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It is easy to parlay momentum from game to game when everything is going right.
The real barometer comes after a streak is snapped and its time to step on the court again.
The North Thurston girls basketball team was facing that scenario, playing for the first time since having their 10-game winning streak halted.
Ciara Williams and Elyssa Quichocho made sure the losing skid was contained to just a game.
Williams scored 10 of her game-high 24 points during the final 4 minutes of the third quarter, and Quichocho added 17 points to power the Rams to a 75-62 win over visiting Black Hills on Tuesday.
“We were hungry tonight,” North Thurston coach Mike Harn said. “The girls were angry after losing to (W.F. West last week). We’ve had two great days of practice. The girls couldn’t wait to get back out on the court.”
In the boys game, North Thurston edged Black Hills, 61-59 in overtime.
The North Thurston girls struggled to open the second half, missing its first four shots from the field before Williams took over the game.
A Williams 3-pointer ended the Rams’ scoring drought and kick-started a game-deciding 19-6 run, which Williams capped with another 3, pushing the Rams’ lead to 57-39 early into the fourth quarter.
Much like they did all game, the Wolves back battled – using an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 10 with 51/2 left. But Williams proved she had plenty left in the tank, hitting her third triple of the second half to ignite a 9-0 North Thurston run to put the game out of reach.
“She can score,” Harn said of Williams, a 5-foot-7 senior. “I told her if she wasn’t going to shoot the ball she was going to be sitting next to me on the bench. I’m glad she decided to shoot. She lights it up in practice but some times disappears in games. Her confidence is definitely growing which is great to see.”
The Rams turned into the surprise team in this year’s Evergreen Conference by winning 10 games in a row – something no player on this year’s squad had ever come close to experiencing as the program hadn’t had more than a two-game winning streak in the previous four season.
The Rams got off to a cold start in their most recent loss to conference-leading W.F. West, falling behind 30-16 at halftime before suffering a 59-42 loss.
The Rams used an early 8-0 run to grab the lead early against the Wolves (11-6, 4-5).
North Thurston (15-3, 8-2) led after a turnover-plagued first half, 33-26, getting 10 points from Quichocho and nine from Catie Mets.
Mets finished with 11 points.
Sarah McGee scored a team-high 16 points for Black Hills, which also got 15 points from Hope Mortensen and 14 from Nicole Nurmi.
BOYS
North Thurston 61, Black Hills 59 (OT): Ben Broeker scored a career-high 36 points, including all four of his team’s points in the extra session, Landon Rushton added 12, and the Rams inched closer to the EvCo boys title with a victory over the visiting Wolves.
North Thurston (15-4, 8-2) can wrap up the EvCo championship with a road victory over cross-town rival River Ridge on Thursday.
The Rams won the first meeting against the Hawks, 68-51, on Jan. 13 with Rushton and Broeker each scoring 18 points.
Broeker’s play in the paint was the difference against Black Hills on Tuesday as the senior helped the Rams erase a seven-point second-half deficit.
Broeker was 2-for-2 shooting during North Thurston’s first two possessions during overtime.
The Wolves had a chance at the end but failed to get off a shot on their final possession.
Caleb Montelongo paced the Wolves with 20 points, and Tanner Johnson scored 18.
preps.theolympian.com
