils had 52 points at halftime before backing off in the second half.
Leading the team in Thursday’s game was Lalia Greene, who had 15 points. Courtney Swan had 13, Moss scored 11, Gina McCaulley 10 and Svec nine.
Neah Bay (7-0, 16-1, No. 3 in RPI) will be trying to clinch a league championship at Clallam Bay (4-2, 9-6) at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Neah Bay 79, Taholah 34
NB 28 24 17 10 — 79
Taholah 6 14 9 5 — 34
Neah Bay (79) — Greene 15, C. Swan 13, Moss 11, McCaulley 10, Svec 9, P. Swan 7, Winck 5, McCarty-Corpuz 4, Yallup 3, Balderson 2.
Taholah (34) — Dolan 11, Ancheta 10, Mail 8, Grover 3, McCrory 2.
Neah Bay 54, Chief Kitsap 16
NB 19 14 13 8 — 54
CK 3 0 9 4 — 16
Neah Bay (54) — Swan 12, Svec 10, Moss 9, Woodruff 8, Winck 5, Greene 4, Yallup 3, Pilatti 2, Balderson 1.
Chief Kitsap (16) — Boure 8, Fritz 4, Hill 2, Smith 2.
Port Townsend 39, Coupeville 26
COUPEVILLE — The Redhawks shook off some early nerves, relaxed and ran away from the Wolves in an important Olympic League 1A win.
“This was a big game for us, we are fighting for that first-place finish, and this was maybe the last time we play Coupeville with them leaving the league,” Port Townsend coach Scott Wilson said.
“We came out tense, really tight offensively.”
The Redhawks trailed 12-7 at halftime.
“Our defense was solid all the way through and holding them to 12 at half kept us in the game,” Wilson said.
“We realized we were beating ourselves up, and the girls stepped up, kept the ball moving, found open players and we kept our defense up.”
Kaitlyn Meek led Port Townsend with 19 points. Izzy Hammett added 10 and Jaz Apker-Montoya returned from a concussion with seven points.
Hammett came up big in the second half, Wilson said.
“Her hands became softer in terms of shooting and she started hitting stuff that she was putting up too hard earlier,” Wilson said. “She’s only a sophomore and is showing her potential. Just a matter of having softer hands inside, she can score all the time. And her defensive play is outstanding, she’s a stopper in the middle for us all the time and must have had 12 rebounds.”
The Redhawks (5-2, 7-10) visit rival Chimacum (4-3, 7-9) on Tuesday in the rubber match of the team’s three-game series. A Port Townsend win would clinch the league title and top seed to the district tournament.
Port Townsend 39, Coupeville 26
PT 5 2 15 17— 39
Coupe 10 2 4 10— 26
Port Townsend (39) — Meek 19, Hammett 10, Apker-Montoya 7, Nielsen 2, Lake 1, Johnston, Fountain, Kellogg, King.
Olympic 51, Sequim 47
SEQUIM — The shorthanded Wolves went out firing in a close loss to the Trojans.
The defeat means Sequim will miss out on the district playoffs this season.
“Wild one on Friday night,” Wolves coach Larry Brown said.
“Our girls played their best full game of the year.”
Brown said freshman Jayla Julmist “had an amazing game with 17 rebounds and six points.”
Hope Glasser had a double-double with 14 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.
“Kalli Wiker scored 10 points as well,” Brown said. “Pilar Aliseda and Alisha Grasser were both out with injuries, so our bench was very short.”
Sequim (4-7, 7-11) hosts Coupeville in a nonleague game Tuesday.
Olympic 51, Sequim 47
OLY 13 17 8 12— 51
SEQ 14 12 7 10— 47
Olympic (51) — Matheny 26, Triggs 8, Mitchell 6, Kruesser 4, Riley 4. Williams 3.
Sequim (47) — Glasser 14, Wiker 10, Dietzman 8, Julmist 6, Sparks 3, Porter 3, Schroeder 3.
