Not that anyone’s counting, but it took 2,190 days. Or nearly six years.

That was how long it had been since the Seaside girls basketball team had beaten Astoria. Despite the drought, this year’s team believed they could pull off a victory against Astoria.

On Jan. 17, they did.

Behind a complete performance on both ends of the floor, the Seagulls beat the Fishermen, 51-43, to strike the first punch in the Clatsop Clash and to show they could be contenders in a wide-open Cowapa League.

“Our girls knew what they needed to do,” said head coach Marla Olstedt. “It’s been a while since that’s happened. The girls were confident and believed that they could do it.”

Even though her players knew how long it had been since they had defeated their rivals, Olstedt said the plan was to treat the game like any other.

“Every goal we had was nothing different than what every game is,” Olstedt said. “We have to crash the boards, be aggressive. It had nothing to do with an opponent; we took care of what we needed to.”

Seaside (2-0 in league, 7-6 overall) had three players hit double figures in Lili Miller, Carly Corder and Kylie Keranen. Miller led the way with 16 points, Corder had 12 and Keranen had 11.

The key word for Seaside this season, with a junior-heavy squad and a seven-player rotation, has been consistency.

“We are going to celebrate this one for sure, but we have one of the toughest leagues in the state, so it doesn’t get any easier,” Olstedt said.

As for the Fishermen, it was a simple postgame message from head coach Teke Silva.

“They outplayed us tonight, so we give them credit and move on from it,” Silva said.

Astoria (0-1 in league, 4-7 overall) was coming off maybe its best win of the season against The Dalles, but the young team hasn’t yet found game-to-game consistency this season.

One bright point for the Fishermen was the play of sophomore guard Brooklyn Avalon, with 13 points. She joined senior Malory Dundas in double figures. Dundas led the Fishermen with 14 points.

No Palmer, no problem

This has been a season of adversity for the Seaside boys basketball team, head coach Bill Westerholm said.

The team entered the season knowing Austin Palmer would miss the first couple of months as he continued recovering from his torn ACL. Earlier this month, he returned for the start of league play against Scappoose, only to see the Seagulls suffer through their worst shooting game of the season and lose by 20 points. To make matters worse, Palmer suffered a bone bruise on the same knee during practice and will be sidelined another two to four weeks.

But even without Palmer, the Seagulls put together a splendid performance against Astoria on Jan. 17, winning 55-46.

“The message to this group is just keep grinding,” Westerholm said. “Even without Austin we are good enough to beat quality teams. … We had good intensity tonight on the defensive end of the court, we rebounded the ball better than against Scappoose and I’m happy with how we battled.”

Seaside (1-1 in league, 5-8 overall) put together a balanced performance.

Barett Blodgett, Zayden Anderson and Jake White all had success inside with scoring, rebounding and blocked shots, while sophomore Hayden Halsen was the leading scorer with 16 points. Halsen knocked down four three-pointers in the Seagulls victory.

For Astoria, Quin Gohr had one of his best games as a varsity player with 27 points, knocking down long-range shots and also collecting points around the rim. The Fisherman are now 1-1 in league play and 3-9 overall.

Elsewhere

The Knappa boys’ 10-game winning streak ended with a thud Jan. 17 as the Loggers lost 77-33 to No. 2 Portland Christian in a game played at Warner Pacific College.

With the loss, the Loggers fell into a second-place tie with Nestucca in the Northwest League; each team is 4-1 in league play, behind Portland Christian at 5-0. The Loggers are 12-3 overall.

It was easier going Friday for the Knappa girls, who easily handled Portland Christian Jan. 17, posting a 60-19 win. With the win, Knappa remains tied with Nestucca for the Northwest League lead; each team is 5-0 in league. Knappa is 11-4 overall.

The Warrenton boys won their fourth straight game on Jan. 16, with a 60-40 victory over Yamhill-Carlton. The Warriors, with a 3-0 league mark, are tied for the Coastal Range League lead with Neah-Kah-Nie and have a 10-5 overall record.

The Warrenton girls (0-3 in league, 1-11 overall) dropped a Jan. 16 game to Yamhill-Carlton by a 46-27 score.