PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend girls basketball team clinched a postseason berth Tuesday night with a 53-37 win over North Mason.
Port Townsend had three scorers in double figures, while the defense took care of business on the other end in a must-win game with playoff implications.
“We played well tonight,” Redskins coach Randy Maag said. “We pressed them pretty much all night, which we hadn’t been doing. It was really effective.”
With the win, Port Townsend (7-8 in league, 9-10 overall) clinched at least a fifth-place finish in the Olympic League.
With another win Friday against Bremerton (5-9, 7-11) and some help, the Redskins could move all the way up to fourth.
That could mean a shot at a No. 4 seed in the Class 1A Tri-District if Seattle Christian athletic director Craig Wrolstad is correct about the seeding process for girls and boys basketball (see story on Page B3).
Kiley Maag and Caroline Dowdle each had 13 points in the Redskins’ win on Tuesday night. Kerri Evalt added 12 points, while Bella Fox had nine.
“That’s the nice thing about that group is they are all right around 9 ½ to 10 points a game,” Randy Maag said.
“It does give us balance, so they can’t really key.”
The difference on Tuesday night, however, was on defense.
The Redskins were aggressive from the opening tip with their full-court press, and the Bulldogs wilted under the pressure.
North Mason (3-10, 4-13) scored just 23 points total in the first three quarters, as the Redskins raced out to a 37-23 lead that was never challenged.
“We get a little lethargic, so we thought we’ll just come out and press right away and see what happens,” Maag said.
“It definitely worked for us.”
Port Townsend 53, North Mason 37
North Mason 8 7 8 14 — 37
Port Townsend 14 4 19 16 — 53
Individual Scoring
North Mason (37)
Hicks 2, Zamudio 4, Lake 4, Satran 2, Ingwaldson 17, Johnson 4, Wiley 4.
Port Townsend (53)
Whipple 4, Evalt 12, Maag 13, Dowdle 13, Young 2, Fox 9.
Boys Swimming Divisional meet
PORT ANGELES — The Roughriders and Wolves made good on one last chance Tuesday to qualify for the Class 2A West Central District meet.
Four more Riders qualified for the postseason meet — putting the number at 16 total athletes — after placing high at the Olympic League’s divisional invitational.
The Wolves, meanwhile, had two divers qualify for state and a relay team punch its ticket to districts.
Tarren Grimsley and Kris Wannquist each earned spots for Port Angeles after placing first in their respective races Tuesday.
Grimsley won the 200-yard freestyle in 2 minutes, 13.50 seconds, while Wannquist claimed the 100 free in 58.47 seconds.
Also qualifying for the Riders were one-meter divers Sam Beasley and Philip Scott with 313.70 points and 227.15, respectively.
Wolves Ezra Perkins (333.15) and Connor Christianson (320.85) were first and second, respectively, in the diving competition as they both qualified for state.
Also, Austin Clement (290.30) and Cameron Harrison (268.20) qualified for districts for Sequim.
Sequim 400 free relay qualified for Districts by dropping 40 seconds off its best time.
District prelims will begin next Thursday at Hazen High School in Renton.
Boys Basketball Onalaska 76, Forks 40
FORKS — The Spartans (7-6, 10-9) saw a 12-point halftime deficit balloon in the third quarter as they fell to the SWL-Evergreen champions Tuesday night.
Details of the game were not reported.
