PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles girls basketball team routed rival Sequim 47-28 on Thursday night.
On Friday, the Roughriders clinched at least a share of the Olympic League title when Olympic beat Bremerton 38-22.
The Trojans and the Knights are now tied for second place in league with 11-3 league records, two games behind 13-1 Port Angeles with two games remaining in the regular season.
Although they beat their rival in fairly convincing fashion, head coach Michael Poindexter wasn’t totally impressed with the way the Roughriders played against Sequim.
“It was probably a combination of the rivalry and it being senior night,” Poindexter said.
“I don’t think it was a good combination.”
Port Angeles forced 35 turnovers, but also committed 30 of its own, including 12 in the second quarter in which the Wolves outscored the Riders 5-4.
“Sequim just played well [on defense], but we were impatient and forcing things,” Poindexter said.
Wolves coach Evan Still said his team has four keys to be competitive in a game: making free throws, limiting turnovers, rebounding and team defense.
He liked the Wolves’ team defense, but wasn’t as complimentary of the offense.
“We didn’t take care of the ball and missed at least six wide-open layups,” Still said.
“That’s just a lack of focus.”
Maddy Hinrichs led all scorers with 14 points and also had three assists.
“Maddy played a good game,” Poindexter said.
“She held us together. She just played her game. She was steady, she didn’t panic.”
In their last game at Port Angeles High School, the Riders’ three seniors all contributed.
Mariah Frazier grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and scored seven of her 11 points in the second half, Macy Walker had a team-high six steals with seven points and Shayla Northern led Port Angeles in assists with four.
Payton Lee scored four points for the Riders and drew praise from her coach.
“Payton played possibly her best game for us all season,” Poindexter said.
Although dissatisfied with how his team played against Sequim, Poindexter expects the Riders to play better in its final two regular season games next week, at Port Townsend on Tuesday and at Olympic on Friday.
“This is not how we wanted to go into next week,” Poindexter said.
“But I think we’ll come back and be OK. I don’t see this lingering. We’ll be all right.”
Sequim was led by Alexas Besand’s 11 points (“Alexas is tough,” Poindexter said), while Emily Wallner and Elise Beuke added six points each.
All Port Angeles needs is one win to nail down the league championship and a first-round bye in next week’s West Central District tournament.
While the Riders are jostling for the highest seed possible, Sequim’s fight is for a spot in the district tournament.
The Wolves (5-9, 7-11) are sixth in the Olympic League, a game behind Kingston (6-8, 8-10).
Both teams host Bremerton this week. Sequim also faces Port Townsend (6-8, 10-8), while the Buccaneers’ other game is against Klahowya (3-12, 6-13).
Reaching the playoffs would be quite an accomplishment for the Wolves, who have just one senior and many sophomores and freshmen playing important minutes.
“We need to get at least one [win] for a chance at the playoffs,” Still said.
“We would really like to get two, though.”
Redskins make it
Meanwhile, Port Townsend has locked down a place in the 1A postseason.
Redskins coach Randy Maag told the Peninsula Daily News on Saturday that the school’s agreement with the Nisqually League stipulates that the Redskins need to finish seventh or better in the 2A Olympic League to qualify for the postseason.
Since eighth-place Klahowya is three games behind Port Townsend with only two games to play, the Redskins are guaranteed to finish between fifth and seventh in the Olympic League.
Who and when Port Townsend will play has yet to be decided.
The Redskins know they will play the fourth-place Nisqually League team in a pigtail game.
Seattle Christian leads Charles Wright by one game, but the Warriors finish the regular season Tuesday against undefeated Cascade Christian and the Tarriers conclude with Vashon Island, which is second-to-last in the Nisqually League.
It is possible, if not probable, that there will be a tie for the No. 4 spot, which would require a tiebreaker game to see which team will face Port Townsend.
Port Angeles 47, Sequim 28
Sequim 6 5 11 6— 28
Port Angeles 14 4 18 11— 47
Individual scoring
Sequim (28)
Besand 11, Wallner 6, Beuke 6, Guan 3, Cummins 2.
Port Angeles (47)
Hinrichs 14, Frazier 11, Walker 7, Jones 5, Lee 4, Johnson 3, Northern 3.
