CHEHALIS — Forks controlled the second half to shake loose of Toledo 50-31 in a winner-to-state District IV girls basketball tournament contest and seal a return to the Class 2B state tournament.
“We knew coming in that we had to worry about ourselves and get active defensively and in how we rebounded the ball,” coach David Hurn said.
“We did well in the first half to limit Toledo to one-shot opportunities, Avery Dilley and Bailey Johnson were good on the boards. We were just playing with maybe a little too much addrenaline and emotion because it was a loser-out game.”
Spartans seniors Keira Johnson and Janessa Ramos sparked Forks in the third quarter.
“They got us back to playing our style, we want to play fast and uptempo,” Hurn said.
Keira Johnson scored 18 of her game-high 29 points in the second half.
“I think she had four straight trips down the floor that produced nine points in about 2 minutes,” Hurn said.
Forks celebrated its return trip to state in the locker room before jumping on “a long bus ride home,” Hurn said.
“It’s a grinding tournament. We played five road games and all of them are 3-hour plus road trips.”
Forks (19-7) will now await its state regional round opponent. The Spartans sit No. 9 in the state RPI, but Hurn is hoping his team’s resume keeps them in the top-12.
“We played 19 of our 26 games on the road this season and we’ve only lost to teams that are going to state: Neah Bay, Port Angeles, Mount Vernon Christian — so hopefully we get rewarded and not penalized.”
Forks 50, Toledo 31
Toledo 8 7 8 8 — 31
Forks 10 10 17 13 —
Forks K. Johnson 29, B. Johnson 9, Ramos 6, Dilley 4, Daniels 2.
