TACOMA — The Port Angeles girls beat league rival Olympic for the third time this season in the 2A West Central District tournament’s third-place game at Foss High School on Monday.
With the 43-33 win over the Trojans, the Roughriders (17-5) claimed the district’s third seed at regionals, where they will face seventh-ranked Cedarcrest (21-3) at Lynden High School on Friday at 6 p.m.
Port Angeles went into Monday’s game intent on slowing down Olympic League MVP Ashli Payne.
Thanks to the efforts of many players, especially Mariah Frazier, Kylee Jeffers and Macy Walker, the Riders fulfilled accomplished their plan.
“Our goal going into the game was to prevent [Payne] driving to the basket, forcing her to shoot from the outside,” Port Angeles coach Michael Poindexter said.
“Mariah Frazier and Kylee Jeffers did a good job of that throughout the game, forcing Ashli to shoot nearly half her shots from 3-point territory.
“She caused us some problems in transition, but Macy Walker took a charge on one of [Payne’s] drives early in the second half that was very helpful to us in affecting Ashli’s decisions in the rest of the game.”
Payne did score eight of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, but by that time the Riders had put the game out of reach.
She didn’t receive much help from her teammates, as she accounted for all but 14 of the Trojans’ points in the game.
Port Angeles’ defense held Olympic to singe-digit point outputs in each of the first three quarters.
The Riders had eight players combine for 11 steals.
Maddy Hinrichs led Port Angeles’ balanced offensive attack with 11 points, while Frazier and Walker had eight points apiece and Krista Johnson and Shayla Northern finished with six points each.
Bailee Jones grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and Frazier pulled down seven.
Port Angeles is making its third straight regionals appearance.
A win over Cedarcrest on Friday will earn the Riders a spot in the state tournament, while a loss ends their season.
Port Angeles 43, Olympic 33
Port Angeles 7 13 11 12— 43
Olympic 4 8 5 16— 33
Individual scoring
Port Angeles (43)
Hinrichs 11, Frazier 8, Walker 8, Johnson 6, Northern 6, Jones 2, Lee 2, Boe, Millsap, Baxley, Jeffers, Hofer.
Olympic (33)
Payne 19, Hayes 5, Anderson 5, Balzeretti 2, Williams 2.
Mount Vernon Christian 46,
Neah Bay 38
MOUNT VERNON — The Red Devils lost their second consecutive game Monday and now must travel to Wenatchee for regionals.
Neah Bay (14-3) and Pateros (16-3) will play for a spot in the state tournament on Friday at 8 p.m. at Eastmont High School.
“It was a heart-breaker to see how close we were [to winning],” Red Devils coach Nate Tyler said of Monday’s loss in the 1B Tri-District tournament.
“The girls played tough throughout four quarters. [The game] just slowly slipped away.
“Now we just need to regroup and compete against Pateros, and hopefully we’ll punch our ticket to state.”
Neah Bay continued its postseason shooting slump against the Hurricanes (17-9) on Monday, connecting on just 1 of 18 shots from 3-point range.
“We were hitting 3-pointers all year,” Tyler said.
“The shots we’re getting are good shots.”
The Red Devils also suffered from foul trouble, which altered their strategy on both ends of the court.
Cierra Moss was Neah Bay’s high scorer with 16 points. She also had nine rebounds.
Faye Chartraw and Kaela Tyler each contributed seven points and seven and six rebounds, respectively.
Hailey Greene grabbed seven boards and had five steals.
Tyler knows the Red Devils have a tough team standing in between them and Spokane, where the 1B state tournament will be held next weekend.
“Any team from the east side of the mountains is going to play good, disciplined basketball; and that’s on both offense and defense,” he said.
Mount Vernon Christian 46, Neah Bay 38
Mt. Vernon Christian 12 10 16 8— 46
Neah Bay 14 6 9 9— 38
Individual scoring
Mt. Vernon Christian (46)
Sakuma 11, Lervick 4, Case 13, Whitener 5, Kuipers 5, Van Rooyen 6, Weidenbach 2.
Neah Bay (38)
Hailey Greene 3, Holly Greene 3, Tyler 7, Jimmicum, Moss 16, Chartraw 7, Hill 2.
Boys Basketball
Cedar Park Christian 65,
Neah Bay 64
MOUNT VERNON — Austin Schley’s 3-pointer in the last minute rolled in to give Cedar Park Christian-Mountlake Terrace a lead, and the Red Devils couldn’t score on subsequent opportunities, as Neah Bay (16-2) fell just short of winning the 1B Tri-District title at Mount Vernon Christian School on Monday night.
The Red Devils will now play Waterville (17-6) in regionals Saturday at Lynnwood High School in Bothell at 4 p.m.
Both teams were without key players: Neah Bay was missing Tyler McCaulley, who was injured in Thursday’s win over Evergreen Lutheran, and the Lions didn’t have their two leading scorers, Terry Eun and Eric Matson.
Zeke Greene paced the Red Devils with 18 points and had eight rebounds, three steals and three assists.
Sophomore Abraham Venske scored 12 points and grabbed 14 rebounds; freshman Ryan Moss had 13 points and seven rebounds; Josiah Greene finished with 10 points and eight boards; and Leyton Doherty contributed seven points, six rebounds and three assists.
For the Lions (23-2), Wilson Reidt scored a game-high 20 points, while Ben Reidy added 17 and Micah Patterson had 10.
Schley finished with eight points.
The loss was Neah Bay’s first to a fellow 1B team this season and ended a 15-game winning streak.
Cedar Park Christian-Mountlake Terrace 65, Neah Bay 64
Neah Bay 18 10 20 16— 64
Cedar Park Christian 17 14 22 12— 65
Individual scoring
Neah Bay (64)
Halttunen, Venske 12, J. Greene 10, Z. Greene 18, Claplanhoo, Doherty 7, Moss 13, Buttram, Reamer 4.
Cedar Park Christian-Mountlake Terrace (65)
Patterson 10, Reidt 20, Schettler 6, Reidy 17, Schley 8, Wallace 4.