PE ELL — Though a frenetic defense and an offense that got out in transition kept the Pe Ell girls basketball team in the mix for a half, the hot shooting of Willapa Valley and its depth helped the Vikings prevail over the Trojans Friday night, 61-34.
The Trojans had 24 points through the first two quarters, and trailed by just eight points at the halftime break, but scored just 10 points combined over the next two frames in the home loss.
“We played pretty well in the first half,” Trojans coach Dave Tuengel said. “We didn’t get out on shooters, we tried to make that adjustment but we ran out of gas in the second half.”
Charlie Carper led the Trojans with 12 points, all scored in the first half before the Vikings adjusted to contain the speedy guard, and eighth-graders Karli Phelps and Devyn Shannon each added six points for a young Pe Ell team, which didn’t field a team last school year.
Just a return to the court makes this group special for Tuengel, who got a bit of a late start with his team with a lot of girls that didn’t play high school ball a year ago.
“It’s really special,” Tuengel said. “The school is the community, they’ve been very, very supportive. I wish we would’ve had a summer, but from day one, with balls flying all over, to now, I couldn’t be more proud of this group.”
And though it’s an incredibly young group still learning its new chemistries — a year removed from finding a new temporary team to play for in Winlock last year — Carper is leading the charge from the front.
“She’s the epitome of a leader,” Tuengel said. “These kids look up to her. She’s done such a wonderful job of leading by example, leading in the locker room and the classroom, leading in the school, I couldn’t be more proud of a kid.”
The Vikings were led by Grace Huber’s game-high 28 points in a well-rounded offensive effort.
Pe Ell takes on Ocosta Saturday at home again in another doubleheader starting at 5:45 p.m. for non-league action.
