FORKS — Forks’ comeback bid came up short in the fourth quarter in a 47-38 nonleague girls basketball loss to Neah Bay on Tuesday.
The Spartans had to dig themselves out of a 15-5 first-quarter deficit against the Red Devils.
“We started off slow in that first quarter,” Forks coach David Hurn said. “We’ve seen those quarters before and it was tough to watch, but the girls responded and fought back into it and eventually tied the game. We went into halftime [trailing 22-14] and had a little momentum and we fought back and clawed back in it.”
Forks outscored Neah Bay 15-7 in the third to tie the game entering the final quarter.
“We came out and tied it up entering fourth and had a four-point lead in the fourth, but we really struggled to shoot the basketball,” Hurn said. “Friday [in a win over Aberdeen] we shot 46 percent on 3s, 8 for 17. [Against Neah Bay] I bet we were 4 for a lot and closer to 10 or 15 percent (3 for 22, 13.6 percent).
“We had open looks but the ball didn’t drop. “The opportunity was there and that hurts, but they are a good team and we love playing Neah Bay. Always a fun game to play in, a good opponent that plays a tough style.”
Hurn was heartened by his team’s efforts.
“Years past we haven’t really stepped up in that occasion against [Neah Bay],” Hurn said. “As much as it hurts to give that lead away in the fourth, I hope we take some positives that in years past we haven’t stepped up to the challenge of playing a team like that. We’ve made good teams look better than they are and we haven’t stepped up. So playing a good team in a good atmosphere, hopefully it’s a confidence booster for the girls moving forward.”
Hurn was pleased with his squad’s defense, particularly in limiting Neah Bay to 47 points, and 29 through three quarters.
“We tried to take advantage of our size with Chloe [Leverington] and Rian [Peters] and if we hit a few outside shots we’d have a different conversation.”
Leverington and Peters led Forks with 14 points.
Laila Greene led Neah Bay with 15 points, including 3 of 7 shooting on 3-pointers.
Greene added six rebounds, four assists, a steal and a block for the Red Devils (2-2).
Ruth Moss scored 11 with six rebounds, three assists and three blocks.
Neah Bay will visit Class 3A Nathan Hale on Saturday.
Neah Bay 47, Forks 38
Neah Bay 6 17 14 15— 47
Forks 5 9 15 9— 38
Neah Bay (47) — L. Greene 15, Ru. Moss 11, Gagnon 8, Aguirre 5, Ry. Moss 5, A. Greene 3, Ray, Yallup, Lovik, Horejsi, Woodruff.
Forks (38) — Leverington 14, Peters 14, Wood 5, Rowley 3, Horton 2, Olson, Rondeau.
Boys Basketball Forks 67, Neah Bay 52
FORKS — The Spartans led from the start in a nonleague victory over the Red Devils.
Forks got out to a 17-6 lead after one quarter, maintained the advantage despite some first-half foul trouble to go up 32-23 at half and were consistent in the second half.
“Our press got things going for us,” Spartans coach Rick Gooding said. As a young team you have to find ways like that to score. Add in Logan [Olson] hitting some 3s [after halftime].”
Logan Olson had a career-high 16 points to lead the way for the Spartans. Trey Baysinger added 15 for Forks.
“I am going to probably end up saying this a lot this season, but we had a varsity kid get a career high,” Gooding said. “Looking at it, Riley [Pursley], Oscar [Gonzalez], Carter [Windle], Logan all had career highs, and I have to check with Trey on his career high. He might have had that much last season.”
Gooding said Neah Bay hit 11 3s in the game (11 of 29).
“They shot the ball well from outside and hit 11 3s,” Gooding said.
“I was pretty pleased with Logan defensively being on the top of the [2-3] zone,” Gooding said. “Oscar did a really good job on Captain [Claplanhoo] in the second half.”
And Gooding said Windle came through down the stretch.
“Carter had all eight of his points in the fourth quarter when we needed them,” Gooding said.
Forks (2-0) hosted Crescent late Wednesday and visits Port Townsend on Friday.
Neah Bay (0-4) was led by Darrin Horejsi’s 14 points and three assists.
Jaxson Halttunen added 12 points and three assists.
Julian Carrick scored 10 for the Red Devils and Claplanhoo added eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Neah Bay visited Port Angeles late Wednesday and will play the Nathan Hale JV in Seattle on Saturday.
Forks 67, Neah Bay 52
Neah Bay 6 17 14 15— 52
Forks 17 15 18 17— 67
Neah Bay (52) — Horejsi 14, Halttunen 12, Carrick 10, Claplanhoo 8, Croy 4, Soeneke 3, Lovik 1, Vitalis.
Forks (67) — Olson 16, Baysinger 15, Windle 8, Flores 8, Pursley 6, Davis 5, Gonzalez 4, Steffen 3, Farias 2.
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Compiled from team reports. Email scores to sports@peninsuladailynews.com or phone 360-417-3525.
