PORT TOWNSEND — With Kaitlyn Meek and Jaz Apker-Montoya having to go to the bench with foul trouble, the Port Townsend girls had trouble handling La Conner’s press, falling behind at the half 33-8 at the Crush in the Slush against one of the better 2B teams in the state.
“It speaks to the importance of Kaitlyn and Jaz,” said coach Scott Wilson. He said the Redhawks were hanging very tough with the Braves in Saturday night’s game, but when the two starters were forced to sit, “that’s when things fell apart.”
“In the second half, the girls settled down. We won the second half. I was sorry to see the first half,” Wilson said.
Meek led the team with 15 points, while Izzy Hammett had 10 and Apker-Montoya nine. LaConner was led by Justine Benson, who had 24.
There’s no shame in losing to La Conner, which is 9-2 and ranked No. 8 in the RPI for 2B schools. Wahluke, the other school that beat Port Townsend in the Crush, went on to beat 2A Bellingham 45-26, though Wilson pointed out several Bellingham girls were suspended for that game.
Port Townsend (1-1, 3-6) next jumps back into Olympic 1A play at Klahowya at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Chimacum 63, Aberdeen 54
CHIMACUM — The Chimacum girls bounced back from a rough outing against the defending 1A state champions to beat Aberdeen on Saturday 63-54.
The Cowboys had good balance with Mia McNair scoring 13, Maddie Dowling and Jada Trafton 10 each, Grace Yaley nine and Katie Clark eight.
The Cowboys actually built up a huge lead of more than 20 points, but Aberdeen whittled it down a little toward the end of the game.
Chimacum had a busy holiday week, as they played Mount Baker, the defending 1A state champion in Blaine on Friday, losing 55-28.
Coach Trevor Huntingford said that while the Mount Baker score was lopsided, the Cowboys actually led after thefirst quarter and were maintaining a lead halfway into the second quarter.
We won’t see anyone run that press any better,” Huntingford said. “It was great to see that we can compete with that team for a good chunk of time.”
Huntingford said games like 2A Aberdeen and powerhouse Mount Baker will help Chimacum going into Olympic League 1A play.
“I’m rfeeling pretty good about where we are. We’ve been going up against bigger schools and bigger bodies,” Huntingford said.
Chimacum (2-0, 5-5) has another very tough test on Wednesday, hosting a young, but very good Neah Bay (ranked No. 3 in the RPI among 1B schools) team at 5:45 p.m.
Chimacum 63, Aberdeen 54
Aberdeen 8 13 13 20 — 54
Chimacum 13 13 19 18 — 63
Aberdeen (54) — Glanz 21, Pruett 12, Jones 10, Walsh 4, Stewart 3, Kaenz 2, Tageant 2.
Chimacum (63) — McNair 13, Dowling 10, Trafton 10, Yaley 9, Clark 8, Young 5, Noble 5, Huntingford 3
Mount Baker 55, Chimacum 28
Chimacum 14 6 6 2 — 28
Mount Baker 13 17 13 12 — 55
Chimacum (28) — Yaley 10, Dowling 8, Trafton 7, McNair 3.
Mount Baker (55) — M. Yost 27, Malone 12, Neithardt-Smith 4, Tyler 4, Hesyck 3, Anderson 2, A. Yost 2, Reardon 1.
Neah Bay 52, Seattle Lutheran 31
SEATTLE — The Neah Bay girls upped their record to 7-1, romping over Seattle Lutheran on the road 52-31.
Gina McCaulley led the team with 12 points, while Ruth Moss scored 10 and the Swans, Courtney and Patience, each scored eight.
Neah Bay (7-1) and ranked No. 3 in the 1B girls RPI, next plays at Chimacum at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday.
Neah Bay 52, Seattle Lutheran 31
Neah Bay 13 10 19 10 — 52
Seattle Luth. 8 6 6 11 — 31
Neah Bay (52) — McCaulley 12, Moss 10, C. Swan 8, P. Swan 8, Greene 7, Woodruff 3, Pilath 2.
Seattle Lutheran (31) — Jones 15, Jensen 9, Tillet 3, Menesha 2.
