BREMERTON — Port Angeles enters the bi-district girls basketball tournament on a 10-game winning streak after beating Bremerton 53-36 on the road Thursday.
Having already claimed the Class 2A league title, the Roughriders (13-1, 15-6) sealed the Olympic League outright over 3A Bainbridge (12-2, 15-4) with the win.
But it wasn’t as easy as showing up and expecting the Knights to back down.
“Bremerton had a strong first quarter in attacking our zone defense, and they shot extremely well [60-percent for the quarter],” Poindexter said.
“As the game wore on, we picked up more turnovers [they had 39 total] and their shooting cooled off.”
Port Angeles’ rivalry win over Sequim may have taken something out of the Riders.
“It also appeared that Tuesday’s Sequim game took a physical toll on us, as our movement and rebounding were sluggish at times,” Poindexter said.
“Our girls worked hard to make defensive adjustments, though, and our offensive ball movement and decision-making improved; we got to the free-throw line 12 times in the second half by getting the ball inside more instead of settling for early 3-point shots.
Poindexter said Izzy Felton played an exceptionally strong game with nine points, nine steals and five assists.
Paige Mason led the Riders with 14 points and four steals.
Port Angeles will host a bi-district home game with a state regional round spot on the line Wednesday at 6 p.m. with the opponent to-be-determined.
Port Angeles 53,Bremerton 36
Port Angeles 16 14 13 10— 53
Bremerton 14 9 7 6— 36
Port Angeles (53) — Mason 14, Clark 13, Li. Smith 11, Felton 9, K. Moses 3, Le. Smith 2, Manson 1, Politika, Rognlien, T. Moses.
Forks 53, Ocosta 19
ROCHESTER — The Spartans held the Wildcats to three field goals through the first three quarters and eliminated their fellow Pacific League foe from the Class 2B Southwest District Tournament.
“We played much better defensively,” coach David Hurn said. “We had a couple lapses against Toutle Lake in the second half [on Tuesday], so we challenged ourselves to clean that up. Every playoff team plays defense and you can’t take breaks so we challenged them to dominate defensively and I was impressed with how aggressive we were.”
Keira Johnson led Forks with 24 points.
“We opened up the game by hitting some outside shots and the girls were shooting with confidence,” Hurn said. “We hit seven first-half 3s and Keira had four 3s in the game.”
Forks (17-6) faces Ilwaco in another loser-out contest at Castle Rock High School at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Win against the Fisherman and the Spartans will have two chances to earn a state tournament berth.
Forks 53, Ocosta 19
Ocosta 4 3 2 10 —19
Forks 19 18 7 9 — 53
Forks (53) — K. Johnson 24, B. Johnson 9, Daniels 6, Peters 5, Gaydeski 4, Neel 3, Dilley 2.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at sports@peninsuladailynews.com.
