LACEY — Northwest Christian came back from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to edge Ilwaco 51-50 on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

Ilwaco, which committed 26 turnovers, could not regain the lead on its last several possessions. Ilwaco’s last chance came out of a timeout on a baseline in-bound play, but the Navigators clinched the game by poking away a steal from Calvin Baze on a cross-over dribble.

“It was similar to the two overtime games we lost this year,” Ilwaco coach Tim Harrell said. “The shot selection in crunch time wasn’t good.”

The loss entrenched Ilwaco more firmly in fourth place in the Pacific League. Northwest Christian and Willapa Valley are tied for second at 11-2 in league play at week’s end. Ilwaco is 11-5 overall and 9-5 in the Pacific League with four league games remaining. Ilwaco will host North Beach Thursday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m., visit Raymond Saturday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m., and host Willapa Valley Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. before closing out the regular season at Ocosta 7: p.m. on Feb. 6.