Basketball Game Preview: Lake Quinault Elks vs. Willapa Valley Vikings

The Lake Quinault Elks will take on the Willapa Valley Vikings at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Lake Quinault has a tough task ahead: they'll enter the game with five straight losses, while Willapa Valley will come in with eight straight victories.

Last Tuesday, Lake Quinault had to suffer through a 85-29 loss at the hands of Naselle. While losing is never fun, the Elks can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Washington basketball rankings (they are ranked 363rd, while the Comets are ranked 123rd).

Meanwhile, Willapa Valley earned a 59-48 win over Taholah on Tuesday.

Willapa Valley's win came from a few key players Lake Quinault will need to keep an eye on. One of the most notable was Brody Aust, who almost dropped a double-double on 17 points and nine boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Nathan Fluke, who went 5 of 10 on his way to 11 points and seven boards.

Willapa Valley's victory was their seventh straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-2. As for Lake Quinault, their defeat dropped their record down to 1-8.

Lake Quinault took a serious blow against Willapa Valley in their previous matchup back in December of 2014, falling 77-37. That matchup was all but decided by halftime, at which point Lake Quinault was down 43-14.