High school sports roundup for Tuesday, Dec. 20

Top performer: Jeremy Spencer, North Thurston; Daniel Gregory, Emerald Ridge — Spencer scored 31 points in 87-78 win over Lakes and Gregory scored 31 in 71-69 win over Curtis.

North Thurston 87, Lakes 78: The Rams’ Jeremy Spencer was the leading scorer in their game against the Lancers on Tuesday.

Spencer, knocking down 31 points on the night, put up a performance akin to North Thurston’s leading scorer Clay Christian.

“Jeremy (Spencer) did a great job scoring for us tonight, getting the game high,” said Rams coach Tim Brown. “Even though Christian put up a modest 17 points tonight, we had a very well balanced game where almost everyone scored.”

The Rams also stepped up their game in the second half by playing better defense thorough patience and a determination to stop the Lancers on every possession.

Lincoln 65, St. Joseph (Calif.) 58: The Abes continued their California road trip with another win, this time taking on St. Joseph.

Le’Zjon Bonds again had his hand in the top scores for Lincoln as he led his team with 15 points. Helping out was Trevante Anderson, dropping 14 points on the night.

White River 58, Fife 52: Alex Wallen and Cameron Cawley were half of the Hornet offense in their win over the Trojans. Wallen and Cawley combined for 29 points, with the former going for 15.

River Ridge 80, Eatonville 71 (OT): De Nero Washington was the hero for the Hawks as his fresh legs in the fourth quarter and overtime made the difference.

Scoring all 12 of his points in the span of the fourth quarter and OT, Washington provided that spark of energy River Ridge needed to pull away in the extra period.

Jordan Skipper-Brown played hard through the entire game as well, leading the Hawks with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Mount Rainier Lutheran 62, Northwest Yeshiva 54: The Hawks broke a five year losing streak to the 613s in what turned out to be Cruz Stiddham’s finest game.

Stiddham sank six 3-point shots, and did not miss a single free throw to come away with a career high 22 points on the night.

Highline 67, Clover Park 63: Davien Harris-Williams put up a game-high 25 points on the night, but that was not enough for the Warriors to overcome the Pirates.

Evergreen 56, Franklin Pierce 53: The Cardinals cut it close but fell short to the Wolverines behind Dekari Boyd’s 18 points. However, Ishmael Muhammad’s 27 points was enough to grab the road win.

Top performer: Emma Duff, Black Hills — scored 22 points in 48-46 win over Skyview, including the game-winning layup.

Black Hills 48, Skyview 46: With the Wolves down by one point and 16 seconds left in the game, Emma Duff took over.

Stealing the ball from her opponent, Duff took the ball and laid it in to go ahead by one point while getting fouled in the process. One swift free throw later, Duff put the Wolves up for good.

“Skyview didn’t have a matchup for Emma,” said coach Tanya Greenfield. “She can handle the ball, post up and shoot well. We worked hard and we found a way to win over a 4A team.”

Black Hills was able to apply pressure on the Storm to keep them at bay for most of the game, including forcing a missed last shot and grabbing the loose rebound to end the game.

Curtis 54, Emerald Ridge 44: Samantha McGinty and Mikayla Schwing combined for 32 points on the night, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Vikings.

Jalaiya Frederick led Curtis with 14 points on the night, benefiting from the movement of the ball and trying to get open looks on offense.

“We buckled down defensively in the second quarter,” said coach Jackie Thomas. “We got steals from our defense to get something going.”

And that something was 32-19 halftime lead of which the Vikings never looked back.

River Ridge 49, Eatonville 48: Even though she didn’t score the most points, Maddie Retzlaff arguably had the most important point scored at the end of the game.

After getting a stop with around 11 seconds left with the score tied, Retzlaff drew a foul to go to the line for a free throw. Once that basket went through, the Hawks never looked back.

Leading River Ridge in scoring was Caitlin Yenne, putting up 18 points on the night.

Steilacoom 40, Orting 38: The Sentinels were able to spread the wealth as no player scored more than 10 points, but five players scored at least six points. Leah Clardy led with nine points.

Rogers 39, Olympia 34: Jessi Westering proved to be too much for the Bears to handle as she was able to score 22 points in the Rams victory. None of her teammates scored more than six.

Highline 39, Clover Park 30: The Pirates’ explosive 18-9 fourth quarter helped them take the win over the Warriors. Britney Kinney’s 22 points were also a factor.

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 11:26 PM with the headline "High school sports roundup for Tuesday, Dec. 20."