PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend and Chimacum literally went down to the final second as the Cowboys hung on for a 44-41 win over their rival in a Olympic 1A Division girls basketball league opener.
The Cowboys overcame poor free throw shooting (6 for 25) and weathered a Port Townsend comeback in which the Redhawks cut a double-digit lead to one
Chimacum also came away with a late bucket in a weird ending to the game.
“Our defense played well again and really picked by up after a mediocre performance early in the week at Charles Wright. We did a great job of applying pressure and getting turnovers and playing the pace we want on defense,” said Chimacum coach Trevor Huntingford.
“Offensively we did a nice job adjusting to both the zone and man to man looks they threw at us. We moved the ball offensively making the zone run and did a great job of finding gaps in the their man to man as well and did an excellent job getting to the line,” Huntingford said.
Port Townsend coach Scott Wilson said it was a typical Port Townsend-Chimacum game.
“As all Port Townsend-Chimacum games are, it was intense and loud,” Wilson said.
Huntingford said the youth of his team contributed to the Redhawks’ comeback at the end.
”I blame some that on youth and some of it on the fact we try and push pace in general when we can. But, when you have a lead we need to be better at knowing the situation and not being in too big of a rush,” Huntingford said.
“A lot of it was really focused, hard-charging basketball,” Wilson said of his team. He said the Redhawks’ Jazmine Apker-Montoya played great down the stretch, scoring nine points in the fourth quarter, seven of them from the free-throw line.
In a strange ending to the game, the Cowboys’ Jada Trafton went to the free-throw line to shoot a one-and-one with 0.9 seconds left and Chimacum clinging to a 42-41 lead. The Cowboys cleared the lane to put their four other players on defense and Trafton missed the front end. The rebound came right back to her, the clock didn’t start because of confusion over the one-and-one, and Trafton took a dribble and a shot, making it.
After a long conference with the refs, the shot was counted and Port Townsend got the ball back with 0.7 seconds left, but wasn’t able to score.
Maddie Dowling led the Cowboys with 11 points, while Mia McNair and Grace Yaley each had nine and Trafton eight. Port Townsend was led by Kaitlyn Meek with 14 and sophmore Izzy Hammett with 13. Apker-Montoya added 10. Huntingford said that freshman Jadeah Nordberg did a good job on the boards while adding seven points.
Wilson said it was Hammett’s biggest scoring game of her high school career as she was effective inside against Chimacum’s zone.
Chimacum (1-0, 2-1) plays at Forks Tuesday. Port Townsend (0-1, 0-4) hosts Coupeville at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Chimacum 44, Port Townsend 41
Chimacum 10 10 10 14 — 44
PT 12 4 7 18 — 41
Chimacum (44) — Yaley 9, Trafton 8, Dowling 11, McNair 9, Nordberg 7
Port Townsend (41) — Apker-Montoya 11, Meek 13, Nielsen 2, Tracer 2, Hammett 13
Forks 53, Clallam Bay 36
FORKS — The Spartans got off to a fast start with freshman Chloe Leverington scoring 15 of her 20 points in the first half and went on to beat Clallam Bay 53-36 for their fourth win of the year.
Forks’ Jayden Olson added 14 points with four 3-pointers and Kesia Rowley added seven. The Spartans played most of the game without one of their leading players, Rian Peters, who sprained an ankle early in the game. Coach David Hurn doesn’t think it’s too serious of an injury and she should be back in the lineup soon.
For the Bruins, Jada Clemens led the team with 11 points, while Hannah Olson scored nine and Cedar Johnson eight.
Forks (4-1) hosts Chimacum at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday for a the beginning of a home-and-home series with the Cowboys.
Forks 53, Clallam Bay 36
Forks 12 18 11 12 — 53
CB 3 9 13 11 — 36
Forks (53) — Leverington 20, Olson 14, Rowley 7, Baar 3, Kratzer 3, Johnson 2, Garcia-Vazquez 2, Peters 2.
Clallam Bay (36) — Clemens 11, Olson 9, Johnson 8, Anderson 4, Smith 2, Wonderly 2.
Sequim 39, Coupeville 35
COUPEVILLE — The Sequim Wolves moved to 2-0 with a victory over the Wolves of Whidbey Island on Friday.
“It was pretty consistent, we got up to an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter and we tried to control the tempo,” Sequim coach Larry Brown said.
“We managed the time and score pretty well. A couple of times we were in bad positions and made some mistakes, but we came through.”
Brown said the two teams combined to shoot 17 free throws in the fourth quarter. “We were 3 for 7, they went 2 for 10, so it could easily have swung the game either way. We will work on shooting free throws when we are tired.”
Hope Glasser led the team with 11 points.
Freshman Jayla Julmist scored eight points and had a good night on the glass.
“She made some important shots and had about 15 rebounds, so that was huge,” Brown said. “Another freshman, Melissa Porter, did a great job of controlling their point guard, especially in the fourth quarter. She locked her down in the final minutes.”
The Wolves (1-0, 2-0) host Neah Bay on Tuesday.
Sequim 39, Coupeville 35
Sequim 9 11 10 9— 39
Coupeville 6 13 7 9— 35
Sequim (39) — Dietzman 4, Sparks 2, Aleceda, Schroeder 2, Glasser 11, Julmist 8, Wiker 7, Porter 5, Grasser.
Lonnie Archibald/for Peninsula Daily News Clallam Bay’s Kaitlynn Tyree (12) attempts to pass to teammate Jada Clemmons (21) through the outreached hands of Forks’ Chloe Leverington Friday in Forks.
