PORT ANGELES — Olivia Kuipers’ parting gift was a 3-pointer with five minutes remaining in Mount Vernon Christian’s 45-29 victory over Neah Bay in the first round of the 1B Tri-District girls basketball tournament at Port Angeles High School.
Kuipers, a freshman, fouled out 32 seconds later, but her trey gave the Hurricanes a 10-point lead and quelled a rally by Neah Bay that had suddenly become serious.
“They were really pushing us, and that was a big shot,” Mount Vernon Christian coach Jeff Droog said.
Only a few minutes earlier, it was hard to imagine that the Hurricanes were going to need any kind of fourth-quarter heroics.
The Red Devils trailed 22-6 at halftime. They finally got some offense going after halftime, but despite scoring the final six points of the third quarter, their deficit had grown to 18 points, 34-16, going into the fourth.
“We didn’t run our offense like we should have,” Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley said.
“We couldn’t hit anything. We couldn’t even make a layup.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen us play offensively that bad for three quarters.”
The Red Devils finally found some offensive rhythm in the fourth.
Twelve seconds in, Holly Greene nailed a 3-pointer. Vonte Aguirre followed with consecutive layups off passes from Gina McCaulley and Greene.
Greene made another 3, and then Aguirre was fouled after pulling down an offensive rebound, and made one of two free throws.
Less than three minutes into the period, the Red Devils had cut Mount Vernon Christian’s lead to 34-27. They were on an 11-0 run to start the fourth, and a 17-0 run overall.
“When we were making our comeback, we ran our offense and were getting some layups,” McCaulley said.
Then came Kuipers’ 3-pointer.
Aguirre scored again and was fouled by Kuipers, her fifth foul, to make it 37-29 with 4:28 remaining, but those ended up being Neah Bay’s final points of the contest.
Aguirre’s basket also was the game’s last made field goal.
The Hurricanes didn’t score again until they went 8 of 8 from the line in the final minute.
Neah Bay and Mount Vernon Christian both struggled to put the ball in the hoop throughout Saturday’s game, the teams’ fourth Tri-District meeting in four years.
The Red Devils made 11 of 60 field goals (18 percent), including 4 of 35 from 3-point range, and 3 of 7 field goals. The 29 points scored is their lowest output of the season.
Mount Vernon Christian was 12 for 49 from the field (24 percent) and 6 for 33 from downtown. The Hurricanes did make 15 of 23 at the line, which, as 65 percent, was as close to automatic as there was in Saturday’s game.
“I think it starts on the defensive end,” Droog said of the Hurricanes’ performance.
“Two things: I thought our press got some easy stuff out of it. And then in the halfcourt we just wanted to really make them run through us to run their offense.”
Aguirre finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
“I thought Vonte Aguirre played her butt off,” McCaulley said.
“She had to battle with some big gals in there and really rebounded well. I thought she played really, really good.”
Holly Greene added nine points, and Tristin Johnson had eight points and six rebounds.
Kuipers scored 12 points for Mount Vernon Christian, and senior Grace Kuipers led all scorers with 15 points.
The Hurricanes (15-9) move on to the semifinals where they will face Evergreen Lutheran (15-1).
The eighth-ranked Red Devils (12-5) will now chase the Tri-District’s third or fourth regional berth. They play Rainier Christian (10-9) on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Mount Vernon Christian.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
