CHIMACUM — Playing without Rian Peters, who re-injured a sprained ankle, the resurgent Forks girls basketball team came roaring back from a big deficit to force overtime against Chimacum, winning the game in OT 45-44.
Chimacum built up a lead as big as 19 points and had a 12-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but the Spartans outscored the Cowboys 14-2 in the fourth to force overtime.
“We played a nice first half. We pressured well,” said Chimacum coach Trevor Huntingford. He said in the second half, the Cowboys started making mistakes and “got a little greedy” on defense, going for too many steals. He also took responsibility for not resting players who ended up getting tired in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“Chimacum definitely wanted that game in the first half,” said Forks coach David Hurn. He said while he wasn’t happy with how Forks started, “I was pretty proud of them,” for how they finished.
“They just kept believing and fighting and battling back,” Hurn said. “The girls know now that they can do that [come from way behind].”
Hurn said Peters, one of Forks’ best players, re-aggravated an ankle sprain from a week ago. He said the Spartans are going to sit her a couple of weeks so they make sure the ankle will heal.
“She’s a tough kid, she wants to be out there with her teammates,” Hurn said.
In the fourth, Huntingford said Chimacum missed seven lay-ups and even lost a basket because he had called a timeout.
“Each mistake we made, they [Forks] made a play,” he said.
“It’s tough to lose like that, but the good news is, it’s nonleague,” Huntingford said.
Freshman Chloe Leverington scored 15 points for Forks, while classmates Iesha Johnson and Kesia Rowley each scored nine.
For Chimacum, freshman Mia McNair scored 16, while Maddie Dowling and Grace Yaley each scored nine.
Chimacum (2-0, 3-3) hosts Quilcene at 6 p.m. today.
Forks (0-0, 6-1) is now up to No. 11 in the Class 1A RPI rankings. The Spartans played Neah Bay Wednesday and they next play at the Holidays with the Hyaks Tournament in North Beach on Dec. 28.
Forks 45, Chimacum 44
Forks 7 8 11 14 5— 45
Chimacum 14 15 9 2 4— 44
Forks (45) — Leverington 15, Rowley 9, Johnson 9, Olsen 6, Kratzer 6, Peters, Baar, Rondeau.
Chimacum (44) — McNair 16, Dowling 9, Yaley 9, Trafton 5, Haralson 2, Patterson 2, Clarke 1, Huntingford, Nordberg.
Boys Basketball Crescent 58, Quilcene 53
JOYCE — Crescent’s KC Spencer and Quilcene’s Olin Reynolds got into a high-scoring duel with Spencer totaling 39 points on seven 3-pointers and Reynolds scoring 26 as the Loggers prevailed.
Spencer shot 11 for 22 from the floor and 7 for 11 from beyond the arc. He also had 11 rebounds for a double-double. Crescent’s Eric Emery also chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds.
“KC was insane tonight.” said Loggers’ coach Chris Ferrier.
“Eric played well, as well. Noah Leonard and Timmy Ward and Kylan Scheid defended their 6-5 guy [Robert Comstock III] giving up at least 7 inches in height. We gang rebounded. We defended when it was necessary, we forced tough shots at key times and we were able to attack the paint in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter where we shot 18 free throws,” Ferrier said.
Crescent (3-4) next plays as host of its own holiday basketball tournament on Dec. 28. The Loggers will host Shoreline Christian at 7:30 p.m.
Quilcene (1-6) is off until Jan. 3 when the Rangers host Muckleshoot.
Crescent 58, Quilcene 53
Quilcene 13 13 14 13 — 53
Crescent 14 19 9 16 — 58
Crescent (58) — Spencer 39, Emery 14, Ward 2, Leonard 2, Buchanan 1.
Neah Bay games canceled
Neah Bay was scheduled to play at Taholah Tuesday night but did not make the trip due to snowy roads and power outages in the Neah Bay area.
Both the Red Devils’ boys and girls teams will play Taholah at the Muckleshoot Holiday Hardware Classic on Dec. 27 at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
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Compiled from team reports. Email scores to sports@peninsuladailynews.com or phone 360-417-3525.
