By Scott D. Johnston

Senior Hannah Avery’s only basket of the game came at the most opportune moment, in the waning seconds with the North Beach Lady Hyaks trailing 32-34. In overtime, they opened a 5-point lead and held on to beat the Toutle Lake Ducks 42-40 in first round district playoff action Wednesday night at the North Beach “House of Pain” gym.

“Defense wins games,” North Beach assistant coach Jessica Preisinger said, of the bruising battle that saw the Lady Hyaks trailing 15-11 at halftime of the Southwest District 4 2B Tournament matchup. Avery showed the way in that phase of the game, collecting 14 rebounds, all defensive.

Helen Garman led an 8-2 run as North Beach took the lead early in the third quarter. The 6’-1” senior finished with a game high 18 points on 8 of 16 shooting, to go with 9 rebounds.

The Ducks battled back to lead by as much as 7 midway through the fourth before senior Riley Moore’s 3-pointer closed the gap to 4. Moore finished with 9 points. Junior Mariah Vogler added 6 points and 12 rebounds.

“Resilience,” is how Lady Hyaks coach Larry Moore summed up the game. “We just kept battling… we never quit.”

The Lady Hyaks travel to Montesano Saturday for a 4 p.m. neutral court, second round game against Wahkiakum, undefeated champion of the Central 2B league. The winner advances to the district semi-final round at Tumwater on Tuesday, Feb. 14, at 6:30 p.m.

The loser will play again in Montesano at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, against the winner of the Friday, Feb. 9 game between first round losers Northwest Christian and Mossyrock. A total of six teams from the Southwest District 4 2B tournament will advance to the regional round, February 24-25 in Spokane.