Lady Mules find shooting touch to win at Kalama

The Wahkiakum Lady Mules outscored the Kalama Chinooks 12-4 in the fourth quarter to earn a 53-45 basketball victory on Monday in Kalama.

The Mules led 29-22 at halftime. Kalama led 42-41 at the end of three quarters.

Blaine Land and Brieanna Olsen scored 14 points apiece to lead the Mules. Haylee Budd had seven, Ellie Crouse six, Maya Stanley five, Rachel Patching three and Marissa Washington two.

The Mules opened the season with a 46-28 loss to the Naselle Comettes last Thursday in Naselle. They trailed 24-21 at halftime, and the Comettes outscored them 22-7 in the second half.

"It was a shaky first game," said Mule Coach Tiffany Niemeyer. "The girls worked hard on defense and had some really good team blocking out.

"It is hard to win a game when you have 37 turnovers and only shoot 21 percent from the field and 20 percent from the line. We definitely have room for improvement, but we are young and the girls are working hard, and we will get better."

Olsen led the Mule scoring with 12 points. Brianne Helms had four, Budd and Land three each, and Crouse, Stanley and Patching two each. Land had 13 rebounds, Budd seven and Helms six.

Carley Kitzman led the Comette scoring with 21 points. Nicole Tarabochia and Makenzie Matthews each had six, Haleigh See five, Taylor Wasmundt four, and Katie Green and Ciara Sandell two each.

On Saturday, the Mules lost 46-20 to visiting Warrenton. The Warriors led 21-11 at halftime and held the Mule offense to nine points in the second half.

"We had a cold offensive night," Niemeyer said. "Defensively, the girls are improving. They had several 30-second clock violations on the other team, which shows that the defense was doing their job. We continue to work hard on blocking out and out rebounded Warrenton 40-29, which is great, considering they had a 6' post player."

Helms, Land and Olsen each had four points for the Mules. Patching and Crouse each had three, and Stanley and Budd had two apiece.

Budd had eight rebounds; Land and Helms each had six, and Patching and Olsen five. Olsen made three steals.