The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Paige Mace

If you are looking for Paige Mace, she'll be in one of two places: the gym or the woods near her home.

Paige picked up a basketball the first year she could, and has been stealing, looking for the assist, and driving fearlessly to the basket ever since.

"I play basketball for 12 out of 12 months a year," she said, when asked about other sports or hobbies.

As an eighth grader, Mace got called up to the Mule varsity team. She counts herself lucky to have played with Peyton Souvenir, who graduated in 2017 and now stars with Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho.

"I remember going to state with Peyton," she said. "She pushed me to get where I am, to be the starting point guard and the girl to watch. Getting to be on the state floor with her was an amazing experience."

It's been hard this year without her usual winter season, but Paige hasn't lost any time, playing for an AAU team and traveling to Indiana, Arizona, and Idaho for tournaments.

She's also committed to play for Lower Columbia College for the next two years, with plans to get a degree in business administration.

To be sure, if she's not in the gym, she's out in the woods.

"I spend pretty much all day outside," Paige said. "I live in the woods. I ride my dirt bike a lot and explore."

She's an experienced hunter.

"My whole entire family hunts," Paige said. "My dad got me into it when I was little. I'd go out all the time when he was supposed to watch me. I loved it. I loved shooting guns. When I finally got old enough, I took my test, and started killing stuff every year and never stopped."

Even when it's not hunting season, Paige is out in the woods, watching.

"It's fun to see the animals' lifestyles," she said. "You can go out and watch them whenever you want. Right now I'm watching a forked horn. I have three different bulls spotted that I watch every night."

In the last five years, Paige estimates that she has bagged six deer and two elk. Some day she hopes to add bear, cougar, and bobcat to her list.

"I should have got a bobcat a few years back on Christmas Day, but I let my sister shoot it instead," Paige said. "I was nice back then."

Paige is the daughter of Ty and Amber Mace.