Team effort sends Washougal girls to 63-41 win over Mark Morris

WASHOUGAL — The Washougal girls basketball team put the rest of the Class 2A Greater St. Helens League on notice Tuesday night.

There are more Panthers to worry about than just Beyonce Bea.

Sophomore McKinley Stotts scored a game-high 16 points and junior Ashley Gibbons hit three 3-pointers as Washougal rolled to a 63-41 win over Mark Morris.

“Every time we play, we have to prove ourselves,” Washougal’s first-year coach Britney Knotts said. “Every team we face, we have to prove we are a good team. This is a whole new Washougal team from last year.”

On Tuesday, the Panthers had to prove they could win without their junior star — at least for a big stretch of the first half.

Bea scored Washougal’s first two points of the game, but didn’t score the rest of the first half after picking up two quick fouls at the end of the first quarter. She spent the entire second quarter on the bench.

Yet, the Panthers stretched a 9-7 lead into 25-19 halftime thanks to scoring contributions from six different players

“The Columbian wrote ‘Beyonce Bea can dominate, but Washougal will need other players to step up,’ ” Knotts said. “That’s what we challenged our kids to do, and tonight they did that.”

Gibbons had a steal to open the second half and dished to Bea for an easy basket. Then Gibbons hit a 3-pointer as the Panthers scored the first seven points of the third quarter.

After Mark Morris cut the edge to 35-28, a 3-point play from Bea, a drive by Stotts and a 3-pointer from Gibbons stretched Washougal’s advantage back to 15 points.

“We knocked down some shots today, which is something we haven’t been able to do all the time,” Knotts said.

The Panthers would keep a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

“To beat Mark Morris is big,” Knotts said. “The girls played them three times last year and once more over the summer. They’ve sort of become our biggest rival, so to beat them like this is going to give us confidence going forward.”

Bea finished with 15 points — 13 in the second half — and Gibbons added 13 as the Panthers won their seventh straight to improve to 4-0 in the 2A GSHL and 9-3 overall.

WASHOUGAL 63, MARK MORRIS 41

MARK MORRIS — Kalina Makaiwi 10, Gabby Bennett 2, Kylie Grisham 0, Madison Mosier 14, Kathy Allred 0, Sarah Russell 2, Stephanie Burns 2, Alexis Troy 4, Libby Bartleson 7, Kierra Clark 0. Totals 15 (2) 9-15 41.

WASHOUGAL — Kiara Cross 0, Alexis Maniscalco 0, Maggie Hungerford 4, Beyonce Bea 15, Ashley Gibbons 13, McKinley Stotts 16, Grace Graham 0, Audrey Thompson 0, Emilee Smart 5, Skylar Bea 6, Tiana Barnett 4, Paige Wilson 0. Totals 23 (5) 12-16 63.

M. Morris 7 12 16 6—41

Washougal 9 16 20 18—63

JV — Washougal 67-37