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Beacon Correspondent
The Ferndale Wildcats varsity boys basketball team has posted a season best four game win streak leading up to tonight's road game at St. Bernards. After suffering a home league loss to the Hoopa Warriors back on the 13th of the month, the Cats have reeled off four straight wins over Potter Valley, South Fork, Eureka and just this past Tuesday evening, the Del Norte Warriors. The Cats have received senior leadership from Travis Rye and Monet Hamor and the rest of the team has stepped up to play their roles as well. As league enters the 2nd go-round, the Cats will look to improve their standing further.
Back on the 17th of the month the Wildcats hosted and beat Division 6 foe Potter Valley by a score of 68-17. A lopsided score for sure but keep in mind these are two schools of similar attendance as both compete in the North Coast Section Division 6 come the post-season. Travis Rye posted a game high 18 points, Monet Hamor added 14 points and 10 of the 11 roster players scored. Up next was a important road game at South Fork against the league rival Cubs.
In a very physical game, it was the host Cubs that got themselves in foul trouble with a very aggressive style of play and the Wildcats came out on top 64-47. Travis Rye was hot in the first half and scored 21 points by half-time and finished with a game high 30. Rye hit a total of five 3-point shots in the game. Monet Hamor tanked an even dozen and the Rye/Hamor combo shot 14 for 21 from the free throw line. Always a tough place to play, the last Ferndale win at South Fork was two years prior.
Ferndale then hosted HDN, non-league rival Eureka this past Saturday and what ensued was just a barn-burner. The game started as a battle of 3-point shots as both sides hit from beyond the arc in a fast paced game. The Cats fared well and led after a quarter by a 16-14 score. The Loggers continued the long range attack in the 2nd period and also tightened the defense on Ferndale's Travis Rye. Eureka took a modest lead for their efforts and increased the advantage to 32-26 as the Cats finished the half on a flat note.
The 3rd quarter saw a renewed energy from the Wildcats and slowly they pulled back to even and the game was destined to go back and forth the rest of the way. Ferndale held a one point lead going into the final period but a 3-ball by Eureka erased that. The game saw five lead changes and three ties in the final quarter alone but Eureka's aggressive play finally got them in foul trouble as two players fouled out inside two minutes to play.
Ferndale finally took the lead for good as they converted their free throws down the stretch and Eureka missed on a couple of shots from three point land. Travis Rye, Chris Catana and Monet Hamor made free throws inside 1:50 to play and the Cats held on for a 61-58 win over the much larger school. Rye finished with 25 points, Hamor followed with 20 points and it was just a quality win for Ferndale. Eureka's Mitchell Hash and Marcus Finney each scored 17 and the Loggers finished hitting twelve 3-point shots. “Two good wins for us, last night was especially important (league win at South Fork), but tonight was just a good job by our guys and a big win for the school,” stated Ferndale head coach Steve Coppini after the victory over Eureka.
Just prior to our deadline, the Cats increased their win streak to four with another win over a big school, this time besting the Del Norte Warriors 55-44 this past Tuesday evening. Wildcat Justin Lang was just on fire and scored all of Ferndale's first quarter points (11) and would finish with a game high of 23 points. Monet Hamor canned a bakers dozen (13) and the Cats shot 14/25 from the free throw line. Del Norte played tough defense and hung around the whole game but the Cats got out and ran just enough for the difference. “That's the way it goes when you play Del Norte, they slow things down and play the tough man to man defense, so we'll just take the win,” said head coach Steve Coppini.
The Ferndale Lady Cats did not have the number of games on the schedule that the boys did however, the Cats also earned a quality league win at South Fork, final score was 44-40. Ferndale trailed throughout the contest but hung around to the end. The Cats led briefly early in the 4th quarter but that didn't last. “The last 13 seconds was the best of the game,” stated Ferndale head coach Kristy Christiansen, “the score was 40-40 and we made four free throws to win it, the girls never lost the energy and attitude the whole game,”
Ferndale's Meagan Earley led the team with 24 points and the Cats move on to host St. Bernards this Friday. In fact the Lady Cats are home three Friday's in a row. This Friday the Cats host “Pink Night” when they host the Crusaders and the girls will be selling pink wrist bands and baked goods to raise money for breast cancer awareness and research. The following weeks will see faculty appreciation night and senior night. Our coverage of junior varsity and freshman teams for Ferndale and Fortuna was cut out of last weeks edition due to room constraints, so we will attempt to make it up to those teams at a later date.
photo captions:
Photo by Mark Lourenzo/Beacon
1. Ferndale senior playmaker Travis Rye slices to the basket against the Eureka defense in last Saturday's HDN matchup in the Cream City. Despite the Logger defense dogging Rye all game long, the Wildcat senior came through with a team high 25 points and Ferndale emerged victorious over Eureka, 61-58.
2. Ferndale's Justin Lang turns a Eureka turnover into a fast break opportunity for the Wildcats in last Saturday's non conference matchup against the Loggers. In a contest that went down to the wire, it was the Wildcats that made the big plays down the stretch and Ferndale hung on for the 61-58 win.
