YAKIMA — A team hoping for an upset can’t spot a state powerhouse a 20-point lead at any time of a game, let alone the first 12 minutes of play.
But that’s exactly what happened in Port Angeles’ 48-33 loss to the No. 1 seed Lynden Lions on Friday in a Class 2A state tournament loser-out game at the Yakima SunDome.
The Roughriders took 12:11 to score, missing their first 16 shots from the field and first five free throws to trail 20-0 before Madison Cooke put Port Angeles on the board with 3:49 to play in the first half.
Lynden meanwhile, hit 3 of 5 first-quarter 3-point attempts to build the early advantage and sank three more in the second, going up as much as 28-5 before Port Angeles freshman Bailee Larson banked home a triple at the halftime buzzer for a 28-8 lead at the break.
Riders head coach Michael Poindexter didn’t believe fatigue, which set in during the fourth quarter of Thursday’s state quarterfinal loss to White River, was a factor in Port Angeles’ third game in less than 70 hours.
“Our shots weren’t short in the second half,” he said. “Our legs didn’t look tired in that second half, so no, I don’t think that was it.”
“We are young and still evolving in the chemistry of leadership on this team and who is going to step forward [to lead].”
Poindexter thinks his team, which will lose one senior, reserve guard Summer Olsen, from its state tournament roster, has some growing up to do mentally. Senior Aeverie Politika also will be lost to graduation — she missed much of the latter half of the season with a foot injury.
“We talked about zero strategy at halftime,” Poindexter said. “We put one word on the board and just talked about toughness. And what it means to not have selective integrity but to come out hard all the time, to play your best all the time. And you saw it in the second half, Lynden didn’t quit, they didn’t take their best players out. They kept going.
And even with the damage done, Port Angeles competed well with the Lions after the break.
“In the second half we saw our best selves,” Poindexter said. “In the first half we were tentative and I think it was something I think we could feel in the locker room. I’ll just leave it at that.
“Second half we saw kids battling for rebounds, we saw kids running the floor.
I’m going to focus on the second half, it was an awesome way to go out and a good way of building for the future. I’m impressed we got out of it, we could have sunk further.”
Freshmen Bailee Larson and Eve Burke played well for the Riders. Larson had seven points and four rebounds and Burke showed hustle, scoring four points and grabbing six rebounds.
“Bailee and Eve have grown immensely this year,” Poindexter said. “They were not playing like freshmen in Yakima. So impressive.”
Jaida Wood, who harbors hopes of adding top-6 state finishes to the girls basketball banner hanging in the Roughrider gym, struggled at state. But Poindexter made sure to spend a moment with her as the clock wound down in the fourth quarter.
“She struggled, but she cared,” Poindexter said. “She cares about winning. Bottom line. OK, she struggled, she had some travels, she missed some shots. But she cared, she played with passion and I was talking with her about that. ‘You showed up today, you tried. Thanks.’
Wood could be the leader the Riders need to turn to going forward.
“We are going to find out,” Poindexter said. “We hope so. We came here and had a lot of individual conversations and that was one of them. We will find out, that’s what we will spend the offseason trying to figure out. We have a good foundation, but there’s something missing.
“As [assistant] coach [Daniel] Horton said, ‘We just have a lot of growing up to do this summer.’ We have growing up to do as a team. We like the potential we have. You could see that potential in the second half, but that can’t be turned on and off with a switch. It always has to be there and it can’t be a choice.
“It’s showing up as your best self every moment, something we have to grow into doing all the time.”
Poindexter hopes his team can take after North Kitsap, which made a similar trip to state last season. The Vikings lost talented players from that team, but returners, especially Noey Barreith grew tougher as a result of the state run.
“I told the kids we need to be like North Kitsap and build off that year,” Poindexter said.
“The growth that Noey Barreith showed this year was all about lasting three days here last season.
“The nice thing is we have most of our scoring back, most of our great defenders back and our rebounders back and now we can build even more.
“But you can’t take anything for granted and you can’t walk in and feel more talented than another team because you are not. And we don’t talk a lot about talent, but we will be talking about toughness, consistency and unity in the offseason. And everybody is talented [at state]. You get here and do your best. For the most part we did our best.”
Lynden 48, Port Angeles 33
PA 0 8 6 19 — 33
Lynden 13 15 7 13 — 48
Port Angeles (33) — Cooke 9, Larson 7, Long 4, Wood 4, Burke 4, Brady 3, Walker 2, Olsen, Noel, Gedelman, McGoff.
Lynden (48) — Hershey 12, Vanderyacht 11, Doerge 9, VanderHaak 8, L. Tjoelker 5, Villars 3, Holleman, Alexander, Anderson, E. Tjoelker.
Port Angeles’ Madison Cooke shoots during the Roughriders’ state tournament loss to Lynden on Friday at the Yakima SunDome. Mark Krulish/Kitsap News Group
Mark Krulish/Kitsap News Group Port Angeles’ Jaida Wood, left, looks up the court during the Roughriders’ state tournament loss to Lynden on Friday at the Yakima SunDome.
