Girls Hoops District 4 2A Tournament: Mark Morris & Ridgefield headed to State; Dist Champship tomorrow

2/15/24

The District 4 2A Girls Basketball Tournament got started last Friday. In this post we will have all the match-ups and follow-up with scores and re-caps, pictures and video highlights of all the games that we cover at the bottom of this page. For past games that we didn’t cover, we have linked any articles recapping that matchup from other news outlets.

Link to Bracket

Link to NFHS Network (Subscription Required) to view full replays, click on-demand for list of games

Friday, Feb 16
District Championship
WF West vs Columbia River at Kelso 6pm

Wednesday, Feb 14
Consolation Bracket (Winner to State, Loser Out)
Ridgefield 63, Washougal 35 (By Meg Wochnick in The Columbian)
Mark Morris 47, Black Hills 37 (Our Coverage below)

Mark Morris 13 15 36 48
Black Hills 9 16 25 37

(Chehalis, WA) A trip to state was on the line along wiht the end of your season for the Black Hills Wolves and Mark Morris Monarchs Wednesday night at WF West high school in Chehalis. After a 30-minute delay and a mix up in color of jerseys as both teams arrived in their home white tops. So as the navy blue away shirts arrived a few at a time the game got underway but the many of the Wolves did not have their regular jersey and it took a few moments to figure out who was what number.

Despite the awkward start it did not impede the Monarchs Natalie Mejia who started like a flash with 8 straight points for the Monarchs and would lead 13-9 after 1 quarter. The Wolves came out hot in the 2nd quarter beginning with a 7-0 run led by a 3 and 2 from Natalie Buchanan to take their 1st lead in the game. Mark Morris would only score 2 points in the 2nd quarter but after that 7-0 start for Black Hills they could not take advantage of the cold spell from the Monarchs and held a slim 16-15 advantage at halftime.

Mark Morris’s Reese Johnston was shut out in the 1st half but took her about 30 seconds to hit her 1st bucket to give the lead back which they would not surrender again to the Monarchs and then a 3 and then another 2 on her way to a game high 14 points all in the 2nd half. Her 5 point run to start the 3rd quarter earned our NW Home team Takin’ itg to the House Play of the Game. Mark Morris pushed their lead to 11 but the end of the 3rd 36-25.

The Wolves did make a 7-0 run in the 4th to cut the lead to 4 but Mark Morris responded and pushed the lead back to 11 for the final 48-37 score. Mark Morris advances to the State tournament with the win while Black Hills’ season came to an end. Our Thorbeckes MVP went to Mejia who finished with 13 points.

Scoring
Mark Morris: Reese Johnston 14, Natalie Mejia 13, Kiki Makaiwi 8, Kea Makaiwi 6, Raelie Guizzotti 3, Kamrie Guizzoti 2
Black Hills: Kiley McMahon 10, Natalie Buchanan 9, Tyler Venable 7, Ava Klovas 6, Claire Johnson 5

ESN Post Game Show

Black Hills takes the lead in the 2nd

Mark Morris comes out hot in the 3rd

Monday, Feb. 12
Semi-Finals (Winner to Dist Champ and State, Loser to Consolation)
WF West 58, Ridgefield 39 (The Columbian)
Columbia River 47, Black Hills 33 (The Chronicle) (The Columbian)
Consolation (Loser Out)
Mark Morris 39, Tumwater 31 (The Daily News)
Washougal 54, Hudson’s Bay 52 (The Columbian)

Friday, Feb. 9
WF West 76, Mark Morris 29 (The Chronicle)
Ridgefield 55, Tumwater 28
Black Hills 50, Hudson’s Bay 35 (Below)
Columbia River 57, Washougal 45

Feb. 9 Recaps

Black Hills 50, Hudson’s Bay 35

Hudson’s Bay 11 25 28 35
Black Hills 9 25 39 50

(Tumwater, WA) A quick turnaround this season led to the Black Hills Wolves opening up the District 4 2A girls basketball tournament with a home matchup against the #3 seed from the GSHL 2A in the Hudson’s Bay Eagles. With their only two losses coming to WF West, Black Hills came in with all the belief in the world that they could reach the state tournament but Hudson’s Bay possessed that same belief in what was a coin flip game.

A fast start for Black Hills got the Wolves going early as Kiley McMahon buried her first three-pointer of the game just seconds after the opening tip. It would be nothing but threes for the Wolves in the opening quarter as McMahon hit another while Tyler Venable also knocked down a triple. Hudson’s Bay had a different approach as Olivia Carroll and Alana Stephens attacked the basket early and often, either scoring or getting to the free throw line. The Eagles style of play worked better as they had an 11-9 lead after the opening quarter.

Alana Stephens took over the game early in the 2nd. The senior knew what she wanted to do every time she had the ball. Whether she was hitting mid-range jumpers or attacking the glass and getting to the free throw line, Stephens was scoring at will. Avi Desjarlais did great in the paint on defense and on the boards as well as the Eagles grew their lead. Turnovers then plagued Hudson’s Bay. Black Hills started to score in transition with Kiley McMahon and Tyler Venable completing three-point plays to retake the lead for the Wolves. It looked as though Black Hills would take that lead into halftime, but a buzzer-beating jumper by Alana Stephens tied the game at halftime, 25-25.

The second half started just like the first, with a Kiley McMahon three. That would be the last lead change of the game. Alana Stephens picked up her fourth foul and had to sit for most of the 3rd quarter. Without her on the floor, the Black Hills defense suffocated the Eagles while Kiley McMahon knocked down shot after shot for the Wolves. Hudson’s Bay only managed three points in the third quarter while McMahon and Carmen Williams led the Black Hills offense. Even when Stephens re-entered in the 4th quarter, the Eagles shots just wouldn’t drop. Offensive rebounds and 14 second half points from McMahon helped the Wolves pull away to a 50-35 win.

Our Education Jobs MVP of the game was Kiley McMahon for Black Hills. The junior point guard set the tone in both halves with a three in the opening seconds both times. She scored over half of the Wolves points with 26 including six three-pointers on the day plus another three-point play the old fashioned way. McMahon added three steals and was the conductor of the offense and also lit up the crowd with her celebrations after her threes. The spark plug of this one for the Wolves, Kiley McMahon was a no-brainer for this award.

Scoring
Hudson’s Bay: Alana Stephens 21, Olivia Carroll 7, Avi Desjarlais 6, Promise Bond 1
Black Hills: Kiley McMahon 26, Tyler Venable 14, Carmen Williams 4, Natalie Buchanan 4, Ava Klovas 2