ILWACO – The Lady Wildcats won the battle in the third quarter, but Ilwaco won the war in the fourth period to earn a 50-39 Trico League victory at LaCenter Thursday. The win elevates the Lady Fishermen to 11-1, securing at least a tie for first place in league with Kalama (10-1), who has one more game at Stevenson Monday. LaCenter outscored the visitors 20-9 in the third, but Ilwaco turned the tables to win the fourth period 20-2.

“We absorbed (LaCenter’s) big push in the third period and hit our free throws in the fourth to come away with a big win,” Coach Ned Bittner explained. Ilwaco had fashioned a 10-point lead by intermission, but LaCenter began connecting on three’s and went ahead 37-33 late in the third period.

“Baker hit a couple of long shots and Gaston made one from about four feet behind the (three-point) arc for them and all of a sudden they had caught up,” Bittner said. “About half of their shots for the game were three-pointers.” In the third quarter Ilwaco hit the scoring doldrums as they came up empty on a half-dozen possessions. The Lady Fishermen were a miserable four of 15 from the free throw line the first three periods.

In the final eight minutes Ilwaco converted on 10 of 14 free tosses, including three of four from Anna Kitzman when she was fouled intentionally twice in the final minute. Lanie Kary finished the contest with 20 points and 10 rebounds and Melany Bliss also recorded a double-double with 13 points and 14 boards. Kitzman added nine points, Allison Brooks contributed four, and Alexa Moses and Bonnie Perez each had two tallies.

“We were rattled at times, but Anna took care of the basketball at crunch time,” said Bittner.

Brooks pulled down eight rebounds, Kitzman added seven caroms and Perez garnered five boards as the Lady Fishermen dominated the glass with 45 rebounds to 28 for LaCenter.

The Lady Wildcats made three of four foul shots as theirs was a perimeter game on the night, while Ilwaco connected on 14 of 29 attempts from the charity stripe for a less-than stellar 48 percent. LaCenter fired at a 38 percent pace from the field, making 16 of 42 tries and the Lady Fishermen were 17 of 44 from the floor for 39 percent.

“This was a good warm up for us for district,” Bittner concluded.

Ilwaco’s overall record for the season is 16-4 and LaCenter finishes with a 6-14 mark. The Lady Fishermen will open District IV play at Mark Morris in Longview Feb. 15 against either Montesano at 6 p.m. or Onalaska at 7:30 p.m. If Kalama loses or if Ilwaco wins the coin toss they will take on Evergreen’s fourth place team, Montesano. If Kalama wins against last-place Stevenson and wins the toss then Ilwaco will play Onalaska.

The Ilwaco junior varsity won their final contest at LaCenter to finish 9-6 for coach Rob Snow.

Ilwaco – Anna Kitzman 9, Lanie Kary 20, Melany Bliss 13, Bonnie Perez 2, Alexa Moses 2, Allison Brooks 4, Tara Hankins

LaCenter – Lynsey Grove 2, Kassy Verhagen, Shelbi Dekalb, Hannah Trigg, Sydney Wise, Lauren Baker 17, Brooke Gaston 14, Shay Cheeseman 6

Ilwaco zips past Lady Chinooks with 50-45 Senior Night winILWACO – How sweet it is. The Lady Fishermen avenged their only league setback of the season by clubbing Kalama 50-45 in an intense contest that had all the trappings of a do-or-die playoff game. Lanie Kary’s 24 points and 14 rebounds and Anna Kitzman’s 12 points and seven boards were crucial contributions, but each of the seven Ilwaco girls who saw action had to play well to earn the win. Play well they did.

The contest was nip and tuck throughout, with neither team being ahead by more than three points after the first three minutes, except for at the final buzzer. The fray featured 12 lead changes and another dozen ties. Kalama’s Mandy Wall made four of her 18 points to begin the fourth period, giving the visitors a 45-43 lead with 4:46 to play. At the 3:11 mark Kalama center Amanda Clark picked up her fifth foul. Wall went into hiding on offense and the Lady Chinooks never found the net the rest of the way.

Kary, who had been saddled to the bench mid-way through the third period with her fourth foul, helped her teammates take over the contest from that point on. She scored on a put-back with 2:01 to tie the game at 45-45 and put the Lady Fishermen ahead to stay with a baseline jumper with 1:02 left. Melany Bliss calmly sank the first of her two free tosses at the 21 second juncture and with 10 seconds remaining Kitzman dropped in two more free tosses to ice the 50-45 victory on senior night.

