PORT TOWNSEND — Australian teams have been frequent visitors to the Crush in the Slush basketball tournament.
The quality of past teams has been mixed, but there was no doubt that the Port Townsend girls basketball team faced a good one in its 65-28 loss to the Melbourne Mystics on Monday at the opener of the two-day tournament at Port Townsend High School.
“With the Australians, you never know what you’re going to get. And this is one of the best Australian teams we’ve had come to this tournament, and we’ve had many,” Port Townsend coach Scott B. Wilson said.
“It was a very good team.”
The Mystics jumped on the Redhawks early and had built an 11-4 lead when Kaitlyn Meek, Port Townsend’s top scorer, went to the bench with her second foul less than four minutes into the game.
Meek, who had all four of the Redhawks’ points at that point, spent the rest of the half on the bench. By the time she re-entered the game at the start of the third quarter, Port Townsend trailed 38-15.
The tone had already been set, though, and the Mystics were likely already on their way to a rout, so Wilson said that having Meek probably wouldn’t have altered that much.
“Not terribly, honestly. They had us pretty well interrupted,” Wilson said.
“Kaitlyn, obviously, is our big scorer. But I was, in a way — and I told the girls this — glad to see her come out so the rest of the girls could try to step up and see if they could put points on the board.
“And, you know, limited success. But, yeah, they’ve got to play without Kaitlyn.”
Meek finished with eight points, which tied Jenna Carson for Port Townsend’s team-high.
Melbourne’s Amy Smith led all scorers with 18, and Alex McKeller added 13.
The Redhawks struggled to complete passes against the Mystics’ press and reverted back to how they played in their 0-5 start to the season rather than during the two-game win streak they were on entering Monday’s game.
“We played the way we played early in the season, which was, we weren’t passing well at all,” Wilson said
“Almost everybody presses, at least for a while, and we usually handle it better than we did today.
“You could kind of tell the winter break had an effect on the girls. They were just not really focused.
“So I’m comfortable playing against a press, but not today.”
Port Townsend (2-6) plays its second game of the Crush in the Slush against Bainbridge Island JV today at 5:45 p.m.
“Bainbridge JV’s probably pretty good because Bainbridge varsity’s very good,” Wilson said. “So it’ll be a tough game.
“They’ll be good, and I’m sure they’ll press us, and I bet we handle the press better.”
Melbourne 65, Port Townsend 28
Melbourne 24 14 14 13— 65
Port Townsend 11 4 4 9— 28
Individual scoring
Melbourne (65)
Smith 18, McKeller 13, Kelty 11, McGrath 9, McRobbie 8, Favero 5, McCormack 4, O’Shea 3, Seit 2.
Port Townsend (28)
Meek 8, Carson 8, Apker-Montoya 4, Olin 2, Leoso 2, King 2, Berkshire 2, Rubio, Kellogg.
________
Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
