By Aaron VanTuyl
For Peninsula Daily News
SPOKANE — The Red Devils made history Saturday afternoon.
And now they’re hungry for more.
Neah Bay picked up the pace in the second quarter and rolled from there, putting away Almira/Coulee-Hartline 67-56 in the third-place game of the girls 1B Hardwood Classic.
Taking a trophy home from Spokane is nothing new for Neah Bay — which took sixth last year with close to the same roster of players — but the third-place finish is the largest of the eight trophies the Red Devils have earned since 2008.
“We set a goal at the beginning of the season and we achieved it — third or higher,” said Neah Bay forward Patience Swan. “It feels so awesome. We really reached our goal, and everybody worked as a team.”
Neah Bay finished the season with a 23-3 record, and with a roster featuring seven sophomores, two juniors, three freshmen and no seniors, they’re already making plans for next year.
“We’re already talking about it,” Swan said. “We know what we need to do and to improve.”
To do so, the Red Devils needed to bounce back from a tough semifinal loss to Colton on Friday afternoon.
“We all knew that we needed to do better,” Swan said. “We kind of talked and figured out what we needed to do, and that’s what we did.”
Neah Bay coach Tina Grimes-Brown was happy with the team’s ability to put the semifinals in the past.
“From the very beginning, the first day of practice, they knew they wanted to be here, and wanted to win,” Grimes-Brown said.
“When we didn’t beat Colton, they knew that game was over, and they said, ‘Let’s take third place’,” Grimes-Brown said.
Neah Bay started to pull away in the second quarter, leading 27-21 at halftime and taking its first double-digit lead on a 3-pointer from Swan midway through the third.
The Warriors trimmed it back to five early in the fourth, but free throws from Swan and a 3-pointer from Cei’J Gagnon pushed it back to 10 with 6:15 to play.
Courtney Swan added a backbreaking trey as the shot clock wound down with 3:30 left in the game, pushing the lead to 54-41.
The Warriors wouldn’t come within eight points the rest of the way.
“They came out ready to play, and then they just maintained,” Grimes-Brown said.
Patience Swan finished with 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Courtney Swan added 13 points and six steals. Cei’J Gagnon chipped in 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting.
Almira-Coulee-Hartline finished the season with a 23-3 record, after losing to Pomeroy 48-47 in the semifinals on Friday. Gabi Isaak led the Warriors with 22 points and 19 rebounds, but ACH shot just 1 of 14 (7 percent) from long range and turned the ball over 19 times.
Neah Bay 67, ACH 56
NB 12 15 14 26 — 67
ACH 12 9 15 20 — 56
Neah Bay (67) — C. Swan 13, Greene 9, Aguirre 4, Gagnon 12, Moss 8, Woodruff 1, Cummins 4, P. Swan 16.
ACH (56) — Bradshaw 13, G. Isaak 22, Oliver 5, M. Isaak 12, Murray 2, Kenney 2.
State Semifinals
Colton 83, Neah Bay 38
SPOKANE — The Red Devils got to see, up close and personal, what makes Colton such a successful basketball team.
The answer: A little bit of everything.
The defending state champions never let up here Friday afternoon, dispatching of Neah Bay 83-38 in the semifinals of the 1B girls Hardwood Classic to reach the title game for the 11th time in the past 12 years.
“They’re a very strong team. Very disciplined running on and off the court,” Neah Bay assistant coach Casey Bruner said. “They keep their attitude pretty level on the court. They don’t get too excited, they don’t get too down. They’re a pretty solid team.”
The Wildcats were solid in all facets of the game. They went 15 of 37 from long range (41 percent), held a 43-29 rebounding advantage and turned the ball over just eight times. Four players scored in double figures and nine of the 10 Wildcats on the roster etched their name in the scorebook.
The Red Devils stayed close in the first half, trailing by five midway through the second quarter before Colton rattled off a 13-2 run — highlighted by six straight points from Josie Schultheis, who finished with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Colton, however, opened the second half with threes from Rylee Vining, Dakota Patchen and Schultheis to push the lead to 21 points, and the Red Devils wouldn’t get closer than 20 the rest of the way.
“Today it was probably more mental. We beat up on ourselves,” Bruner said. “They just kind of got out of their game a little bit, but they kept on. They kept trying to get right back to it, and we’re proud of them.”
Ruth Moss led Neah Bay with 11 points. Courtney Swan chipped in eight, and Laila Greene and Oceana Aguirre each scored seven.
“Our girls fought hard til the end. Each and every one of them,” Bruner said. “It was nice when somebody’s head would hang low. Their teammate was like, ‘Let’s go, let’s keep it up.’”
The Red Devils will still play in the third-place game on Saturday, against either Pomeroy or Almira-Coulee-Hartline. With a roster chock-full of sophomores, ending the season on a Saturday in March holds promise.
“They’re smart players,” Bruner said. “It’s what we have to look forward to for the next two years. They’re amazing.”
Notes: Patchen added 16 points for Colton. Vining and Jordyn Moehrle each chipped in 12. … Colton won the 2018 state title, and won eight championships in a row from 2009 to 2016. The Wildcats came into the semifinals on a 14-game winning streak, with an average margin of victory of 44 points; none of those games was closer than 10 points.
Colton 83, Neah Bay 38
NB 9 11 13 5 — 38
Colton 15 20 29 19 — 83
Neah Bay (38) — Swan 8, Greene 7, Aguirre 7, Gagnon 4, Moss 11, Cummins 1.
Colton (83) — Vining 12, Moehrle 12, Pluid 4, Schultheis 21, Patchen 16, Meyer 3, Thomas 3, Kinzer 3, Kelly 9.
The third-place Neah Bay basketball girls pose with their third-place trophy after beating Almira/Coulee-Hartline 67-56 on Saturday. The girls went 2-1 at the state tournament and finished the season 24-3. (Chris Johnson/for Peninsula Daily News)
Neah Bay’s Patience Swan battles with Colton’s Emily Schultheis for rebounding position in the girls Class 1B State Basketball Semifinals in Spokane on Friday. Also in on the play is Colton’s Jordyn Moehrle. Colton won the game 83-38, sending Neah Bay to the third-place game. (Chris Johnson/for Peninsula Daily News)
Neah Bay’s Courtney Swan brings the ball up the court in the Class 1B State Basketball Semifinals against Colton’s Jordyn Moehrle on Friday. (Chris Johnson/for Peninsula Daily News)
