PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles girls basketball team can flip the switch in a hurry.
And as the Port Townsend Redskins learned once again in Friday night’s Olympic League matchup, it can be devastating.
Jessica Madison scored 10 of her game-high 24 points during a 27-10 Roughrider second quarter to vault Port Angeles to its 32nd straight league win, 63-42.
Port Angeles (11-0 in league, 12-3 overall) has knocked off Port Townsend (6-6, 8-8) four times during that stretch, including a season sweep this winter.
“The PA girls are kind of like sharks,” Port Townsend coach Randy Maag said. “When you make a mistake, they not only make you pay for that mistake, but they immediately attack. One mistake leads to another.
“[The deficit] is 6, 9, 10 points, you’re within reason, and then you blink and it’s there.”
That’s exactly what happened in the second quarter Friday night.
The Riders’ physical full court defense forced the Redskins to turn the ball over eight times in the frame’s opening four minutes.
Madison scored seven points and found senior center Taylyn Jeffers with a pair of well-placed lobs in the post for layups on the other end, as the Rider lead ballooned to 28-9 thanks to a 13-2 run.
Port Townsend turned the ball over five more times to end the second quarter, eventually falling behind 42-17 going into halftime.
At that point, Rider head coach Mike Knowles called up the press with his team ahead comfortably.
“These kids, they play hard and they’re doing really good things,” said Knowles, whose team is currently ranked No. 3 in Class 2A. “Right now, my biggest thing is trying to get the kids to play consistently.”
Port Angeles finished with 12 assists and just nine turnovers during the first half.
Madison dished out several of those, eventually racking up a game-high eight assists to go along with six rebounds.
Freshman Krista Johnson added 11 points and two assists in her first varsity start. Jeffers had 10 points and five rebounds, and junior forward Kiah Jones had nine points and seven boards.
Still, the team didn’t come away from the victory completely satisfied.
That was thanks in part to a sluggish second half that saw Port Angeles hit 25 percent of its field goals (7 of 28). The Riders shot 35.6 percent from the field on the game.
“I thought we played OK at times. I know we can do better,” said Madison, who crossed the 1,600-point threshold for her career Friday night.
“I think when we know the teams are going to be more competitive, we play better. Sometimes we play down to other teams’ levels.”
Added Knowles, “To try to get them motivated to play four quarters when you go in at halftime and you’re up 42-17, it’s tough.
“But Port Townsend, I’ll give them credit. They came out and played hard.”
Port Townsend actually outscored the Riders 25-21 during the final two quarters.
Forward Kerri Evalt scored 13 of her team-high 17 points during that time. The 6-foot senior also added six rebounds.
The Redskins hit 8 of 21 shots in the second half, while turning the ball over just 13 times compared to 20 giveaways in the first half.
“The whole plan coming in was to try and make this a learning experience,” Maag said. “In districts you’re going to have teams that play man-to-man defense like that.
“We decided in the second half we were just going to play through it and be strong and it was going to make us better for down the road.
“I was proud of the girls. We just got demolished the last time we played them [an 86-36 Rider win], so it was a big step.
“The girls were happy, and I’m happy with that.”
Port Angeles 63, Port Townsend 42
Port Angeles 15 27 12 9 — 63
Port Townsend 7 10 11 14 — 42
Port Townsend (42)
Whipple 2, Evalt 17, Lyons 3, Maag 7, Dowdle 8, Fox 2, Hossack 1, Phillips 2.
Port Angeles (63)
K. Jones 9, Knowles 7, Madison 24, Frazier 2, Johnson 11, Jeffers 10.
