GIG HARBOR — The Roughriders couldn’t keep 6-foot-2 Kirsten Ritchie out of the paint late and fell to the Class 3A Seahawks in a nonleague road game Thursday.
Ritchie scored 11 of her 17 points in the fourth quarter as Peninsula erased a 28-24 Port Angeles advantage after three frames.
“We had a slim lead for much of the game, but way too many turnovers in the second quarter and an inability to stop Peninsula’s inside game in the fourth quarter, did us in,” head coach Michael Poindexter said.
“Our defense was good enough to keep us close, but we did not handle Peninsula’s trapping in the half-court well. It will be a good game to learn from and develop a more mature attack mode against defensive pressure we see in the future.”
Poindexter said the Riders had a tough time shooting the ball.
“I don’t have our shooting percentage on the night, but it was abysmal, especially from the outside,” he said. “Our post players scored 23 of our 38 points.”
Gracie Long led Port Angeles with seven points, while Cheyenne Wheeler, Jaida Wood and Devin Edwards all tallied six. Aeverie Politika added five points.
The Riders (1-1) visited Class 4A Hazen late Saturday, and will gear up for a visit from North Kitsap on Friday.
Peninsula 43, Port Angeles 38
Port Angeles 14 4 10 10— 38
Peninsula 8 4 12 19— 43
Port Angeles (38) — G. Long 7, Wheeler 6, Wood 6, Edwards 6, Politika 5, E. Long 4, Brady 2, Steinman 2, Gray, Cooke, Olsen.
Peninsula (43) — Frazier 19, Ritchie 17, Palagyi 2, Richter 2, Doss 2, McKinney 1.
Forks 36, Klahowya 31
FORKS — The Forks girls kept up their resurgence, remaining undefeated with a 36-31 win over Klahowya, fending off a furious Eagles’ rally in the fourth quarter.
Chloe Leverington led the Spartans with 16 points, while Rian Peters scored 10.
The Spartans took a 27-17 lead into the fourth quarter, but allowed 14 Klahowya points in the fourth as the Eagles made a game of it down the stretch.
“It was our second game in a row where we built up a lead and haven’t figured ut a way to put them away,” said coach David Hurn. “our youth showed a little bit, but Klahowya played tough.”
Hurn said it was important for his players to learn how to hang on for a win when the other team is rallying and pressing.
“It’s healthy for us to play these games with our youth. You can’t practice these kind of games,” he said.
Forks (3-0) takes its unbeaten record to Neah Bay Wednesday for a 6 p.m. game.
Forks 36, Klahowya 31
Forks 4 12 11 9 — 36
Klahowya 2 11 4 14 — 31
Forks (36) — Leverington 16, Peters 10, Johnon 5, Baar 4, Olsen 1.
North Mason 53, Port Townsend 46
BELFAIR — The Port Townsend girls rallied in the second half and cut a big North Mason lead down to three points with a minute to play, but the Redhawks came up just short in a 53-46 season-opening loss.
The Redhawks’ Kaitlyn Meek scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to lead the charge, finishing with 19 for the game. Jazmine Apker-Montoya scored 17 for Port Townsend.
Coach Scott Wilson felt the Redhawks “played really well” against a good 2A team. The Bulldogs earlier this season beat Klahowya by 36. He said a rash of steals at the end of the third quarter hurt Port Townsend.
Port Townsend (0-1) played Saturday night at home after press deadline against Roseville, which is traveling from California to play teams in Washington. The Redhawks next play at Lakewood at 7:15 p.m. Monday.
North Mason 53, Port Townsend 46
NM 17 12 12 12 — 46
PT 10 11 9 16 — 53
North Mason (53) — Carstensen 19, Green 14, Simonson 11, Johnson 4, Griffey 3, Mathews 2.
Port Townsend (46) — Meek 19, Apker-Montoya 17, Hammett 5, Johnston 3, King 2.
Quilcene 41, Mary M. Knight 35
QUILCENE — With a young team of four freshmen and four sophomores, the Quilcene girls won their first game of the year, beating Mary M. Knight 41-35.
“I couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome to our first game of the season. Solid defense, communication, hustle, and good ball movement were just some of the many positives,” said coach Brianna Weller.
Sydney Brown led the team with 12 points while Abby Weller had 11. Coach Weller said Brown also did a good job defensively on Mary Knight’s outside shooter while Weller contained MK’s star Kelsey Skinner. Brittney Beukes also hit three out of four free throws in the last 90 seconds to help seal the win.
The Rangers will play at Clallam Bay at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Quilcene 41, Mary M. Knight 35
MMK 6 8 9 12 — 35
Quilcene 6 12 11 12 — 41
Quilcene (41) — S. Brown 12, Weller 11, G. Brown 9, Kieffer 4, Beukes 3, Scholz 2.
Boys Basketball
Forks 52, Klahowya 30
FORKS — Cort Prose connected on six 3-pointers as the Spartans held down the Eagles 52-30 in a nonleague home game Friday.
“We pressed a little bit, we had to play Aberdeen man, and North Beach for our first game you always want to play man, but tonight we played zone and it worked well for us,” Forks coach Rick Gooding said.
“We kept getting the lead to 10, and it seemed like the kids were satisfied with that, so that was a a little bummer. We had a hard time shooting the ball tonight, I bet it was about 25 percent.”
