PORT ANGELES — A marvel of consistency in all aspects of her game, Port Angeles senior Eve Burke was the driving engine that kept the Roughriders rolling all the way to the Class 2A girls basketball state tournament.
Burke wrapped her high school career with 1,215 points, the top scorer since all-around points leader Jessica Madison was draining 3s.
Her play in transition defensively allowed her to turn into a human layup line at times, while her abilities to maneuver and finish inside offensively and rebound on both ends of the floor as an undersized 5-foot-7 post were unmatched Peninsula-wide.
Burke posted per-game averages of 20 points, nine rebounds and 4.5 steals to earn first-team All-Olympic League honors while guiding Port Angeles to a return to the Class 2A state tournament. Her play all season long and her work battling Prosser post Halle Wright at state earned her a spot on the Class 2A All-State Team as selected by the Washington State Girls Basketball Coaches Association.
She’s also the All-Peninsula Girls Basketball MVP as selected by the sports staff of the Peninsula Daily News.
“It was the kind of thing where her scoring and defense is so consistent, she’s never up or down,” Roughriders head coach Michael Poindexter said.
A varsity starter since her freshman season, Burke had been a productive member of league and district championship teams while playing alongside stars such as Millie Long, now at Peninsula College, and Jaida Wood, who played solid minutes as a freshman at Pacific Lutheran.
This season, it was her time to shine.
“I just wanted to push myself and do what I do best — get rebounds and score for the team,” Burke said. “Losing Millie and Jaida were big losses for us, and I knew I had to step up.”
Offensively, Burke’s speed, timing and knack for knowing where to be on the floor aided her scoring.
“Her sense of timing on cuts and her ability to finish, particularly at 5-7 against taller posts, is extraordinary,” Poindexter said. “Her offensive rebounding ability at her height — she’s strong, jumps well, but it’s her mental/emotional/physical toughness that stands out.”
A player running through sets to get to spots to get her shots off needs some assistance as well.
“Credit her teammates for getting her the ball, particularly Bailee [Larson] and Anna [Petty],” Poindexter said.
Burke agreed.
“Bailee and Anna 100 percent were a big part of that,” Burke said. “They had a huge impact, especially when I’m running the floor in transition, they saw me or cutting to the hoop.”
As for her ability to hold her own against bigger, taller players such as when Burke went for 24 points and 12 rebounds against Lake Stevens’ Eastern Washington-bound 6-2 and 6-4 posts, Burke said it’s second nature by now.
“I’ve always had to, even since AAU [basketball as a kid],” Burke said. “I also got stronger from playing that role. I knew I had to do it, since I’ve been playing it for years and we didn’t have a lot of options [in the frontcourt] because those players were younger.”
Burke praised the team’s chemistry this season and said her play was inspired by her squad.
“I did it for my team,” she said. “To get wins and to get as far as we could this season for my teammates.”
Burke said the most special moment of the season involved cutting down the nets.
“Our district championship game [against White River] was my favorite because we fought so hard and wanted it so badly,” Burke said. “They had a really aggressive defense and it was a tough game.”
Burke has narrowed down her list of college choices, with one leader, a school in the same NCAA Division III conference as Wood and PLU.
“I think they will put her at the three spot, a wing who can go in and rebound and play against taller perimeter players,” Poindexter said. “She looked for inside baskets and made them at such a prolific rate that she didn’t look for the 3-point shot very often. And she can shoot it, so the biggest leap she can make is she will become an outside scoring threat and find comfort in repetition.”
2021-22 All-Peninsula Girls Basketball Team
• MVP: Eve Burke, sr., Port Angeles: Undersized post accounted for about 33 percent of Roughriders’ scoring, rebounding and steal production. First-team All-Olympic League, All-State selection.
• Allie Greene, jr., Neah Bay: North Olympic League MVP had a terrific postseason, guiding Red Devils to second-place finish at Class 1B state tournament.
• Jolene Vaara, soph., Sequim: Versatile forward has ball-handling and finishing skills of a guard, plays passing lanes like a football cornerback and rebounds and blocks shots aggressively down low.
• Anna Petty, jr., Port Angeles: Riders’ most persistent and aggressive player came on offensively this season and earned second-team All-Olympic League honors.
• Bailee Larson, sr., Port Angeles: Point guard/defensive dynamo kept the pressure on opposing ball handlers and developed an added toughness inside.
• Jelissa Julmist, jr., Sequim: Wolves’ leading scorer and rebounder was well on her way to all-league honors when she suffered a season-ending knee injury.
• Keira Johnson, soph., Forks: Leader of Spartans’ run-and-gun offense was a first-team All-Pacific League pick.
• Kadie Wood, jr., Forks: Spartans’ point guard was valuable all season, but stepped up in a big way when Johnson went down with an injury late in regular season and earned first-team All-Pacific League honors.
• Kyra Neel, jr., Forks: Spartans’ forward provided toughness, rebounding and scoring on her way to honorable mention All-Pacific League.
• Oceanna Aguirre, sr., Neah Bay: Red Devils lone senior controlled the post and earned first-team All-North Olympic League honors.
• Alyssa Vandenberg, jr., East Jefferson: Rivals’ leading scorer and rebounder earned second-team All-Nisqually League honors.
• Kaylen Mason, jr., Crescent: Loggers’ MVP earned second-team All-North Olympic League honors after leading turnaround from 1-9 record in 2021 to 9-6 in 2021-22.
• Coaching Staff of the Year: Tina Brown, Neah Bay: Guided Red Devils to Class 1B state championship game and a second-place finish, best in Neah Bay history.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Port Angeles’ Eve Burke, center, looks for the hoop while defended by Bainbridge’s Caroline Payne, left, and Macy Kingrey in December 2021 in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
