Lady Mules win four, including first 2 in district

The Wahkiakum Lady Mules basketball team continues its winning ways, beating four more teams this week, including two in the opening rounds of the district tournament.

Last Friday, the Lady Mules traveled to Longview to take on the 2A team from R.A. Long and won 78-48.

"R.A. Long was fun," Coach Rob Garrett said on Tuesday. "We got off to a hot start from the outside, but honestly, I wasn't happy with our defense in the first half. It was a good wake up call for this week though. The second half was much better defensively, and things started clicking. It was actually a great test run for our game against Ilwaco."

Jansi Merz had 21 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks. Paige Mace had 17 points, eight assists, and five steals. Emmie Niemela added 11 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Reigha Niemeyer scored eight points. Courtney Carlson added eight points and five assists. Miya Kerstetter, Kamryn Watkins, and Jordyn Watson had three points apiece. Kimberlee Watkins and Megan Leitz added two points each.

Lady Mules 18 17 17 26 --78

Lumberjills 8 13 17 10 --48

On Monday, in the first round of a single elimination district tournament, the Lady Mules beat Morton/White Pass, 88-23.

"It was a solid game for the team against MWP," Coach Garrett said. "We got solid play out of multiple girls, but there were two who stuck out. Paige had 15 assists. She is currently seeing the floor at a very high level and utilizing her ball handling to open things up for her teammates. The next big highlight was Jansi breaking the 1,000 point barrier with a 26 point display. Overall, it was a fun game and a district win."

Merz scored 26 points. Niemela added 13. Kamryn Watkins had nine points. Niemeyer had eight points. Mace contributed seven points, 15 assists, and six steals. Leitz scored seven points. Kerstetter had six points. Arrow Rose and Alexzandria Watkins added four points apiece. Kimberlee Watkins and Carlson had two points each.

MWP 6 6 4 7 --23

Lady Mules 27 24 22 15 --88

On Tuesday, the Lady Mules moved into the quarterfinals of district with a game against Onalaska. The Lady Mules won easily 77-19.

"Tonight was a little bit of a revenge game," Coach Garrett said. "When we went up to Onalaska earlier this year, they simply out worked us. We made it a point to make sure that wasn't the case tonight. Our defense was constantly flying around, and we attacked the rebounds. Then we looked to push it up the court. The entire team got solid minutes tonight, and it was nice to see the flow stay the same regardless of who was on the floor. It couldn't have been a better team performance for the last home game for this group of seniors."

Merz had 18 points and 15 rebounds. Niemela had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Kerstetter added 12 points. Kamryn Watkins had seven points. Kimberlee Watkins scored six points. Niemeyer had five points. Mace scored five points, and had nine assists. Leitz adde four points. Carlson and Rose added two points each.

Onalaska 4 7 4 4 --19

Lady Mules 34 19 13 11 --77

The Lady Mules faced Ilwaco in the semifinals of the district tournament in Centralia on Wednesday, but the score was not available by press time.