PORT TOWNSEND — A game against a larger school’s JV team can go either way.
For Port Townsend, a Class 1A school, it went quite well against 3A Bainbridge’s JV girls basketball team on the second day of the Crush in the Slush at Port Townsend High School.
The Redhawks went on a 14-0 run in the second quarter to take the lead and pull away from Bainbridge on their way to a 54-33 victory Tuesday.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Meek was heavily involved in that decisive second-quarter stretch, but Port Townsend also found out it might have more scoring options than expected.
The Redhawks had three double-digit scorers, and Jenna Carson, their top low-post scorer, wasn’t even one of them.
Meek led the way with 22 points, and sophomore Jordyn King and freshman Jaz Apker-Montoya each finished with 10.
Carson, sidelined most of the first half with foul trouble, was held to four points but still impressed coach Scott B. Wilson.
“First time we’ve had three girls in double figures,” Wilson said.
“And we really need that because clearly defenses are going to focus in on Kaitlyn as time goes on, so other people need to step up and score.
“We got some really good inside moves today from Jenna Carson, in particular, and Jordyn was shooting well . . . Jaz was shooting well.
“I saw two or three plays tonight where there were inside passes to a post player, dump off to somebody else, dump off to somebody else who’s wide open under the basket, which is basketball.
“I love seeing that.”
Bainbridge jumped out to an early lead and was up 10-6 after one quarter.
Port Townsend tied it at 12-12, but a basket by Meek was sandwiched by a pair of 3-pointers by Mia Peeples that gave the Spartans a 18-14 lead.
Then came that 14-0 run.
Meek started it with a steal that she took down for a layup. Fruini Rubio did likewise. Then Meek did likewise three more times.
“Well, I noticed that she wasn’t a very good ball handler, so I just watched her eyes to see where she was going and struck at it,” Meek said.
Meek then followed a miss for another two points.
“That’s just kind of the way she’s wired. She’s just kind of go all the time,” Meek said.
King finished the scoring run with one of the many long jumpers she made Tuesday.
The steals were nice, but the Redhawks also played solid man-to-man defense that kept the Spartans’ shooters from getting a lot of open looks.
“Once again, what I thought was especially good was the defense,” Wilson said.
“The entire game we were playing man defense, and they just played it really well.
“We work on good, hard closeouts and a lot of help defense on the backside, and I was really happy with the way they did that.”
The Redhawks the two-day Crush in the Slush with a 1-1 record.
The team they lost to Monday, visiting Australian team the Moulbourne Mystics, went on to claim the girls tournament title by routing Nooksack Valley 78-51 on Tuesday.
Port Townsend (1-0, 3-6) continue league play against Coupeville (1-0, 5-2) next Wednesday at home.
Meek said the young Redhawks, who have won three of their last four games, are starting to get comfortable playing with each other.
“We’re kind of just working as a team, really like knowing what other players are,” she said. “Because we’re a young team so we don’t really know how everyone plays yet, so we’re just really starting to figure that out.”
Port Townsend 54, Bainbridge JV 33
Bainbridge JV 10 9 6 8— 33
Port Townsend 6 22 10 16— 54
Individual scoring
Bainbridge JV (33)
Ketcheside 9, Lassoff 4, Peeples 9, Ditmore 2, Bourmatnov 4, Peato 6, Kossen, Weibel, Powell, Ande, Donnelly.
Port Townsend (54)
Apker-Montoya 10, Olin 3, Rubio 2, Meek 22, Carson 4, King 10, Berkshire 3, Kellogg.
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Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
