SEQUIM — Port Angeles proved it was the rightful Olympic League 2A girls basketball champion after a 35-28 triumph over Olympic in a tiebreaker for the league’s top seed to the West Central-SeaKing District Tournament.
With Saturday’s win, the Roughriders (18-3) will host Steilacoom (7-11) in the opening round of district play at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Trailing 16-15 at halftime, Port Angeles used a 12-5 third quarter to go up 27-21 entering the final frame.
The third quarter was capped by a Katyn Flores basket at the buzzer off an assist from Nizhoni Wheeler.
Wheeler led the Riders in all statistical categories.
She scored 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had five assists and four steals.
“Nizhoni Wheeler was steady for us in a number of ways, as seen by her diverse stat totals,” Port Angeles coach Michael Poindexter said.
“Lauren Lunt scored seven points for the Riders, while Flores, Gracie Long and Krysten McGuffey had four points apiece.
Long added three assists.
Port Angeles point guard Maddie Boe had four steals before leaving the game with a wrist injury. Her status is unknown for Thursday’s game.
Poindexter said McGuffey and Long stepped up in Boe’s absence.
“Krysten McGuffey gave us high-quality minutes in the second half,” Poindexter said.
“She and Gracie Long did an outstanding job defensively on Olympic’s Katie Campana and Kiki Mitchell in the second half.”
Port Angeles 35, Olympic 28
Olympic 8 8 5 7— 28
Port Angeles 6 9 12 8— 35
Individual scoring
Olympic (28)
Campana 9, McInnis 5, Coleman 4, Matheny 4, Mitchell 2, Monzon 2, Hazzard 2.
Port Angeles (35)
N.Wheeler 12, Lunt 7, Long 4, Flores 4, McGuffey 4, Baxley 2, C. Wheeler 2, Boe, Steinman, Politika, Gray.
Port Townsend 47, Chimacum 41
PORT TOWNSEND — The short-handed Redhawks rallied for a rivalry game victory against the Cowboys.
“We were down to at one point, five players,” Port Townsend coach Scott B. Wilson said.
“We had one girl get a concussion, Kaitlyn [Meek] got the wind knocked out of her, and two of them had four fouls, so we were gutting it out there.”
The Redhawks came up clutch in the last quarter.
“It came down to the fourth quarter,” Wilson said.
“We weren’t doing anything special. Just playing some good halfcourt defense and giving them trouble.”
Meek scored six of her game-high 21 points for the Redhawks in the final quarter, including hitting 4 of 4 free throws.
Freshman Jaz Apker-Montoya scored five of her 13 points for Port Townsend in the last quarter, including a pair of free throws.
“In the last two games we’ve really come through on our free throws,” Wilson said.
“We hit 18 of 29 in this one.”
Chimacum was led by 13 points from freshman Maddie Dowling.
Shanya Nisbet added 10 points and Mechelle Nisbet scored seven for the Cowboys.
Chimacum finished the season with a record of 1-8, 4-16.
Port Townsend (4-5, 7-12) will host a loser-out playoff contest against the Nisqually League’s fourth-place team, Vashon (7-12) at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Port Townsend 47, Chimacum 41
Chimacum 10 17 10 4— 41
Port Townsend 13 11 10 13— 47
Individual scoring
Chimacum (41)
Dowling 13, S. Nisbet 10, M. Nisbet 7, Castillo 6, Cerna 2, Snyder 2, McKinlay 1.
Port Townsend (47)
Meek 21, Apker-Montoya 13, Olin 5, Leoso 4, Nielson 2.
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Compiled using team reports.