Gooding praised Seth Johnson for his work defensively in Forks’ 2-3 zone.
“Seth is key to the press,” Gooding said. He’s super quick and has great hands.”
Jake Jacoby didn’t score, but Gooding said he did plenty of little things to help the Spartans.
“He’s a versatile player for us, he does a lot of things right that help us win.”
Prose’s 3-point shots were spread out, with two apiece in the first and second quarters and one each in the third and fourth quarters.
“He also put the ball on the floor and got a nice pull-up jumper,” Gooding said.
Cort is still kind of nursing a knee injury from football but he shot the ball well.
“For us to be good we have to be deep. I kind of have a feeling that we are going to have different guys lead us in scoring on a given night.”
Forks (2-1) hosts Port Townsend at 7 p.m. Monday.
Forks 52, Klahowya 30
Klahowya 6 11 8 5— 30
Forks 12 12 11 17— 52
Klahowya (30) — Kraft 3, Kepert 0, G. Betzing 6, Coots 4, Lewis 2, Hartford 9, Garlit, Smith, L. Betzing, Becker 6.
Forks (52) — Johnson 3, Reaume 5, Jacoby, T. Baysinger 4, Prose 23, T. Flores 0, Armas 4, Baar 2, A. Flores 8, Archibald 2,Morton 1.
Port Townsend 56, North Mason 52
BELFAIR — The Port Townsend boys survived a slow start and a wild finish reminiscent of Michigan’s infamous NCAA championship loss to fend off North Mason 56-52.
The Redhawks got off to a poor start, finding themselves down 19-5 after the first quarter and 30-18 at the half. But, they roared back in the second half, outscoring North Mason 22-11 in the fourth to pull the game out.
Coach Tom Webster said Noa Montoya hit a couple of clutch 3-pointers and Kaiden Parcher hit a trey with three minutes left to give the Redhawks a 50-48 lead. With Port Townsend clinging to a 53-52 lead with 18 seconds left, Montoya missed a free throw and during a mad scramble for the loose ball, a North Mason player called a timeout when the Bulldogs didn’t have any timeouts, which Chris Webber once infamously did for Michigan. The play resulted in a technical foul and Boucher hit a pair of free throws to give the Redhawks a 3-point lead with seconds left. Port Townsend was able to hold on for the win.
Montoya led the Redhawks with 17 points, while Jackson Foster had six points and 17 rebounds. Kaiden Parcher and Jacob Boucher each scored 13, with Parcher adding nine boards and four assists and Boucher tallying six assists and four steals.
Port Townsend (1-1) next plays at 7 p.m. Monday at Forks.
Port Townsend 56, North Mason 52
NM 19 11 11 11 — 52
PT 5 13 16 22 — 56
North Mason (52) — McCormick 21, Campbell 8, Pearson 7, Wood 5, Brown 2, Willaims 2, McGanney 2.
Port Townsend (56) — Montoya 17, Parcher 13, Boucher 13, Foster, Hammett, Spencer 2, Lake 2.
Mary M. Knight 47, Quilcene 42
QUILCENE — Quilcene had a lead after the half against Mary M. Knight, but couldn’t hold it in the second, falling in the Rangers’ season-opener 47-42.
“It was our first game of the year and it showed. We missed a lot of lay-ins and made cheap fouls,” said coach Richie French.
French said the Rangers also got into foul trouble in the second half with three players carrying four fouls and two others with three. Quilcene switched from man defense to zone, and “they exploited it pretty quickly.”
Zachary Budnek led the Rangers with 11 points, while Olin Reynolds scored nine and Ethan Davis scored eight.
Quilcene (0-1) next plays at 6:15 p.m. at Clallam Bay.
Mary M. Knight 47, Quilcene 42
MMK 7 9 18 13 — 47
Quilcene 10 8 13 11 — 42
Quilcene (42) — Reynolds 9, Elkins 6, Budnek 11, Filmer 4, Newman 2, Davis 8.
Boys Swimming
Kingston 108.5, Port Angeles 69.5
PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles boys swim team qualified a swimmer for state and qualified in nine events for districts in an opening-season meet against Kingston.
Kingston won the meet 108.5 to 69.5.
Roughrider Cameron Butler qualified for state in the 200 individual medley, finishing second with a time of 2 minutes, 8.77 seconds.
Winning their events were the 400 freestyle relay team of Butler, Henry Shaw, Taylor Martin and Alex Hertzog in a time of 3:54.11 and Andrew Methner in the 1-meter diving with 162.75 points.
Qualifying for district were:
200 medley relay (Hertzog, Carter Droz, Shaw, Butler), second, 2:02.80.
200 individual medley – Shaw, third, 2:30.96
100 butterfly – Hertzog, third, 1:01.91
100 freestyle – Butler (Relay lead-off), 52.41
500 freestyle — Butler, second, 5:23.05; Shaw, third, 6:10.59
100 backstroke — Hertzog, second, 1:02.93; Martin, third, 1:06.82
The Riders’ next meet is at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at home against Olympic.
Lonnie Archibald/for Peninsula Daily News Forks’ Chloe Leverington grabs a rebound in the Spartans’ 36-31 win over Klahowya Friday night. Leverington led the team with 16 points to help Forks go to 3-0 on the season.
