Montesano’s girls basketball team pulled in two victories last week.

Bulldogs 64, Fishermen 57

Jordan Spradlin poured through 31 points and Josie Talley provided an important contribution on both ends of the court as Montesano turned back Ilwaco in a battle of state-ranked teams Thursday, Dec. 22, at Ilwaco. Montesano won 64-57.

Spradlin also pulled down 20 rebounds as the Bulldogs, ranked fourth among Class 1A teams by the Tacoma News-Tribune, topped an Ilwaco team rated No. 1 among 2B clubs.

The Fishermen owned leads at the outset of each of the first three quarters. But Spradlin tallied 14 points in the third quarter to put the Bulldogs (7-1) ahead to stay.

Talley attacked the basket effectively in adding 14 points. The Monte senior also had the primary defensive responsibility on Ilwaco ace Makenzie Kaech as the Bulldogs switched to a box-and-one defense.

“She was a difference-maker tonight,” Montesano coach Julie Graves said of Talley. “She really stepped up on both ends of the court tonight.”

Josie Toyra, who hit key 3-pointers in the second and fourth quarters, added 10 points for the Bulldogs. Cheyann Bartlett and Shayla Floch contributed four assists apiece.

Earlier in the week, Montesano kept its momentum going triggering its transition game to force turnovers and score on the run against host Aberdeen at Sam Benn Gym on Dec. 20.

Spradlin led all scorers with 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Bulldogs rolled to a 63-28 non-league girls basketball win over the Bobcats.

“I thought we did a great job on the defensive end,” Graves said. “We talked about two different types of defenses in practices and they really came out and executed tonight. The kids did a really good job tonight.”

“The first half was hard to replicate that pressure in practice,” Aberdeen head coach Jeff Niemi said. “We didn’t handle it as well as I thought we would. I thought our defensive plan worked out well, but they got a lot of easy baskets off our turnovers. In transition, they are deadly. You can’t turn the ball over against them.”

The story has been the same for Montesano (6-1 overall) and its senior-laden squad — play an uptempo style to pressure the opposition into mistakes for easy baskets. This is what happened on Tuesday night.

Guards Hannah Quinn, Talley, Toyra and Floch bothered Aberdeen’s guards into turnovers and quick transition baskets. In the first quarter, the Bulldogs forced nine Bobcat turnovers. In turn, Montesano hit five of its first six shots from the field for an 11-3 lead midway through the quarter.

The pressure defense continued and Montesano benefited to finish the quarter with a 20-4 lead. Spradlin cleaned up in the paint, scoring nine of her game-high total in the first. Also within the transition offense, Quinn and Floch each dished out five assists each overall.

“Yeah, we had a few turnovers here and there, but we really executed out of transition well tonight,” Graves added. “We are trying to push that with the kids that if we can score before the defense sets up, that is to our advantage. They are starting to figure that out. We were able to get some steals and score off of that.”

Montesano continued in the second quarter with its pressure defense, but also worked the ball inside to Spradlin more often. Aberdeen senior Jillian Swor had the tough task of defending Spradlin, mostly fronting the 6-1 Montesano post to deny her the ball. The Bulldogs stayed inside and finished with a 37-14 halftime lead.

In the third, the Bulldogs pulled away. On a combination of inside work from Spradlin and perimeter work from Quinn, Talley and Bartlett, who played in spurts due to illness, Montesano secured a 20-5 quarter and a 57-19 lead.

Montesano 18 13 19 14 — 64

Ilwaco 18 12 14 13 — 57

Montesano (64) — Bartlett 2, Talley 14, Toyra 10, Floch 7, Spradlin 31, Quinn, Lovell, Hutchings. FG — 26-65 (.400). FT — 9-11.

Ilwaco (57) — Bannister 14, McMullen 8, Benenati 2, Kaech 17, Jacobson 16, Kulm, Thomas. FG — 26-57 (.456). FT — 3-4.

JV — Montesano 50, Ilwaco 31. Zoe Hutchings 14 points for Montesano.

C Squad — Montesano 34, Ilwaco 31. Mylaina Parker 11 points for Montesano. ^

Montesano 20 17 20 6 — 63 Aberdeen 4 10 5 9 — 28

Montesano (63) — Quinn 9, Bartlett 5, Lovell 3, Talley 6, Toyra 8, Floch 4, Spradlin 22, Hutchings 4, Ekerson, Grubb, Granstrom, Perkinson. FG — 25-56. FT — 11-21.

Aberdeen (28) — Buckman 1, Glanz, Gallinger 5, Heikkila 1, Rabung 4, Swor 5, Jones 3, Slyter, Roberts, Krenz 2, Walsh 7. FG — 10-42. FT — 7-12.

JV — Montesano 34, Aberdeen 10. Erica Alvarez and Sophia Reed 10 points each for Monte.

(Brendan Carl | Grays Harbor Newspaper Group) Montesano’s Jordan Spradlin goes up for a shot between two Aberdeen defenders during Tuesday’s non-league contest at Sam Benn Gym.

(Brendan Carl | Grays Harbor Newspaper Group) Montesano’s Jordan Spradlin goes up for a shot between two Aberdeen defenders during Tuesday’s non-league contest at Sam Benn Gym.

(Brendan Carl | Grays Harbor Newspaper Group) Aberdeen’s Dani Buckman puts up a shot against Montesano on Tuesday.