SAMMAMISH — No. 7 Port Angeles couldn’t finish off top-ranked White River in the Class 2A District 2/3 boys basketball semifinals, falling 57-54 to the Hornets Friday at Sammamish High School.
“We were shooting a 1-and-1 free throw with 18 seconds up 1, unfortunately John [Vaara] missed, they called us for a push in the back and they hit both free throws [to take the lead],” coach Kasey Ulin said.
“We got a great look at the end of the game and they hit two to clinch it. We had chances and were in position to win and I thought our guys fought extremely hard. We didn’t play our best, but we had guys step up. Parker [Nickerson] is out, so Michael Soule stepped in. Wyatt [Dunning] was fantastic and I thought Quanah [Wheeler] was phenomenal, he did a great job of getting us in sets. It was a state semifinal-type game, half-court possession basketball.”
The Riders (17-5), who have already qualified for the regional round, faced Enumclaw in the third-place game late Saturday after press deadline.
“I think we’ve done more than enough to be a top-eight seed,” Ulin said. “We’ve beaten [No. 3] North Kitsap and [No. 9] Sehome and our two 2A losses are to North Kitsap and No. 1 White River. And the team’s behind us in the RPI have lost and can’t leapfrog anybody.”
Neah Bay advances
MOUNT VERNON — The Red Devils advanced to the state regional round with a 77-67 loser-out Tri-District Tournament victory over Grace Academy on Thursday.
Neah Bay then nearly gave away the fifth-place game Saturday, allowing Orcas Island to erase the Red Devils’ 44-29 lead after three quarters, before Neah Bay’s Jodell Wimberly and Kaeden Butterfield converted inside layups late in a 59-57 overtime win over the Vikings.
The Red Devils (10-5) sat at No. 20 in the 1B RPI before Saturday’s game, so a loser-out regional contest is likely for Neah Bay.
Jodell Wimberly (21 points) and Julian Carrick (20) were able to outscore Grace Academy’s Logan Anderson (32) in the Thursday contest.
Devon Halttunen added 11 points.
Girls Basketball Sequim bounces back
BURIEN — The Wolves rebounded with a stingy defensive performance against Sammamish on Saturday, edging the Totems 32-27 for the District 2/3 third-place trophy at Highline High School.
“The girls played great defense,” Wolves coach Joclin Julmist said. “We haven’t been able to get our offense going for a while now, but they keep figuring out a way to get it done.”
Sequim allowed just six Sammamish points in the first half.
Hannah Wagner returned from a knee injury suffered against Port Angeles, scoring a team-high 12 for the Wolves and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Hannah Bates had seven steals, five rebounds and eight points to pace Sequim.
Sammie Bacon added nine rebounds, six on the offensive glass.
The Wolves triumphed despite shooting just 18 percent (10 of 55) from the floor, including 1 of 14 on 3-point shots.
With the victory, Sequim (19-4) moved back into the top eight of the Class 2A RPI ahead of the state tournament regional round’s selection Sunday.
The RPI will be used as part of the selection process for the new state tournament seeding committee. The top eight seeds will play each other at regionals with a guaranteed trip to the state tournament while seeds 9-16 will play loser-out regional games with winners advancing to Yakima.
Neah Bay to title game
AUBURN — The Red Devils swamped Evergreen Lutheran 74-28 on Thursday to advance to the Tri-District Tournament Championship and a matchup with perennial foe Mount Vernon Christian late Saturday.
The game pitted Class 1B WIAA RPI No. 1 Mount Vernon Christian against the No. 2 Red Devils.
In Thursday’s semifinal, Allie Greene continued to light up the scoreboard for Neah Bay, knocking down 11 of 15 shots, including 6 of 10 on 3s to score 28 points and swipe four steals in the win over the Eagles.
Ezrah Ray saw more court time in place of an injured Oceanna Aguirre and posted 18 points and 10 rebounds with two blocks.
Amber Swan added 13 points and six steals in the win.
