The West Fork basketball teams defended their home floor with a pair of wins over their rival Hampton-Dumont-CAL in the Franklin County Coaches v.s. Cancer games on Saturday, as aired on 99 The Wave. The West Fork girls won 48-35 and the Warhawk boys held on 64-58 in overtime.
In the girls game, after a slow start offensively West Fork’s shooting heated up to take a 26-10 lead at the half. With the Warhawks leading 32-22 at the start of the fourth, the Bulldogs rallied back to within a 35-29 deficit midway through the quarter. The Warhawks by attacking the rim build their lead back into double figures to close it out. Head Coach Rodney Huber reflects on the matchup and the team’s opportunity to be a part of the effort.
“Luckily we were able to build a nice lead in the first half and kind of hang on. In the second half, we were a little stagnant on offense, but our defense played really well. Good to get the win. We’re getting better every game and that’s what we like to see,” says Huber. “Every year is very special. It’s a big thing. The community really gets behind it, which is really cool to see. We went out and raised money this last week. Seeing the community support, you go door to door and people are more than willing to give money for a good cause. A pretty neat deal. I’m glad we’re able to do it.”
Zada Huff led the Warhawks with 19 points. MacKenzy Valley led the Bulldogs with 19 points.
In the boys game, after a low scoring first half the Warhawks built up a 52-46 lead with balanced scoring in the fourth. The Bulldogs rallied to within a 53-50 deficit and Hunter Rieken delivered the equalizer with 4.8 seconds left to force overtime. In overtime, the Bulldogs led 58-56 until Ayden Bonner sank a deep go ahead three to put the Warhawks ahead for good. Bonner set the tone for the Warhawks with 21 points.
“It was a big win. Glad that we won. A tough game, we just pulled it through and was having fun at the end,” says Bonner. “Just being confident in myself. People were finding me. I was hot, so they kept on passing me the ball.”
HD-CAL Head Coach Matt Lokenvitz says the Bulldogs made adjustments to battle to the finish.
“It’s a rivalry game, so you never know what’s going to happen. It goes to overtime. The kids battled. They did everything we wanted them to do. We were down three at halftime, not playing real well, not a lot of energy, not doing what we wanted to. In the second half, we came back out and they were playing with better energy,” says Lokenvitz. “They had some kids that were stroking it from the three, so we had to adjust to that. We were battling with those different things. Then we were down three, there at the end. We drew up a play, they executed it perfectly and we got the three in the corner. He hit it, to send us to overtime. They kept their composure. They just did what we needed them to do. It was a good hard fought battle. We just came up a little short at the end.”
Brady Harr and Caden Woods each delivered 19 points apiece for the Bulldogs.
West Fork will travel to Central Springs on Tuesday. Hampton-Dumont-CAL will return to action at Humboldt on Tuesday.
