FORKS — A disjointed beginning led to Forks digging a hole it couldn’t quite find a way out of in a 54-47 Pacific League girls basketball loss to Raymond-South Bend.
Depending on the outcome of the two final league contests for each team, the defeat likely means the Spartans (5-1, 8-9) and Ravens (5-1, 11-5) will split the league title and the top two seeds to the District 4 tournament.
“We got in foul trouble early and didn’t do a good job adjusting to the game, so all game long we were battling fouls,” Spartans coach David Hurn said. “It’s hard to get in a rhythm and hard to play the defense you wanted because you can’t be as aggressive.”
Down big before halftime, Forks started its comeback attempt.
“We were down 17 late in the second quarter and made a nice little run to get it to a 10-point game [32-22] at halftime,” Hurn said. “The team felt good about that, they knew we played poorly, but had our best ahead of us.”
Forks played the Ravens close in the second half, quickly cutting the lead to 33-31. The Spartans kept it close, coming within three points on Fynlie Peters’ putback after rebounding a missed 3-pointer with 7:33 to play.
“It was a great second half, we got it to two points and it was a two-to-four point game until the end when they hit a couple more than us to close it out.”
Bailey Johnson led the Spartans with 17 points and Avery Dilley added 13.
“If we win out we will be co-league champs and our goal is still ahead of us here,” Hurn said. “If you told me we would have a chance to be league champs at the start of the season I wouldn’t have thought it was possible and I’m proud of the growth the girls have shown this season.”
Forks visits Neah Bay on Monday at 7 p.m. The Red Devils beat the Spartans 55-24 at Forks on Dec. 18.
Raymond-South Bend 54, Forks 47
RSB19 13 8 14— 54
Forks 11 11 13 12— 47
Forks (47) — B. Johnson 17, Dilley 13, Peters 7, Gaydeski 5, Neel 3, Rondeau 2.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at sports@peninsuladailynews.com.
