A nip and tuck battle between fierce rivals on eighth grade night at West ended with Forks River escaping with a hard-fought win over the Lady Bulldogs while the boys got a measure of revenge later in the evening as they took down the Forks boys.

The girls fell 34-24 but the game was much closer than the final score would suggest. Tess Barton led the way early, scoring four of her team leading 14 in the first quarter as the Lady Bulldogs led 8-5 coming out of one. However, the wheels came off in the second quarter as a Bryna Pelham bucket was the only thing that kept West from getting shut out in the second. Meanwhile, Forks raced out with 12 points to give them a sizeable lead at the break. Barton was the only Lady Bulldog to score in the third, getting all three buckets for the home team. However, that was enough to close the lead and spur on an early fourth quarter run by the Lady Bulldogs that brought the game to within a bucket.

However, West had no answer for Merissa Spivey who seemed to be everywhere in the fourth, scoring six of her 14 in the final frame to secure the victory for Forks.

The boys actually found themselves down after one, trailing 6-4 as Hunter Cannon and Wesley McCowan accounted for all the first period points. However, the Forks offense went off the rails in the second as the squad could only manage a single three pointer while the Bulldogs were able to ring up 10 in the second. Of that number, half of the points were bucketed from the foul line as Carson Donnell and Brayden Carter both hit a pair from the charity stripe during the second quarter run.

While possessing the advantage coming out of the locker room, the Bulldogs were unable to exploit the advantage as both teams had nine in the third.

The fourth say Brayden Carter start out with a basket from beyond the arc, setting the tone for West’s late run that gave them the 34-30 win. Brayden Carter led the Bulldogs with 10 on the night while Carson Donnell added seven