Astoria High School girls basketball finally broke into the win column Saturday afternoon after dropping their first three games.

After their comeback fell short against Cascade on Friday, the Fishermen took advantage of the friendly confines of the Brick House on Saturday. Behind suffocating defense and efficient offense, the Fishermen throttled North Marion, 63-31.

Saturday’s performance looked familiar to fans as the Fishermen have made a habit of winning games by big margins over the past few seasons. Though the Fishermen have just one playing senior on the roster, the girls are talented and making strides each game.

The Fishermen got out to a 21-8 start and cruised home the rest of the way. Senior Mallory Dundas led the scoring with 20 points, while sophomore Roberta Chavez and freshman point guard Kyah Gohr joined her in double figures with 12 and 11.

Astoria boys lose to North Marion

Though the Astoria boys basketball got off to a good start against North Marion in the nightcap Saturday, they were not able to sustain it as they fell 84-53 to the Huskies. With the loss, the Fishermen dropped to 0-5 on the early season.

With just three returning players from last year’s roster, the Fishermen are going through a lot of growing pains. The boys showed flashes of good play on Saturday, but weren’t able to sustain it for longer than a couple of minutes at a time.

Mulu Starr-Hollow and Quin Gohr each scored 17 points to lead the way for Astoria .

Seaside boys winless in Junction City

Seaside boys basketball dropped their first two games of the season in Junction City over the weekend.

The Seagulls were blown out by up and coming Newport on Friday night, 74-37, then fell to Junction City 68-54 on Saturday. These results will give head coach Bill Westerholm and his staff the early season starting points for a Seagulls team that is incorporating a number of new players into their rotation.

Seaside girls finish tournament on high note

Seaside girls basketball finished up their second difficult early-season tournament in as many weekends.

After losing 61-29 to Stayton on Friday, the girls finished off the Les Schwab December Classic with a 67-37 victory over Newport. With the victory, Seaside is now 2-3.

Warrenton splits against Willamina

Warrenton boys basketball put their loss to Oregon Episcopal behind them quickly as they rebounded with authority on Friday night.

The Warriors blitzed Willamina, 76-29, improving their record to 3-1.

Though the Warrenton girls showed improvement on the defensive side of the ball, they still fell to Willamina 37-29.

Friday was a good step for the Warriors as they lost by less than 10 points for the first time. Also 37 points was the least amount of points they’ve given up, with the previous high being 44 against Clatskanie.

Cardiac wins for Knappa

Knappa basketball notched two cardiac wins against Santiam on Friday evening.

The girls won a 39-36 defensive battle to stay unbeaten, while the boys picked up a quality road victory, 63-62, to improve their record to 3-2.