PORT ANGELES — With both teams suffering from game postponements by the COVID protocols of other teams, the two most successful girls basketball programs on the North Olympic Peninsula met Friday with Port Angeles edging Neah Bay 65-51.
After a close first half, the Roughriders rode a 15-2 third quarter to gain the upper hand on the Red Devils.
Eve Burke sparked Port Angeles, scoring nine of her 24 points on 4-of-5 shooting in the third. Meanwhile Neah Bay couldn’t find the basket, shooting 0-of-11 in the pivotal quarter. Burke posted a double-double with 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“At halftime, we changed how we were defending Neah Bay’s perimeter screens, which was effective until midway through the fourth quarter,” Riders coach Michael Poindexter said.
Anna Petty scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to give Port Angeles its largest lead of the contest, 50-29. Petty had 12 of her 15 points in the frame.
Neah Bay trimmed the lead down to 12 after a couple of 3-pointers by Ryana Moss and pulled within 10 a couple of times, but couldn’t rally further.
Moss shot 4-for-9 on threes and tied with Amber Swan for the team high with 14 points.
“Bailee Larson, Eve Burke, and Lexi Smith were outstanding in their defensive rebounding effort,” Poindexter said. “Bailee’s floor leadership in the second half helped slow the pace of our half-court offense, cutting down on our turnovers.”
Paige Mason had her best game of the year — she was 3 of 3 from the field with two 3-pointers, and had a good night defensively,” he said.
Port Angeles (6-1, 7-4) is scheduled to visit Bainbridge on Tuesday.
Port Angeles 65, Neah Bay 51
NB13 14 2 22 — 51
PA19 10 15 21 — 65
Neah Bay (51) — R. Moss 14, Swan 14, Aguirre 11, Ray 7, Q. Greene 3, Halttunen 2, A. Greene, C. Moss.
Port Angeles (65) — Burke 24, Petty 15, Larson 8, Mason 8, McGoff 3, Williams 3, Gedelman 2, Smith 2, Felton, Sprague.
Port Angeles 74, Olympic 23
BREMERTON — Everybody on the Riders roster saw plenty of court time and all players scored in a blowout win over the Trojans on Thursday.
“All players were on the floor for about 16 minutes, and all players scored for us,” Poindexter said.
Eve Burke led the way with 26 points, eight rebounds and five steals.
Bailee Larson added five points, eight assists, seven rebounds and five steals.
Port Angeles forced 31 Olympic turnovers while committing nine. The Riders also outrebounded Olympic 26 to eight on the offensive glass, giving the Riders a vast disparity in shot attempts (32-of-84 vs. 7-for-33).
“We moved the ball well against Olympic’s zone all night, 25 of our 32 field goals were off assists,” Poindexter said. “We also did a nice job of rebounding on both ends of the floor. We pressed for just over four minutes of the game; most of Olympic’s turnovers were against our 2-3 zone defense.”
Port Angeles 74, Olympic 23
PA 24 19 14 17 — 74
Oly. 3 4 11 5 — 23
Port Angeles (74) — Burke 26, McGoff 12, Petty 10, Gedelman 7, Larson 5, Sprague 4, Mason 3, Williams 3, Felton 2, Smith 2.
Olympic (23): Maille Bode 5, Kayla Brehmer 4, Kalee Murphy 4, Megan Krell 3, Sam Eberhart 3, Bailey Winderl 3, Kamika Jameson 1.
Forks 44, Ilwaco 29
ILWACO — The Spartans capped a 3-0 week with a gritty road win over the Ilwaco Fishermen on Thursday.
“Long trip coming after a long trip to South Bend Wednesday, a tough place to play and we needed that win to keep a league title in our sights and we came out and got it done,” Forks coach David Hurn said. “I told them after the game, three big games this week and I am most proud of this win.
“I don’t know why I ever have doubts about them, they’ve dealt with more adversity the last couple of years than any kid should have to deal with.”
Spartans guard Kadie Wood posted another double-double, scoring 16 points.
“Kadie had another 15 rebound, six steal performance. All heart and effort,” Hurn said.
Forks (7-1, 8-3) is scheduled to host Neah Bay on Monday.
Forks 44, Ilwaco 29
Forks 6 10 10 18 — 44
Ilw. 7 7 5 10 — 29
Forks (44) — Wood 16, Neel 9, Sandoval 8, Bouchard 6, Wharton 3, Gaydeski 2.
