NEAH BAY — Taking a step in has helped Holly Greene take a step up recently for the Neah Bay girls basketball team.
Greene made three 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the Red Devils 75-29 nonleague victory over Forks on Wednesday night.
She wasn’t the only one dialed in from downtown early for Neah Bay. Tristin Johnson made two more 3s and Gina McCaulley hit one, as the Red Devils built a 20-8 lead late in the opening quarter.
“We shot really well,” Greene said. “Everybody shot really well.”
Greene, a senior, finished with a game-high 24 points, and also had seven rebounds, eight steals and three assists.
“She’s really been playing really good basketball for us,” Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley said.
“Rebounding well, playing good defense, shooting the ball well. Holly’s really, really played good for us here the last four or five weeks.”
Greene credits her coaches for her improved shooting.
“The first couple of games, I was shooting really deep,” she said. “So they told me to scoot in, so I did
“And then, I really focus on shooting, like, I take my time.”
Greene made 4 of 11 from 3-point range, and was 10 of 18 overall from the field.
Despite playing without starting point guard and leading scorer Skyler DeMatties, Forks actually survived Neah Bay’s early barrage of 3-pointers.
After falling behind 20-8, the Spartans got back in the game by getting the ball to senior post Alexis Leons, who scored all of her team-high 12 points in the first half.
“She was on tonight,” Forks coach Madison Riebe said. “It’s been a while since she was on, so it was great.”
The Spartans scored eight straight points to cut Neah Bay’s lead to 20-16, and less than a minute later cut it to 21-18 with six minutes left in the half.
But five straight points by Greene kick-started a 20-2 first-half closing run by the Red Devils.
“We had some intensity,” Riebe said. “We had a run with intensity for a little bit, and then it just wore off.”
McCaulley said Neah Bay tweaked its defense to slow down Leons.
That defense also forced 32 turnovers and made 30 steals.
“I was happy with our defense after the first few minutes,” Tony McCaulley said.
“The first few minutes, I thought we were a little lackadaisical, but I thought we played a little better after we got rolling.”
All nine of the Red Devils who played contributed offensively to Wednesday’s victory.
Johnson scored nine points and had two blocks, Gina McCaulley finished with eight. Fellow starters Jessica Greene and Vonte Aguirre each scored six points.
McCaulley was particularly pleased with Neah Bay’s reserves.
Starlena Halttunen and freshman Hanna Olson contributed seven points and three steals apiece off the bench.
Eighth-grader Cei’J Gagnon added five points and Cheyanna Svec scored three.
Suddenly, the young Red Devils — Holly Greene is the team’s only senior — are looking like a fairly deep team.
“I really, really was happy with the bench tonight,” McCaulley said.
“The bench played extremely well. A lot of good minutes from our bench players.
“We’re getting better. I think we’re getting better every single week, and I’m happy with that.”
The ninth-ranked Red Devils (4-10, 10-4) have wrapped up the North Olympic League championship with two games remaining, first at Crescent (0-4, 2-13) tonight before finishing with a home game against 10th-ranked Clallam Bay (2-2, 12-3) next Friday, Feb. 5.
Forks (0-12, 0-18) already is out of the running for one of the Evergreen League’s postseason berths. The Spartans finish the season with a pair of home games: against Hoquiam (5-6, 7-10) tonight and then against second-ranked Montesano (11-0, 15-2) on Feb. 5.
________
Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
