BY GERARDO BOLONG

Contributing Writer

TUKWILA - It was a game that took both teams on a trip to the edge of winning.

No.7 seed Foster barely held off the charge of No. 10 seed River Ridge (Lacey), 45-42, in  a first round game of the 2018 West Central District girls basketball tournament at Foster High School on Wed., Feb. 7.

Emolani Morris was fouled on a rebound before being fouled with 3:02 left in the fourth quarter. After she swished home two free throws, the Bulldogs held a strong 43-36 lead.

Refusing to fold their tent, the Hawks kept chipping and chipping away the margin because Foster was having problems running out the clock, scoring and taking care of the ball.

Caitlyn Yenne's running lay up brought the Hawks within 43-42 as 18.2 seconds showed.

After missing the front end of a one-and-one free throw situation before Yenne's basket, Makana Montoya was back on the line for Foster with 12 seconds to go and missed the first try, again before the Bulldogs inbounded two seconds later.

With 8.8 seconds appearing, Montoya was fouled again, but drained the first free throw. Montoya rimmed off the second try but was given a reprieve on a River Ridge lane violation.

She redeemed herself with a conversion ahead of Yenne's long 3-try that skimmed the rim at the 5.1 seconds mark. In the struggle for the rebound, the clock ran out on River Ridge at Coach Parker Court.

"I was mostly mad at myself for not making the other free throws," said point guard Montoya, who accounted for 13 points and was an instrumental part of the demonstrative defense that brought the Bulldogs the victory. "The team pulled together and I was glad to get another chance (at the free throw line)."

Foster (14-6) moved on to a Feb. 9 challenge against No. 2-seeded Port Angeles of the Olympic League at Port Angeles High School in a 7 p.m. game. River Ridge (10-12) prepared for a Feb.13 loser-out game against Kingston at Bellarmine Prep in a 7:45 p.m. tip off.

"The girls felt a little bit of pressure and missed shots that they normally make," said Bulldog head coach Eric Smith. "For us, it's always the defense. I'm glad we're moving on."

The Wednesday night match up featured a near breakneck pace from the start and easy access to the basket in evenly fought action.

As the game wore on, the players eventually started tiring and missed close in shots or settled for longer range attempts.

Foster broke away briefly from the closely fought encounters to lead 26-19 on Amerie Pastore's 3-ball with 24.5 seconds until halftime, but Yenne's buzzer-beating 3-pointer trimmed the River Ridge deficit to 26-22 at the half,

With a nearly packed gym in observance, the ball hawking defense forged a 38-29 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Foster forced many River Ridge one-shot offensive possessions and kept the Hawks grounded despite absolutely horrendous free throw shooting until the 43-36 lead that served as the prelude to home stretch freneticness.

Foster's 13-of-20 at the free throw line and River Ridge's 7-of-15 showed how problematic the charity tosses were and mirrored the icy cold field goal shooting.

Pastores accumulated nine points for the Hawks while Moesha Maiava and Precious Serafica each scored eight points for the Bulldogs. Morris added three points while being a key rebounder. Julianna Dempsey had good court time and banked home a basket for her two points. Diyhani Frazier had an important two points.

Yenne's was a major force for River Ridge at 19 points. Madeline Retzlaff notched seven followed by the six of Cassidy Sroor. Meilani Wilson put in four points  as Avondale Divinity and Margaret Zella earned three points each.