PORT ANGELES — A little playoff adversity never hurt the Neah Bay girls basketball team.
The fourth-ranked Red Devils (16-0) clinched a spot at regionals with a 64-28 victory over Shoreline Christian (12-10) at Port Angeles High School on Tuesday.
Neah Bay now plays SeaTac League champion Crosspoint (20-3) at 4:45 p.m. today at Mount Vernon Christian, with the victor advancing to Saturday’s Tri-District championship.
Earning the win against Shoreline Christian wasn’t quite as easy as the score indicates.
Despite being guarded in a box-and-one defense, the Chargers’ Sarah Ott hit for 10 first-quarter points as Shoreline Christian went up 12-5 with 1:30 to play in the first period.
“We haven’t played for a week and a half, so with the layoff I thought we’d start a little slow,” Neah Bay coach Tony McCaulley said.
“The box got stretched a little more than I wanted to early on.”
The Red Devils overtook Shoreline Christian with a 13-0 run spanning the first and second quarters to go up 18-12 with 4:40 until halftime.
Neah Bay’s run was fueled by two 3-pointers from Tristin Johnson, who would finish the half and the game with 11 points.
The Red Devils shot 20 of 64 from the field in the game, but hit 11 of 33 on 3s.
Three more 3s from Gina McCaulley, Jessica Greene and Johnson helped put Neah Bay up 27-19 at half.
The Red Devils’ leading scorer and rebounder Faye Chartraw struggled offensively and with foul trouble, picking up her third and fourth fouls in the first 1:35 of the third quarter.
Chartraw headed to the bench having scored just three points in the game and with Neah Bay up 27-22 with nearly two full quarters to play.
Was coach McCaulley worried with Chartraw’s absence?
“Yeah, I was a little bit,” McCaulley said.
Those feelings passed quickly, as the Red Devils’ 3-point shooting helped Neah Bay close the quarter with a 15-0 run for a 46-26 lead heading to the fourth period.
“It was nice to see us play pretty well without her [Chartraw],” McCaulley said.
“We haven’t played without her all year. I thought the other girls stepped up and played really well. They didn’t panic and that was good to see.”
Greene, McCaulley and Kaela Tyler all hit 3s during that stretch.
Tyler was the biggest spark, cashing in on nine of her 11 points in the tail end of the third quarter.
The Red Devils run continued to 26-0 through the first portion of the fourth quarter as the lead ballooned to 57-26 with 4:03 to play.
Neah Bay’s defense held Shoreline Christian scoreless for 8:57 of game time as the shorthanded Charger became visibly tired.
Ott managed just four points in the second half as the Red Devils switched up coverage duties and utilized different defenses in an effort to exasperate the high-scoring senior.
“First half, we struggled with her a little bit. Second half, we kept her in line and controlled her pretty good. I thought if she scored 20 we’d be OK,” McCaulley said.
“We wanted her to be really uncomfortable, wanted to deny her the ball because she’s a really excellent player. She can go off for 40 at any time.”
Indeed, Ott hit for 50 points in a game earlier this season.
“We had three players, Hailey [Greene], Gina and Starlena [Haltunnen] that played defense on her and they all did a real good job,” McCaulley said.
As a team, the Red Devils limited Shoreline Christian to just 7 of 42 shooting from the floor.
“I was really pleased with our defensive effort,” McCaulley said.
Chartraw got untracked offensively in the fourth quarter, scoring eight of her 11 points in the final period.
She joined Johnson, McCaulley and Tyler as Neah Bay’s leading scorers with 11 points each.
“I’m happy with that balance,” McCaulley said.
“It makes us to tough to defend.
“I think this was really good for us. Now we have some confidence that the rest of us can play. We don’t have to sit around and watch Faye play, we all play, so I like that.”
Neah Bay 64, Shoreline Christian 28
Shoreline Christian 12 7 7 2—28
Neah Bay 11 16 19 18—64
Individual scoring
Shoreline Christian (28)
Ott 18, Dekoekkoek 5, Meridith 3, Rietkerk 2.
Neah Bay (64)
Tyler 11, Johnson 11, McCaulley 11, Chartraw 11, Hol. Greene 8, J. Greene 6, Hill 6, Hai. Greene, Garcia-Jimmicum,
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsualdailynews.com.
