The highly-regarded White River Hornets withstood a serious challenge Friday night at Auburn Mountainview, escaping with a 44-43 victory.

The win pushed the Hornets’ record to 3-0 in South Puget Sound League 3A play and 4-0 overall.

“We really weathered some foul trouble and missed a lot of easy shots,” Hornet coach Chris Gibson said of Friday’s narrow win. His team hit 17 of 68 shots from the field, a cool 25 percent success rate. The Hornets also missed some crucial free throws down the stretch that would have made the final moments less dramatic; that might have come as a surprise since, during the team’s first three games, free throws were being made at an 80 percent clip.

Trailing 22-19 at halftime, the Hornets tied the score with a 13-10 advantage in the third period that featured an offensive explosion by White River junior Brooke Paulson. She scored a dozen points in eight minutes to help the Hornets pull even.

White River built its lead to 44-38 when Paulson buried a pair of free throws with 2 minutes, 30 seconds remaining, then held on tight. The Lions scored the game’s final five points but the Hornets left the floor with the win.

Paulson finished with a game-high 22 points, half the team’s total. Through four games, she was averaging 19 per outing.

White River’s contest earlier in the week wasn’t nearly as dramatic. Gibson was looking for ways to keep things from getting even more out of hand as his girls raced to a 32-2 advantage and, by the end of the third quarter, a 46-9 lead.

Paulson scored 18 points and Cassidy France added 10.

White River was looking for its fourth SPSL 3A victory Tuesday night when the Lakes Lancers visited; results came too late for this issue but will be posted at www.courierherald.com. At 7 p.m. Thursday the Hornets travel to Franklin Pierce.