YAKIMA — The 262-mile drive between Port Angeles and the Palm Springs of Washington is a long way to go just to play one basketball game. Even if it is the state tournament.
Both Port Angeles boys and girls basketball teams face the prospect of a quick turnaround for home if they can’t get past loser-out contests today at the Class 2A state basketball tournaments at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
The No. 6 Roughrider girls have the honors of opening up the dome this morning, playing the traditional 9 a.m. “Egg McMuffin” matchup with No. 11 Prosser (18-6).
“Prosser is good,” Port Angeles coach Michael Poindexter said. “They have a 6-foot post Halle Wright, who could be the league MVP. She’ll be a tough matchup for us inside.”
Wright led the Central Washington Athletic League in points per game this season, averaging 18.56 points, with a season-high of 30.
The Mustangs got to the line more than any other CWAC team, and Wright was a big part of that, knocking down an average of 5.56 freebies per game.
Port Angeles also will have to be mindful of Prosser’s best 3-point shooter, Malia Cortes, who averages about 2.5 triples a game.
If the Riders can advance past the Mustangs, Port Angeles will play at least two more contests at state, including a 9 a.m. Thursday game against No. 5 Archbishop Murphy.
It appeared all season long that No. 1-seed Tumwater (22-1) and No. 2 Ellensburg (23-0) were on a trajectory to meet in the state finals. But that was before Tumwater’s 52-47 upset loss to No. 8 Burlington-Edison at regionals.
Now the T-Birds will have to fight through the elimination round against a tough West Valley (20-2) team to earn a quarterfinal matchup with the unbeaten Ellensburg squad.
Boys’ task
The task looks a little lighter for the No. 7 Port Angeles boys (18-6), a rematch of the first round of the district playoffs with No. 10 Franklin Pierce tonight at 5:30 p.m., a team the Riders controlled in a 68-51 victory last month.
Port Angeles coach Kasey Ulin wasn’t particularly pleased how the Riders finished that game out, as Port Angeles allowed the Cardinals to turn a potential blowout into a closer-than-it appeared score line.
Depth will be an issue for a Riders’ team that must win four straight games to take home a title.
A quarterfinal matchup Thursday with the Riders’ Olympic League co-champion No. 1 North Kitsap (22-3) awaits the winner.
“That’s how North Kitsap won it in 2020,” Ulin said. “They were upset by Tumwater at the regional and won four straight to win it.”
North Kitsap has the most talented team at state, and the Vikings should be considered the prohibitive favorite to win it all and repeat as state champions.
But Port Angeles just gives them fits inside and out as the size of 6-foot-9 John Vaara and 6-foot-5 Wyatt Dunning have done damage in the two previous matchups this season.
Talent is spread out in the 2A ranks with Pullman (20-2), White River (19-3), a senior-dominated RA Long (19-2) all in the mix for the gold ball.