While Kalama was whiffing on their last 11 shots of the battle for first place, Allison Brooks was snaring four critical rebounds down the stretch and Bliss and Kary each grabbed one carom apiece to keep the Lady Chinooks offense bottled up. Bonnie Perez, who had also missed a major portion of the third period with foul trouble, picked off two rebounds and two steals during the run.

The first two minutes didn’t look nearly so bright for the Lady Fishermen as Kalama spurted to a 7-0 lead. Kary and Kitzman each poured in five points in the opening period and, as they have all season, helped lead their team back to within two points at 12-10.

Both quintets scored 14 points in the second frame and the teams went to intermission with the visitors holding a slim 26-24 margin. With Kary and Perez on the bench in the third period, reserves Alexa Moses hit a huge three-point play to give Ilwaco a 38-35 lead and Tara Hankins added an assist and a steal. Earlier in the period, Kitzman connected on the front end of a two-shot foul, which was point number 1,000 for her career. The game was halted momentarily while she was awarded a basketball by Coach Ned Bittner and when she went to give it to her parents, Mike and Camille who were in the stands, she overthrew the pass, which was about the only thing the senior guard did wrong on the evening.

Kary explained, “We played a better game than Kalama did. It’s nice to know we can be league champions or co-champions.” She had a personal score to settle with Chinook Coach Ron Palmer. “He said his post player (Clark) was the best in the league. I don’t agree,” the Ilwaco junior said emphatically. Kary scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while Clark scored nine times and had six caroms for the losers before fouling out.

Ilwaco – Lanie Kary 24, Anna Kitzman 12, Melany Bliss 5, Allison Brooks 6, Alexa Moses 3

Kalama – Mandy Wall 18, Jade Morales 4, Carrie Loveall 5, Kristin Schuh 5, Amanda Clark 7, Tracy Nelson 6

An elated Coach Bittner related, “We’ve improved in taking care of the basketball and getting something positive out of each (offensive) possession. We made the plays tonight, everyone who played contributed and I think it just came down to we wanted (the win) more.”

Rebounding was crucial for Ilwaco as they out-boarded the Lady Chinooks 45-36, a huge turnaround from the two team’s first meeting when Kalama took a 41-31 lead on the glass. Fouls were 18 for the home team and 21 for the Chinooks. The Lady Fishermen turned the basketball over 19 times to 13 for Kalama.

Neither team shot particularly well during the very physical fray, with Ilwaco connecting on 18 of 50 from the field (36 percent) and 11 of 29 from the line (38 percent). The Lady Chinooks were 17 of 52 from the floor (33 percent) and eight of 17 from behind the charity stripe (47 percent).

Bliss had 10 rebounds and five points, Brooks contributed eight rebounds and Kitzman had seven boards and handed out five assists. Wall was the only Kalama player in double figures as their record fell to 12-6 on the year and the Lady Fishermen improved to 15-4 overall.

Kitzman, Perez, Brooks and Hankins each played their final home basketball game for the Lady Fishermen. Senior cheerleaders Kylie Plato, Chelsea Ostgaard and Hannah Bolden performed and senior band members Gwen Gerke, Alex and Brian Tarabochia, Shayla Williams, Thomas and Brittany Hickman, Ben Mazie, and Madeline Dickerson played before the home crowd for the final girl’s game. The cheerleaders and band will be in action Friday at the boy’s game against LaCenter.

Venerable public address announcer, Rod Anderson, said following the double-header in which the boys upset Kalama and the girls wrested first place from the Lady Chinooks, “That’s the most energy I’ve seen in Aase Gymnasium in several years. The student section, the adults, everyone was into the games.”

Kalama 12 14 15 4 – 45

Ilwaco 10 14 15 11 – 50

Ilwaco – Lanie Kary 24, Anna Kitzman 12, Melany Bliss 5, Allison Brooks 6, Bonnie Perez, Alexa Moses 3, Tara Hankins

Kalama – Mandy Wall 18, Jade Morales 4, Carrie Loveall 5, Kristin Schuh 5, Amanda Clark 7, Jessica Shagood, Jenna Denton, Tracy Nelson 6, Kelcie Bellows