SEATTLE — Rilke Rutenbeck’s kept the Redskins season alive for the second straight game, this time canning a banked-in, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send Port Townsend to the double-elimination portion of the 1A Tri-District tournament.
Rutenbeck also scored the final three points in Port Townsend’s 33-30 victory over Charles Wright on Saturday.
“In 20 years of coaching I’ve never ever seen anything like that happen,” Redskins coach Randy Maag said of Tuesday night’s game.
“It was the greatest game-winning shot I’ve ever seen in person.”
The Redskins held the lead for 31 of the game’s 32 minutes, with Seattle Academy going on top with 59 seconds to play after Port Townsend went ice cold from the floor after being up 24-12 at halftime.
Down 30-28, the Redskins were forced to foul to extend the contest.
The Cardinals missed two 1-and-1 attempts from the free-throw line, and after the second attempt the ball was knocked out of bounds off of Seattle Academy with 4.3 seconds to play.
Port Townsend inbounded the ball at 3/4-court to Anne Meek who took two dribbles and found Rutenbeck open about 5 feet behind the 3-point line beside the Redskins bench.
“Rilke took one dribble and shot it and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I think it’s going in.’ And sure enough, it banked in off the glass,” Maag said.
“The buzzer sounded mid-shot.”
Rutenbeck and Jewel Johnson each led Port Townsend with nine points.
Jayde Richardson and Trisha Reeves scored four and senior Gen Polizzi scored her first varsity basket for the Redskins (11-11).
Port Townsend will face a tough task against No. 6 Kings (17-4) today at 4:30 p.m. at Lynnwood High School.
The winner will automatically receive the fourth-place seed into a 1A regional, while the loser will play the loser of today’s Blaine-Eatonville game for the Tri-District’s sixth seed at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Port Townsend 31, Seattle Academy 30
Port Townsend 10 14 2 5— 31
Seattle Academy 8 4 9 9— 30
Individual scoring
Port Townsend (31)
Rutenbeck 9, Johnson 9, Richardson 4, Reeves 4, Olin 2, Polizzi 2, Meek 1.
Seattle Academy (30)
Stitzel 10, True 9, Goh 4, Smith-Simmons 5, Sweeney 2.
