PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles girls basketball team remained undefeated in Olympic League 2A by surviving one of its toughest test yet in a 33-26 victory over Bremerton.
“Bremerton kept the game close throughout the night with an active, aggressive 2-3 zone defense and a good transition attack,” Roughriders coach Michael Poindexter said of Monday’s game.
The six-point margin is Port Angeles’ smallest in its 5-0 start to league play.
Emily Johnson had a flurry of big plays in the third quarter that helped the Riders take the lead for good.
With the score tied 19-19, Johnson stole the ball near midcourt and took it to the hoop for a lay-up.
On the Knights’ next possession, she stole the ball again, and hit Nizhoni Wheeler on the fast break for a 23-19 lead.
Two possessions later, Johnson got yet another steal. Port Angeles’ lead at the end of the third was 25-21.
Wheeler then scored six of her game-high 14 points in the fourth quarter to seal the victory. Wheeler also pulled down 11 rebounds, blocked five shots and dished out two assists.
Johnson finished with four points and four steals, while Maddie Boe contributed five points, five steals and three assists.
Bremerton (2-3, 5-6) outrebounded the Riders 31-27, but committed 21 turnovers and made only 24 percent of its field-goal attempts.
Port Angeles had 17 turnovers and shot 36 percent from the field.
Lizz Lamoureux led the Knights with 11 points. Michaela Derda added six and Yacsiri Gondinez-Gonzalez scored five points.
The Riders, 11-1 overall and ranked 10th in Class 2A by The Associated Press, continue league play with yet another home game tonight against third-place Kingston (3-2, 7-5).
Port Angeles 33, Bremerton 26
Bremerton 7 10 4 5— 26
Port Angeles 9 8 8 8— 33
Individual scoring
Bremerton (26)
Smith 4, Lamoureaux 11, Derda 6, Gondinez-Gonzalez 5.
Port Angeles (33)
Boe 5, C. Wheeler 2, Long 2, Johnson 4, Baxley 4, McGuffey 2, N. Wheeler 14, Steinman, Flores, Gray.
North Kitsap 50, Sequim 31
POULSBO — A slow start was too much to overcome as the Wolves fell to 1-5 in Olympic League 2A play.
The Vikings (3-2, 6-6) outscored Sequim 19-3 in the first quarter of Monday’s game.
The Wolves’ offense finally was sparked in the third quarter by two 3-pointers by McKenzie Bentz and another by Ella Christiansen. Sequim scored 16 points in the quarter, more than half of its points.
Adrienne Haggerty led the Wolves with 12 points.
Christiansen finished with seven, and Bentz scored six.
Sequim, 4-7 overall, plays at Chimacum (0-2, 2-8) tonight at 7 p.m. The Cowboys lost to Mount Vernon Christian 64-33 on Tuesday.
North Kitsap 50, Sequim 31
Sequim 3 7 16 5— 31
North Kitsap 19 13 12 7— 50
Individual scoring
Sequim (31)
Montelius 2, Leal 1, M. Bentz 6, Christiansen 7, McMinn 2, Haggerty 12, J. Bentz 1, Bower, Miller, Grasser, Green.
North Kitsap (50)
Lemmon 8, Weins 7, West 2, O. Selembo 7, Green 4, MacKenzie 12, Moore 5, Bato 5, Myers, J. Selemo, Keller.
BOYS BASKETBALL
North Kitsap 62, Sequim 42
SEQUIM — The Olympic League 2A-leading Vikings turned a nine-point halftime lead into an 18-point lead by outscoring the Wolves 19-10 in the third quarter.
Jackson Oliver led Sequim with 12 points. Nick Faunce contributed 10 points and nine rebounds, and Riley Cowan had five points and nine rebounds.
The Wolves (1-5, 4-8) host Chimacum tonight at 7 p.m.
North Kitsap 62, Sequim 42
North Kitsap 14 17 19 12— 62
Sequim 11 11 10 10— 42
Individual scoring
Sequim (42)
Glasser 6, B. Despain 2, Oliver 12, Whitney 6, Holland 1, Faunce 10, Cowan 5, N. Despain, Black.
Bremerton 59, Port Angeles 45
BREMERTON — The Roughriders missed out on taking over sole possession of second place in Olympic League 2A in a battle of one-loss teams.
Instead, the Knights grabbed the No. 2 spot behind North Kitsap, and Port Angeles (3-2, 7-6) drops into a tie with Olympic for third place.
“Turnovers and poor transition defense led to easy points for Bremerton,” Riders coach Kasey Ulin said of Monday’s game.
“We missed five layups in the first quarter, and each time it led to a lay up on the other end. It was 7-4 and very quickly, and it was 21-8 at the end of the quarter.”
The Knights’ lead grew to 42-22 in the third quarter. The Riders then went on a 19-5 run to cut Bremerton’s lead to 47-41.
But the Knights managed to hold off the Riders to improve to 3-1 in league play (5-5 overall).
“I love the competitive spirit to fight back and cut the deficit to six, but I was disappointed with our play for the first three quarters,” Ulin said.
“We spoke about how we need to create our own energy because there could be a letdown after the Sequim [victory] Friday, and even though we prepared for it, we didn’t handle the situation very well.”
Noah McGoff scored a season-high 18 points for Port Angeles and had seven rebounds and four steals.
The Riders go on the road to face Kingston (2-2, 5-6) tonight.
________
Compiled using team reports.
