CHIMACUM — A motivated Chimacum girls basketball team earned bragging rights on senior night, the Janelle Perillo Memorial Trophy and most importantly a playoff berth with a 53-46 win over rival Port Townsend.
“We have girls like Kiersten [Snyder] who have never had a chance to hold this trophy,” Cowboys coach Trevor Huntingford said after Monday’s game.
“And she really wanted the opportunity to say they earned that.
“They also wanted to prove it wasn’t predetermined who got that last playoff spot, no matter how we get there, as long as we get there.”
With the win, Chimacum (3-6, 4-15) advances as the Olympic League 1A Division’s third seed to the postseason.
They will play a loser-out district play-in game at the Nisqually League No. 2 seed, either Bellevue Christian or Seattle Christian, at 7 p.m. Friday.
With the visiting crowd riled up after the Redhawks boys upset the Cowboys in the opener of Monday’s doubleheader, Chimacum quieted the away fans by forcing 12 Port Townsend turnovers and building a 15-10 lead after one quarter.
The turnovers were an all-game problem for the Redhawks, who ended up coughing up the ball 32 times to the Cowboys’ 22 giveaways.
“I’ve never seen so many turnovers in my life,” Port Townsend coach Jeanne King said.
“I couldn’t get our guards to enter the ball offensively. They were trapped at the high post and couldn’t find the weakside for open baskets.”
Huntingford liked the aggressive way his team opened the game.
“I think we came out of the chute and were fired up,”Huntingford said.
“There’s a little background to it right now. There was some stuff said and there was a little whooping and hollering about who’s house it was before the game, so I think that got us a little extra charged up. They could hear that.”
Snyder was big for the Cowboys early, knocking down three first-half 3-pointers as Chimacum built a 24-15 lead with 3:08 to play.
She finished tied with Port Townsend freshman Kaitlyn Meek for the game high in points with 19.
The Redhawks ended the first half on a 6-0 run, with buckets by Kassie Olin, Shenoa Snyder and Kaitlyn Meek pulling the Redhawks to within 24-21 at halftime.
“We had some lapses there in the second quarter and let them get close at half,” Huntingford said.
Mechelle Nisbet’s eight third-quarter points helped the Cowboys push past Port Townsend on the strength of an 18-3 third quarter spurt for a 42-24 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Nisbet finished with 17 points for Chimacum.
The Redhawks struggled offensively in that third quarter, turning the ball over nine times and shooting 1 of 9 from the field, after a 9 of 17 performance in the first half.
“Tonight we probably played defense better than most games and we were also a little more conscious at times of who was handling the ball and when to trap,” Huntingford said.
Port Townsend regrouped and went after the basket in the fourth quarter, trimming the lead down to as little as seven, 46-39 with 2:43 to go.
“I told them we still had time and we had scored 22 points in a quarter before this season, but we had to want it,” King said.
The Redhawks were able to get to the line for 24 fourth quarter foul shots, but could hit only 13.
Meek hit 6 of 12 in the fourth and Frances Sheldon-O’Neal was 6 for 8 for Port Townsend.
“We let it get a little muddy in the fourth quarter,” Huntingford said.
“I’m not sure why.
“I was trying to convince the officials she’s [Meek] not Magic Johnson, she doesn’t deserve those superstar calls yet.
“There were a few iffy ones down there where I felt she was forcing it a bit.
“But Kaitlyn is a great player, she’s fast and she’s strong and she really lifts them up.”
But the late rally stalled after Snyder, Nisbet and Makenzie Richey hit free throws to seal the game late.
Despite the tough loss, King was pleased with the growth of her team.
“It was phenomenal from where we started to where we finished, King said.
“We had a tough ending tonight, but it was just amazing. We couldn’t do much in the first part of the year, we had a game where we scored 11 points, but in the second half of the season we really improved.”
“You can’t teach height or heart,and we didn’t have height but we had heart. They really didn’t quit.”
She’s looking forward to spending a full summer with the team, including summer league hoops and attending basketball camps.
“We’re still such a young team, we are still just learning the fundamentals and really just need court time to get better and we’ll get that this summer,” King said.
Chimacum 53, Port Townsend 46
Port Townsend 10 11 3 22— 46
Chimacum 15 9 18 11— 53
Individual scoring
Port Townsend (46)
Meek 19, Sheldon-O’Neal 10, Snyder 8, Olin 7, King 2, Nielsen.
Chimacum (53)
Snyder 19, M. Nisbet 17, Richey 5, Cerna 4, Castillo 3, S. Nisbet 3, Yaley 2.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsualdailynews.com.
