Girls basketball: River Ridge 48, Hockinson 35

LONGVIEW — At the end of the night Saturday, the Hockinson girls basketball team could say this — the Hawks give themselves a chance.

But after Hockinson shots failed to fall in the fourth quarter, River Ridge of Lacey pulled away for a 48-35 win in a loser-out game in the Class 2A district tournament at Mark Morris.

“We didn’t get down when we fell behind early,” Hockinson coach Chad Hamberg said. “We came back and played hard. We were right there, got the lead in the fourth quarter. We just needed to get some of thos shots to fall.”

Hamberg said shooting slumps had haunted Hockinson throughout the season. The spector reappeared Saturday as Hockinson went 11 for 44 from the field.

“You’re not going to win a lot of games when shooting 25 percent,” Hamberg said.

Early on, the girls basketball game between River Ridge of Lacey and Hockinson had all the markings of a runaway.

River Ridge, the No. 2 team from the 2A Evergreen Conference, had leads of 18-7 and 26-13 in the first half.

But Hockinson went on a 7-0 run to end the first half. After River Ridge scored the first three points of the third quarter, Hockinson went on a 10-0 run to take 30-29 lead early in the fourth quarter on two free throws by Hannah Neibauer.

But that’s when Hockinson went cold.

River Ridge ran off the next six points, and later went on an 8-0 run to take a 45-33 lead late in the game.

Katelyn McGuire led Hockinson with 10 points, and Hamberg credited the defense of Lexi Schommer in holding River Ridge’s second leading scoring, post player Rebecca Stevenson, to five points.

RIVER RIDGE 48, HOCKINSON 35

RIVER RIDGE (17-5) — Jazzlynn Brewster 18, Makenna Schultz 2, Natalie Scott 4, Catriese Baker 2, Savannah McGill 13, Peggy Johnson 4, Rebecca Stevenson 5. Totals 18 (1) 11-16 48.

HOCKINSON (10-13) — Kelsey Dunham 0, Sydnie Cole 2, Isabella Koenig 0, Brianna Curtiss 6, Meghan Vandermaas 5, Katelyn McGuire 10, Hannah Neibauer 2, Brooke Sparks 6, Kaylee Hartloo 0, Corinna Gensitskiy 0, Elle Tilkin 0, Lexi Schommer 6. Totals 11 (1) 12-19 35.

River Ridge 18 8 3 19–48

Hockinson 7 13 8 7–35