SILVERDALE — Thanks to two plays late in the game, the Port Angeles girls basketball team defeated Kingston for the No. 3 seed to the 2A West Central District tournament.
The Roughriders beat the Buccaneers 47-45 at Klahowya High School after Mariah Frazier grabbed a defensive rebound with both teams tied 45-all in the final seconds, threw the ball down the court to Kiah Jones, who took it to the hoop for the winning layup.
Maddy Hinrichs put the Riders in position for the win as she hit a 6-foot jumper at the shot-clock buzzer to tie the game 45-45 with 25 seconds left.
Then Kingston missed a shot, Frazier grabbed the rebound and, well, you know the rest.
The Olympic League runner-up Port Angeles (15-6) beat league champion Kingston (16-6) for the first time this year.
But two of the three games were close with the Buccaneers winning by one at Port Angeles and by 17 in Kingston before the Riders got the upper hand Saturday.
“Of the 12 quarters we have played, each team has won half of the quarters,” Port Angeles coach Michael Poindexter said.
“Our teams are very evenly matched.”
This was not a pretty game.
Neither team had bounced back well from its subdistrict loss Thursday in the first round.
“I think both teams really, really struggled early on,” Poindexter said. “It was an extremely physical game.”
On the other hand, the Riders eked out a win despite running low on gas.
“Our kids showed good character by winning despite not playing their best,” Poindexter said.
Shayla Northern had a team-high 12 points after hitting 4 of 5 shots from 3-point range.
Kiah Jones and Macy Walker scored nine points each.
“Kiah had the game-winning layup while Macy Walker also had an excellent game on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively,” Poindexter said.
Kingston’s Sam Salas sank a game-high 17 points with 12 of those scored in the important fourth quarter.
“Sam played very well,” Poindexter said. “It was tough guarding her in the fourth quarter.”
The Riders next will play in the first round of the West Central District championships as the No. 3 seed at Foss High School in Tacoma on Friday at 6 p.m. after getting a bye in the first round.
Port Angeles 47, Kingston 45
Kingston 6 10 13 16— 45
Port Angeles 8 15 12 12— 47
Individual scoring
Kingston (45)
Salas 17, A. Carper 10, Novo 6, Fontes 6, Wichlin 4, S. Carper 2.
Port Angeles (47)
Northern 12, K. Jones 9, Walker 9, Johnson 6, Frazier 4, Rodocker 3, Hinrichs 2, B. Jones 2.
Boys Swimming district meet
RENTON — Defending state champion diver Austin Fahrenholtz is peaking at the right time as he set a West Central District record Saturday at Hazen High School.
The Port Angeles senior earned the district championship with a record 443.25 points.
The Roughriders will be sending six swimmers and divers to the state championships, set for Friday and Saturday at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.
Fellow diver Sam Beasley took sixth place with a score of 261.20 and also will go to state. He pre-qualified with a higher score at a previous meet.
The Rider 200-yard medley relay team claimed first with a state qualifying time of 1:47l.16 with Tyler Burke, Matt Watkins, Avery Kohler and John Macias.
The 400 freestyle relay team of Macias, Kohler, Watkins and Burke claimed third place with a state qualifying time of 3:32.42.
Burke also won an individual title with a state qualifying time of 56.21 seconds in 100 backstroke while Watkins was third with a state-qualifying time of 1:06.68 in the 100 breaststroke.
The Riders claimed third place at districts as a team behind Interlake and Lindbergh, respectively.
Sequim, meanwhile, qualified three divers for state competition as Connor Christianson was runner-up, Austin Clement earned fifth and Cameron Harrison took seventh at districts Saturday.
Regional Gymnastics
Several gymnasts from a combined Port Angeles-Sequim team qualified for state competition at regionals Saturday.
Earning state berths in vault were Emily Giammalva (8.4) and Maddy Coventon (8.2), uneven bars were Giammalva (7.175), Convento (7.0) and Cecily Schwagler (6.850) and on balance beam was Coventon with an 8.3.
Port Angeles placed fourth overall with a score of 143.375.
