By Michael Carman
Peninsula Daily News
RICHLAND — No. 6 Port Angeles was denied a first-round bye into the Class 2A State Tournament with a 61-35 loss to No. 3 Clarkston in the State Regional Round Saturday at Richland High School.
Instead, a familiar foe awaits. The Roughriders (20-4) will face No. 14 Sequim (17-7) in a loser-out contest at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Yakima SunDome.
It will be the third matchup of the season between the two rivals. Port Angeles won the first two 59-50 at home Jan. 8 and 64-55 in Sequim on Jan. 31.
Against the Bantams on Saturday, Port Angeles struggled to score, defend and take care of the basketball.
The Riders connected on just 12 of 48 shots from the floor, including 6 of 25 on 3-point shots.
“We took early, early outside attempts and were a little jittery when those didn’t go [in],” Port Angeles coach Michael Poindexter said. “We didn’t attack inside until it was late.
“We could have used our strength and quickness to get to the line. We needed much more offensive movement and more attacks inside.
“I thought we had grown out of that. The last few games we have had good offensive balance.”
Turnovers also hurt the Riders, who committed 22, while Clarkston totaled 11.
“We were not patient, we threw the ball out of bounds and had 22 turnovers, most against their press” Poindexter said.
[Clarkston] did a nice job defensively, but I’m not sure we really made them play us very hard.”
Rebounding also was a cause for concern, according to Poindexter.
“That was the first time all season our rebounding effort was not strong,” Poindexter said. “Our defensive anticipation wasn’t strong.”
Jaida Wood led Port Angeles with 12 points, hitting four 3s.
Madison Cooke was held to eight points, a little under half of her season scoring average of 17.
Clarkston sophomore Ashlyn Wallace had 21 to lead the Bantams. Clarkston hit 24 of 58 shots for the game (42 percent), including 9 of 16 in the first half.
“We expected to have a hard time defending Wallace, but that wasn’t the biggest problem,” Poindexter said.
Poindexter said the team will focus on overall effort and offense before facing Sequim.
“We are moving on to Sequim, who is coming off the big win, and we better fix our offensive approach and our effort because Wednesday is coming soon,” Poindexter said.
“We need to play a little bit angry. We don’t need to forget this game, but we need to learn a lesson quickly and move forward.”
No. 3 Clarkston 61, No. 6 Port Angeles 35
PA 7 9 8 11— 35
Clark 25 8 20 8— 61
Port Angeles (35) — Wood 12, Cooke 8, Burke 6, Brady 4, Long 2, Brown 2.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
