The Napavine girls basketball team took a road trip to face last year’s fourth-place 1A finishers, and gave Montesano all it could handle in a 53-48 loss that went down to the wire.
The Bulldogs led by three points at halftime, but the Tigers erased the deficit in the third quarter to go into the fourth all tied up at 35-35.
“I’m really happy with the way we competed tonight,” Napavine coach Shane Schutz said. “The effort was there and we were right in it until the end. Montesano is big and physical.”
That size and physicality played a big role for the Bulldogs, who outscored the Tigers 26-14 in the paint and turned 18 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points.
Freshman Hayden Kaut dropped 18 points to lead Napavine, hitting four 3-pointers. She also logged 10 rebounds for the double-double, and added five steals. Morgan Hamilton added eight points off the bench for the Tigers, while Kiera O’Neill had seven rebounds and four assists, and Avery Schutz had four assists and four steals.
“The outcome isn’t what we wanted, but that was a good opportunity to see what we need to be better on,” Shane Schutz said.
Napavine (1-2) will return home for its C2BL debut Wednesday, hosting Wahkiakum.
