TACOMA — The Sequim girls basketball season ended at districts in a 59-30 loss to River Ridge.
The Wolves (10-13) played evenly with the Hawks (14-9) for much of the first half, trailing 19-17 with 2:30 until halftime, before a 9-1 River Ridge scoring spurt gave the Hawks a 10-point lead at 28-18 in the locker room.
“We played pretty even with them for much of the first half,” Sequim coach Evan Still said.
“I was proud of how the girls played in the first half.
“Then they had some runouts for scores where we didn’t rotate on defense and didn’t get back to stop them.”
Complicating matters was the first-half absence of the Wolves’ leading scorer Caitlin Stofferahn, who was stuck in traffic on Interstate 5.
Stofferahn was taking care of a long standing college commitment in Oregon, according to Still.
And despite leaving in time to make the game, she got stuck in heavy Presidents Day Weekend traffic after an accident.
“That threw everything off,” Still said.
A lack of execution burned Sequim in the second half.
“We just didn’t do a very good job of boxing out,”
Still said.
“They had a lot of second-chance opportunities and we made too many turnovers.
“Mostly unforced turnovers, where we are trying to make passes that are open and that are there, but the pass comes in behind the person instead of in front where it needs to be.
“Ultimately, our execution wasn’t where it needed to be.”
Jordan Miller led the Wolves with 11 points. Adrienne Haggerty had six and Kylee Williams scored five.
It was the final game for Sequim seniors Stofferahn, Alyse Armstrong, Hailey Lester, Victoria Cummins, Katherine Landoni and Elise Beuke.
“That’s the first group I’ve had for all four years, said Still, who coached many of the girls as freshman on the junior varsity, and then as varsity head coach the past three seasons.
“They are very special group to me.
“A special group of not just players, but people. They are really a great group of girls.”
Sequim will return some solid starting blocks next season in Miller, Haggerty, McKenzie Bentz and Kylee Williams.
“Even though this season ended a little earlier than we would hoped, this three game stretch at districts has provided a good chunk of experience for us going forward,” Still said.
River Ridge 59, Sequim 30
Sequim 6 12 6 6— 30
River Ridge 12 17 15 15— 59
Individual scoring
Sequim (30)
Miller 11, Haggerty 6, Williams 5, Christiansen 3, Lester 2, Cummins 2, Beuke 1.
River Ridge (59)
McGill 16, Sitani 10, Schultz 10, Kyla Coleman 9, Johnston 8, Yenne 4, Retzlaff 1, Wilson 1.
