PORT ANGELES — Four Olympic Peninsula boys and girls basketball teams and one women’s college team will be busy hooping it up in central and eastern Washington all this week in state and Northwest Athletic Conference championships.
The Sequim boys, Port Angeles girls and Neah Bay boys and girls are all in the state tournaments at the Yakima SunDome and Spokane Arena, with most of the games beginning Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Peninsula College women begin their run in the NWAC tournament at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.
A rundown of this week’s tournament action:
Peninsula women
The Pirates won the North Region for the third straight year, going 14-0 in region for the second straight year.
The Pirates have a 22-2 overall record and bring a No. 1 seed into the tournament. They begin by playing No. 4 seed Chemeketa, a school from Salem, Ore. Chemeketa, playing in the always-tough South Region, was 8-8 in its region and 19-10 overall. Lane (29-0) and Umpqua (26-2), also from the South Region, are two of the bigger favorites for the NWAC title.
Peninsula played Chemeketa early this season and beat the Storm 73-55.
Also in Peninsula’s bracket are Big Bend (23-6) and South Puget Sound (20-8). If the Pirates make it to the NWAC semifinals on March 15, they would likely play Lane.
Interestingly, Lane and Peninsula played early this season in a nonconference tilt and the Pirates showed they are right there with the Titans as Lane had to go to overtime on its home court to beat the Pirates 81-76. That is the only game all year in which Lane had to go to overtime to win.
These games can be watched online on the NWAC Sports Network on a pay-per-view basis.
Sequim boys
Jericho Julmist took over the game in the fourth quarter and the Sequim Wolves saved their season by holding back the stubborn Lindbergh Eagles’ upset attempt 44-36 in a Class 2A boys basketball State Regional Round loser-out contest Friday at the University of Puget Sound Fieldhouse.
Julmist scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, including knocking down two fourth-quarter 3-pointers, the latter finally giving Sequim some breathing room with a four-point lead inside the final two minutes of the game.
No. 9-seeded Sequim (20-4) advanced to the state tournament at the Yakima Valley SunDome for the first time since 2013.
The Wolves will face No. 8-seed Mark Morris (20-4) at 2 p.m. Wednesday. This is a loser-out game with the winner moving into double-elimination.
Port Angeles girls
The Port Angeles girls basketball team has made a habit of coming back in the fourth quarter this season.
And Saturday, they did it again, riding their stifling defense to a 44-38 regionals win over Cedarcrest to move on to the Yakima Valley SunDome on Wednesday.
Port Angeles trailed nearly the entire game and entered the fourth quarter down 31-26, but outscored the Red Wolves 18-7 in the fourth. In the entire second half, the Roughriders allowed Cedarcrest just four field goals and 13 points.
Lindsay Smith, despite struggling from the free-throw line, otherwise had a great game with 20 points and crucial rebounds and steals in the second half. She finished with eight rebounds and four steals.
The Riders were behind 34-32 with 3:10 left when Smith hit a 2-pointer and then followed that with a perfect 3-pointer that hit nothing but net to quickly give the Riders a 37-34 lead with under three minutes left.
Teanna Clark also really helped save the Riders down the stretch with her outstanding free-throw shooting. She shot 8-for-10 on her free throws for all eight of her points, doing much of her damage in the fourth quarter.
Lexie Smith also had a big game with seven points, six rebounds and six steals.
In a strange quirk as far as the final score, Port Angeles seemingly went into the halftime break down 25-19, but the Riders were given two extra points on the scoreboard during halftime with no explanation. It didn’t affect the final outcome of the game as the Riders won by either eight points or six. The final score was officially reported at 46-38, but film and the online stream showed that the actual score should have been 44-38.
In any case, No. 10 seed Port Angeles (18-6, No. 12 RPI) moved on to the SunDome to play Columbia River (18-3, No. 6 RPI), a No. 7 seed, at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. This is a loser-out Round of 12 game.
It was the ninth straight win for the Riders and 14th out of their past 15 games.
Neah Bay girls
The Neah Bay girls basketball team drilled 12 3-pointers, including six from Cerise Moss in overwhelming Pateros 66-31 in the state 1B regionals Saturday as the Red Devils kept alive their quest for three straight state championships.
Angel Halttunen hit three treys and scored 19 to go along with eight rebounds, while Qwaapeys Greene scored 14. Brianna McGimpsey, Caylee Moss and Tisalee Ramos also hit 3-pointers as the Red Devils shot 12-for-29 from beyond the arc.
The win put the Red Devils (20-1) straight into the state quarterfinals as the 1B’s No. 1 seed. Neah Bay begins play at the Spokane Arena at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in what could be an interesting game, because they may face an unbeaten team right away. The Red Devils will play the winner of Oakesdale (18-5, No. 9 RPI) and Pe Ell (20-0, No. 6 RPI).
Neah Bay boys
Despite 25 points from Tyler Swan, including 12 straight points in the fourth quarter, the Neah Bay boys basketball team couldn’t get past DeSales in a 64-52 loss in the first round of the state 1B playoffs.
The Neah Bay boys, a No. 5 seed, are still alive, however, and will play No. 12 seed Garfield-Palouse (17-6) at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Spokane Arena. DeSales moved on directly to the state quarterfinals.
All of the high school games are available for online streaming on the NHFS Network.
