Grays Harbor Newspaper Group

A third-quarter cold spell cost Montesano as Lynden defeated the Bulldogs 49-44 in the Lynden Cloud Nine Christmas Classic on Wednesday, Dec. 28, at Lynden.

The Bulldogs (8-2) led by one at halftime, but came out of the locker room cold, not scoring for almost five minutes as Lynden ran out to a 9-point lead. Monte worked back to a 4-point deficit, but couldn’t overcome the lack of offense in the third quarter.

“It was definitely a battle,” Montesano coach Julie Graves said. “The first half was just back and forth. The beginning of the third quarter, they scored 11 straight points, we didn’t score for the first five minutes of the first quarter. They hit four of their 10 three pointers in the third quarter. They are a very good basketball team and it was a good basketball game all around except for those five minutes there.”

Montesano was led by 25 points and 10 rebounds from Jordan Spradlin. Cheyann Bartlett added seven points, while Josie Talley and Shayla Floch each pulled down seven rebounds. Floch, Spradlin and Josie Toyra each had three assists.

The loss followed a win by Montesano the previous night, on Dec. 27.

A little sharpshooting and a defensive switch helped Montesano take down Bellevue Christian during the Lynden Cloud Nine Christmas Classic, 50-40.

The Bulldogs stumbled out of the gate, committing seven turnovers in the first quarter, but pulled it together in the second quarter as senior Toyra hit three 3-pointers. The spark carried through the rest of the game. In the fourth quarter, Bellevue Christian closed to within four points, but Toyra, Floch and Bartlett each hit 3-pointers to push the Bulldogs to victory.

“The first quarter was a little sloppy,” Graves said. “We had seven turnovers to go with seven points and we gave up seven offensive rebounds. In the second quarter, Josie Toyra hit three 3-pointers and that got us going. In the second half, we mixed up our defense and only gave up three offensive rebounds. We cut down our turnovers and did a better job of blocking out.”

Montesano was led by 17 points and 15 rebounds from Spradlin, while Toyra finished with 12 points. Floch and Talley each added three assists, while Graves cited Lexi Lovell for her play off the bench.

Montesano is off until they host Tenino on Jan. 6.

Montesano 12 13 6 13 — 44 Lynden 13 11 16 9 — 49

Montesano (44) — Bartlett 7, Talley 4, Toyra 5, Floch 3, Spradlin 25, Quinn, Lovell. FG — 17-46. FT — 8-13.

Lynden (49) — Neria 15, Dut 2, Smith 8, Hershey 2, Kooiman 11, VanderHaak 3, Amos 8, Zwiers, Gonzalez. FG — 18-53. FT — 3-7.

MONTESANO 7 16 10 17 — 50 Bellevue CHRISTIAN 8 10 9 13 — 40

Montesano (50) — Bartlett 7, Lovell 6, Talley 2, Toyra 12, Floch 6, Spradlin 17, Quinn. FG — 17-40. FT — 10-16.

Bellevue Christian (40) — Dugoni 11, Berg 9, McQuaid 2, Bloch 8, VandenBrink 8, Olson 2, Boscolo. FG — 15-56. FT — 7-11.