With 20 points, Lauren Katyryniuk was the high scorer versus the Kodiaks, a church school in Battle Ground.

Naselle girls are experiencing the ups and downs of regular-season play.

They were defeated 62-25 by Mossyrock last week, but bounced back to beat Columbia Adventist Academy 64-19 then defeated Toledo Saturday, 38-29.

The Mossyrock game saw the Vikings putting the game out of reach by halftime, with the Comets taking just 40 shots in the entire game and not scoring in double digits in any quarter.

“Pretty much everything that Mossyrock threw up in the first half went in,” said head coach Marie Green, who was somewhat frustrated by multiple refereeing calls going against her squad. “We came out flat and the first quarter just did us in. I was proud that the girls still continued to fight.”

The players have Jan. 20 on their calendar for the rematch in the Naselle gym. “Looking forward, we already have a game plan in place for when we see them in January,” Green said, noting the game didn’t showcase what the players can do. “I can’t wait to see how we come out against them at home.”

Just two days later, normal service was resumed against the Kodiaks, a church school in Battle Ground. Lauren Katyryniuk was the high scorer with 20 points, and Bella Columbo had 13, but team members Bella Dunagan and Brooke Davis also impressed their coach, too.

“Bella D. had some great defensive plays tonight,” the coach said. “Brooke was a rebounding machine — she had a lot of put-backs that just did not fall.”

The Kodiaks switched their defenses, so Green huddled her squad and taught them how best to counter. “That’s one thing I love about this group, they have been able to learn things on the fly with me, whether it’s a new play or a new defense,” the coach said. “They are making it work and that will come in handy down the road.”

Naselle continued its winning ways against Toledo, ahead 23-9 at the half then allowing the Riverhawks back into contention for a while in the second half. “But we calmed down and finished the job. We were 13-15 from the line tonight and that really helped us, especially when Toledo started to foul us at the end of the game,” Green said.

After a trip to Yakima Tribal School, the team will resume games Jan. 2 with a much shorter bus ride north to face Willapa Valley, then traveling again to face Pe-Ell Jan. 5.

Wrestling progress

Ilwaco wrestling coach Larry Kemmer is seeing progress among this squad.

Team members wrestled at Astoria last week, then later headed down the coast to Nestucca.

In Astoria midweek, the team was the smallest of four participating schools. Jace Linthakhan won his match at 106 pounds and Xavier Smith won both of his bouts at 120. Wade Smith had two wins and a loss at 145, while Marcus Lynch split his two match-ups at 220.

Luis Lopez Mendez and Cody Miller also participated. “Luis and Cody both wrestled up a weight class to get more matches,” their coach said.

“All in all, I was very happy with our performance. The kids all battled and have shown great improvement moving forward in the season. Now we will continue to hone our skills and add some small things to our moves to give a few more options.”

At Nestucca, Lynch had one win and one loss for second place. Xavier Smith also placed second, winning two on his way to the final which he lost. Wade Smith won three matches and lost one to place third.

Lopez Mendez, back at 126, lost a semifinal then won the third-place match. Cody Miller had one win at 132.

Also participating were Yunior Bautista Cruz at 138 and Christian Olivio at 160.

Bethany Martin represented the girls, winning both her matches at Astoria and going 1-1 at Nestucca.

The girls wrestle next at Hoquiam Dec. 21; the boys’ next action is Dec. 29 at Clatskanie.

IHS girls lose

Ilwaco girls experienced their first loss last week. They fell to Forks, 74-63.

Coach Ned Bittner’s 2B squad is gearing up to take advantage of playing on their home court with two games against schools from different WIAA classifications before Christmas.

They will host 1B Willapa Valley Dec. 20 (7 p.m.) and 1A Hoquiam Dec. 22 (5:45 p.m.) and play at the Willapa Valley Tournament Dec. 29 and 30.

Boys results

Last week, Ilwaco boys beat Forks 67-45 then fell to 1B Willapa Valley 68-65. Next, after a trip to 2A Centralia, is a home game Dec. 21 against Toutle Lake (5:30 p.m.), then they also head to the Valley Tournament, Dec. 29 and 30.

Naselle boys hit some speed bumps this past week. The Comets lost to Mossyrock 73-47 then traveled to Columbia Adventist Academy, falling 54-46. Against 2B Toledo, they were on the wrong end of a 58-41 scoreline.

The Comets were traveling to play 1B Yakima Tribal and 2B Dayton on consecutive days, before a break. They will gear up for two home games with nearby neighbors to start the new year, Willapa Valley on Jan. 3 and Pe-Ell on Jan. 6.