IHS blows out White Salmon WHITE SALMON – The Lady Fishermen went on a 36-8 tear and made the final nine points of the first period to take an insurmountable 42-14 half-time lead Saturday as they cruised to a 70-47 Trico League victory.

Ilwaco, playing in their third game in four days, got things rolling the last 10 minutes before intermission to ice their eighth win in 10 games and go 2-1 in League play.

“Our starters had a great six minutes at the end of the first period until the middle of the second to put the game away,” coach Glenn Padgett said.

Ashley Kitzman poured in 28 points and had a dozen rebounds for another “double-double” and Ashley Fauver tallied 16 to pace the Lady Fishermen.

“Katie Holmes is getting her confidence and had a great game. She even hit nothing but net on a three-pointer,” the coach praised as Holmes added 15 points.

All ten players saw action early and often in the 23-point victory. Holly Hocking sank two “threes”, Anna Kitzman and Robyn Unruh each contributed 2 points, and Ariel Barker tacked on 1 in the win.

“Our press got us going and we went inside to our post players, which opened up things outside as well,” Padgett explained of his team’s outburst, after being tied 6-6 for most of the first period.

Ilwaco shot 16-31 from the foul line for 52 percent, a statistic Padgett would like to see improve. The Lady Fishermen sank 25 field goals in 69 tries for 36 percent and committed 17 fouls. The Lady Bruins were 7-17 from the line (41 percent) and made only 31 percent of their field goal tries, going 19-61, while being tagged with 23 fouls.

The Lady Fishermen forced 25 turnovers while losing the ball a dozen times and out-boarded White Salmon 35-28.

“Their big girl, Williams, had 25 points and 15 rebounds. She can really jump,” Padgett observed.

Ilwaco is on the road this week, having visited Castle Rock Tuesday and going to Woodland Friday for two League battles.

“This will be a key week for us. We will need to pressure their guards, rebound well, and work the ball inside-out to win,” Padgett said of the upcoming games.

Ridgefield defeated LaCenter’s girls after the Wildcats had earlier pasted a 33-point loss on Ilwaco, so the contests with the Lady Rockets and Beavers could move the Lady Fishermen from a second place tie to fifth place, depending on the outcomes.

Ilwaco 15 27 15 13 – 70

Wht. Salmon 6 8 16 17 – 47

Scoring: Ilwaco-Ashley Kitzman 28, Fauver 16, Holmes 15, Hocking 6, Unruh 2, Anna Kitzman 2, Barker 1, Alli Brooks, Nicole Davis, Heather Bartlett.

White Salmon-Williams 25, Mansfield 8, Weiler 8, Clevy 3, Bakke 3.La Center whips Lady Fishermen, 81-48LA CENTER – The LaCenter Lady Wildcats tore to a 20-1 lead and defeated Ilwaco 81-48 in a Trico-League basketball game Wednesday. LaCenter blistered the nets for 34 points in the first period alone, in handing the Lady Fishermen their first league loss of the season. Ilwaco is 6-2 overall.

“They blitzed us right off the bat with their (full-court zone) press and we never recovered,” Coach Glenn Padgett said. “We would make a soft pass and one mistake would catapult into another.”

Ilwaco turned the ball over 26 times in the one-sided contest, with 10 of them coming in the telling first quarter alone. The Lady Wildcats held a resounding 49-28 lead at the half.

“After the first quarter we played LaCenter fairly even,” Padgett explained. “Mark my word, we will beat them when they come here (to Ilwaco Jan. 29),” he went on to predict.

Padgett had praise for Ashley Kitzman who scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double. Kitzman, who is averaging over 23 points per contest, shot well from the field, but uncharacteristically converted only 6 of 14 free throws.

“Katie Holmes used her speed well on defense and drove hard to the basket,” Padgett said. Holmes, who is now a starter, scored 6 points and had 3 steals. Robyn Unruh led the team with 2 assists and also scored 6 points. Ashley Fauver chipped in 8 points.

Freshman, Anna Kitzman, who has apparently moved up to the “sixth-man” slot, knocked down 4 points and had 2 steals and classmate Alli Brooks scored the first 2 points of her varsity career in the final quarter. Heather Bartlett saw her first varsity action of the season in the contest. Ariel Barker had 3 rebounds and 2 steals for Ilwaco.

LaCenter shot a scorching 58 percent from the field, hitting on 33 of 57 shots, most of them layins triggered by their stellar defense. They also made 58 percent of their charity tosses, going 14-24. They rebounded evenly with Ilwaco, with each team garnering 25 caroms. The key statistic of the night was LaCenter’s 9 turnovers to Ilwaco’s 26.

The Lady Fishermen were 17-42 for a respectable 40 percent from the field, but converted on only 11-25 from the foul line for 44 percent. Ilwaco committed 15 fouls to the home team’s 20. The Lady Fishermen had had 15 days off due to Christmas break and the ice storm that hit the first week of January.

Coach Roger Padgett’s junior varsity team picked up their first win of the season 46-25 to move their record to 1-5. On Jan. 29 when both LaCenter varsity squads invade Aase Gym, the boys JV team will play and the girls will have a night off as the boys had there Wednesday.

Ilwaco 11 17 11 9 – 48

LaCenter 34 15 13 19 – 81

Scoring: Ilwaco-Ashley Kitzman 22, Fauver 8, Unruh 6, Holmes 6, Anna Kitzman 4, Brooks 2, Barker, Bartlett, Holly Hocking, Nicole Davis.

LaCenter-Roggenkamp 26, Baker 24, Sexton 13, Davis 9, Moore 4, Rinaker 3, Dimitrion 2