Sadness is etched on the face of Naselle junior Kaylin Shrives as she pauses during a late timeout and looks toward the Comet fans yelling with enthusiasm. Naselle’s run to the WIAA 1B state championship title was stopped last Thursday night by No. 1-ranked Mount Vernon Christian whose players built a solid lead and kept adding to it. Final score was 47-26.

SPOKANE — Kaylin Shrives did not say a word.

The sadness was evident.

During a timeout at the WIAA championship, the Naselle junior turned to look toward the Naselle fans.

They never stopped yelling, “Comet power! Comet power!”

But the scoreboard clock ebbed the power away.

The girls from Mount Vernon Christian were not going to be stopped on their way to the 1B state title.

Pull Quote

‘It was a great group to be with.’

Russ Hickman

NHS girls basketball coach

Naselle lost 47-26, unable to replicate the fluency 24 hours earlier when Comet junior Lauren Katyryniuk caught fire with a 22-point basketball clinic.

What followed is something Naselle will want to forget. Two minutes into their next contest against regional rivals Mossyrock, defensive warrior Echo Cenci went down.

Coach Russ Hickman had lost his “spark plug.”

With her ankle heavily iced, the senior co-captain returned to the bench on crutches, tears streaming down her face, and urged on her team.

Mossyrock won 46-12, prompting the veteran coach to tell his squad, “It was not us out there.”

A smile

Naselle had performed with mixed success during a long winter characterized by continuing covid restrictions and the early loss of another teammate to injury.

After state, captain Peyton Dalton dried her tears and chose to focus on the season, not the two losses in Spokane. “I think we started off a little rough and then we had lots of ups and downs,” the senior said.

Then her face brightened into a smile. “I am so proud of us for coming together and playing the best basketball we have ever played, playing as a team, and not letting any of these things interfere with how far we get to go,” she said.

Hickman, who returned to NHS to coach for one season, sought to brighten the mood. “It was a great group to be with,” he said.

‘Confidence’

At the end of the opening victory that sent Wellpinit home, the Naselle bench erupted onto the court to embrace the Comet victors, Hickman raised both hands and pumped the air at the 53-45 win, then marshaled his squad to applaud the Naselle fans.

Wednesday’s smiles were earned. Katyryniuk wasn’t the only one performing well. Another junior, Brynn Tarabochia, scored 15 points and Shrives added 11.

“I am almost in disbelief,” the coach said, recapping the season. “Our goal was to get here and win one game at state,” he said. “They are playing with confidence. We thought that we could take advantage of our physical attributes and it really worked.”

Katyryniuk had scored all three of her 3-point attempts and all seven free-throws. “She has elevated her game,” her coach said.

Dalton contributed a calm presence organizing her team, fellow senior Morgan Reitz was the rebound queen with 10, and Cenci demonstrated fire on defense, letting no one pass her and wrestling for the ball three or more times.

Wellpinit’s strategy was to shoot from far out. Junior Melissa Seyler nailed four 3-pointers and more shots from close. Her tally of 19 would have been off the charts — and Naselle would have been driving home — had she scored with her missed 3-point attempts. She had 14.

Moments

Mount Vernon Christian won the 1B title, defeating Neah Bay 37-33 Saturday. Against Naselle Thursday, the Hurricanes were a whirlwind.

Shrives leapt high to win the tip-off, but Mount Vernon soon gained possession and began demonstrating why it was ranked No. 1.

At, 6-0, Hurricanes’ sophomore Allie Heino proved her strength at both ends of the court. She was a formidable presence, helping her team to a 27-7 halftime lead.

Katyryniuk was unable to repeat the prior day’s rhythm, scoring seven, but she did combine with Dalton on a superb pass that sent her captain in to score two of her team-high eight points. The Comet bench rose to cheer and the celebration was amplified shortly afterward when Shrives hit her lone 3-pointer from way, way out.

Tarabochia zoomed into action from the bench. At one point she intercepted a pass and raced across halfway, only to be called for bumping against a defender. Dalton and Tarabochia combined well with a passing move in the fourth quarter, but the clock showed only four minutes remaining.

Morgan Reitz, another senior, had a hand in many passing moves and subs Bella Dunagan, a junior, and two seniors, Courtney Paul and Grace Hunt, had their moments.

Hickman commended the Hurricanes. “They have got all the pieces. You hope that they don’t bring their best game — but they did.”

Their opponents’ ability to score from far out shaped the game. “You play great defense for 28 seconds and they bury a three. Those are killers … those are deflators.”

But Naselle’s second-half rally of 19 points pleased the coach. “If we had played a little bit more aggressive at the start of the ball game we might have lost by 10 instead of 20. But I am proud of my kids, the way they fought today.”

Rivals

Naselle’s season record against Mossyrock showed one win and two losses. Theirs is a friendly rivalry. At state volleyball in Yakima last year, they rooted for each other with genuine enthusiasm.

At Spokane Friday, the Vikings took care of business. After Cenci left, nothing worked for the Comets. Their shots just didn’t drop. Mossyrock built a lead that was never going to be overcome.

“It’s hard to always finish a season on a loss, but it’s even worse when you played like we did,” Hickman said. “Boy, I thought we were ready. We seemed to be pretty well focused. But hats off to Mossyrock. They came out and played really really well and, of course, they shot the ball well.”

Vikings junior Payton Torrey had 25 points and classmate Caelyn Marshall added 11; five Comets were on the scoreboard.

Tarabochia had Comet fans on their feet with an early 3-pointer, but four more shots from distance bounced away. At one point, Shrives and Reitz battled for the ball under the hoop then rolled their eyes when possession was awarded to their opponents.

Katyryniuk fought under the hoop and drove to the basket for two points to add a glimmer of hope. Later, Shrives and Reitz took turns fighting for the ball on the ground. Paul subbed in and contributed some excellent passing.

But there was no comeback. Mossyrock advanced to play for hardware Saturday, placing sixth after a 57-48 overtime loss to Pomeroy, which took fourth.

‘Better’

Hickman was eager to praise his five seniors’ contributions.

The loss of Cenci, falling heavily after a collision in the key, meant the coach had to reshuffle. “She has been our ‘spark plug’ on defense. That just killed us — that was our whole defensive scheme, and when we lost her we didn’t really have a good rotation,” Hickman said. “Not that it would have mattered tonight, because I thought Mossyrock was much better.”

More Coverage

More stories from the WIAA 1B/2B state basketball championships at www.chinookobserver.com

• Willapa boys and the band.

• Willapa girls vs. the Pirates.

• Wahkiakum’s final surprise.

• Game-by-game reports for NHS girls.

The coach summed up Dalton’s contribution. “She had really improved and she is such a team leader — a real tenacious attitude about things,” he said,

Reitz’ family moved back to Naselle a while ago and contributes greatly to Comet programs. “This is her first year playing for us, and she really helped us out,” the coach said, “because we lost Delaney Kragerud to a concussion at the start of the season, and we didn’t have another post in the rotation, so Morgan really helped us out. She did a great job. There were many games she was in double-digit rebounds for us.”

Hunt and Paul both played with poise. Their coach heralded Hunt as a good team player, and smiled when asked about Paul. “She is our P.E. ‘ratballer,’” he said with a laugh, and noted that both stepped up. “They had to tonight, because we were shorthanded.”

At the end, subs Dunagan, Ava Myers-Marshall, Jessah Watson and Gladys Wilson had a brief taste of state action.