TACOMA — Faye Chartraw eclipsed the 1,000-point career scoring mark as the Neah Bay girls basketball team rushed past the Bickleton Pirates 52-36 Mount Tahoma High School.
Saturday’s regionals win clinches the Red Devils’ second consecutive Class 1B state tournament berth, and seventh in the past eight seasons.
They will next face Mary M. Knight at Spokane Veteran’s Memorial Arena on Thursday at 12:15 p.m.
“I’m real happy with our defensive effort,” Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley said after Saturday’s game.
He had reason to be.
The Red Devils (18-1) limited Bickleton (11-9) to just 3 of 32 shooting from the field in the first half, 10 for 55 (18 percent) on the game.
Neah Bay hit 20 of 57 (35 percent) from the floor, 7 off 22 from 3-point range, and also held the Pirates’ leading scorer, Lindsay Brown, a 5-foot-10 reed of a post, to just six points in the game.
Early on, it looked like a blowout, with the Red Devils coming out hot from the floor and running out to a 19-2 lead with 1:16 left in the first quarter.
This included Chartraw knocking down a 3 that pushed her to 1,001 career points. The moment was announced over the public address system.
Later, Chartraw received the game ball, a Sportsmanship Medallion, as did Bickleton’s Hannah Pond, and a round of applause from Red Devils fans in attendance.
“I’m happy to hit that [scoring] mark, but honestly, I’m more proud of my team, and making it back to state,” Chartraw said.
After the trey, Chartraw went to work down low offensively, as Brown and the Pirates’ posts were unable to account for Chartraw’s strength at the rim.
Three-pointers from Gina McCaulley and Tristin Johnson helped Neah Bay take a 21-7 lead after one quarter.
The Red Devils hit 9 of 16 from the floor in that opening period, and 3 of 6 from beyond the arc.
Neah Bay kept up the pressure defensively, with Blair Hill and Chartraw teaming to limit chances for Brown down low in the 2-3 zone as the Red Devils pushed to a 30-8 lead with 5:53 until halftime.
“Blair’s done a real solid job for us the last few weeks,” McCaulley said.
And then Neah Bay’s offense went for an afternoon nap.
The Red Devils didn’t score for that last 5:53 of the first half, unable to take advantage of Bickleton’s bumbling shot attempts, and led 30-12 at intermission.
“We really could have gone up by 15 or so more points if we would have made some shots there,” McCaulley said.
A Chartraw bucket gave Neah Bay its largest lead of the second half, 21 points, at 34-13 with 3:26 to go in the third quarter, but the Pirates finished the period on a 13-5 run to trail 39-26 entering the final frame.
Hope for Bickleton? Not if Kaela Tyler could help it.
The senior scored 10 of her team-high 17 points in the fourth quarter, including a 7-0 stretch in just 46 seconds that put the Red Devils up an insurmountable 49-28 with 3:15 to play.
“We were a little flat there offensively and Kaela stepped it up and carried us,” McCaulley said.
“She’s been making plays all year.”
And now Tyler and the rest of the Neah Bay girls will have a chance to make some plays at the Spokane Arena on Thursday against Mary M. Knight.
The Red Devils have already handed the Owls their only two losses of the season.
Neah Bay 52, Bickleton 36
Bickleton 7 5 14 10— 36
Neah Bay 21 9 9 13— 52
Individual scoring
Bickleton (36)
Pond 18, Brown 6, Goodnight 3, O’Banion 2, Magana 2, Harvey 2, Hanson 2, Cardenas 1.
Neah Bay (52)
Tyler 17, Chartraw 16, Johnson 6, McCaulley 3, Haltunnen 3, Hill 3, Ha. Greene 2, J. Greene 2. Ho. Greene, Jimmicum, Doherty.
________
Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
