This is a stellar season for basketball on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Could it be the best season ever for our region? That awaits to be seen.
There are two incredibly successful teams thriving right now at Peninsula College. The Port Angeles boys basketball team looked nearly unbeatable before the Roughriders finally got beaten by a 6-1 Foss team last week.
And the Sequim girls might be every bit as big of a powerhouse as the Port Angeles boys.
Let’s start with the Riders. They began the season 6-0, winning every game by at least 19 points. And that 19-point win was over 3A Bainbridge.
They averaged 81.8 points a game over those wins and gave up 44.7 points a game for an average margin of victory of 37 points a game. They probably would have cracked 100 at least a couple of times if not the running clock in high school blowouts. In one game against Olympic, they went to a running clock early in the third quarter.
The Riders are 4-0 in the Olympic 2A League and it appears that the only team in the league that’s going to seriously challenge Port Angeles is the usual suspect, North Kitsap. North Kitsap finally graduated their powerful trio of Jonas La Tour, Aiden Olmstead and Jonny Olmstead (Aiden Olmstead is nearly averaging double figures in rebounds for Peninsula College), but they have plenty of younger players stepping into the vacuum. The Vikings are 4-0 in league and 5-2 overall.
Port Angeles finally gets to face North Kitsap, ranked seventh in the state, on Jan. 3 in Poulsbo. These are easily two of the top 10 2A teams in the state.
The Riders graduated a lot of players from their team that finished sixth at the state 2A tournament last year, the best showing by a Port Angeles boys team since 1997. But they have some sophomores last year that were either varsity bench players or junior varsity who have really stepped into the void — particularly 6-foot-7 Tyler Hunter and 6-foot-5 Isaiah Shamp. You can throw in 6-foot-3 Parker Nickerson, who has the hops to dunk, and a corral of 6-foot-1 to 6-foot-4 bench players who contribute and get plenty of minutes. Even on an off night, the Riders can simply wear down most opponents with their depth and size.
The Riders are luckily still pretty young, with seven juniors and a good sophomore, Gus Halberg, returning next year.
This is a big team for a 2A team. The Riders can defend and rebound. I’ve watched them crush opponents on poor shooting nights. I think they’ve yet to put together a total game.
Sequim girls
The Sequim girls remain perfect for the season at 7-0, including 4-0 in the Olympic 2A League. Among those seven wins are victories over North Kitsap, last year’s 1B state runner-up Neah Bay and 3A Bainbridge.
The Wolves are also a tall team for a 2A squad. They are led by Olympic League MVP candidate Jolene Vaara (5-foot-10) and Jelissa Julmist (6-foot-0), both of whom put up double-doubles almost every game. Then they throw in points, steals and assists from the backcourt tandem of Hannah Bates and Taryn Johnson. The Wolves are a lot of handle.
The team that might give the Wolves a good fight is Port Angeles. The Riders graduated a lot of players from last year’s squad and have struggled in some losses, but they are still 3-1 in league play and locked into second place at the moment. And every Michael Poindexter-coached squad plays tough defense. I’m looking forward to the Riders and Wolves finally meeting on Jan. 10.
Peninsula men
The Peninsula College men were unranked in the preseason. After starting the season 12-1, they are ranked No. 4 in the latest Northwest Athletic Conference poll.
The one loss for the Pirates, on the road against a weak Centralia team, came with several players out with injuries and illness. Peninsula got to play Centralia again at a tournament last week in Eugene, Ore., and beat them 114-50.
The men are winning close games (66-64 over Green River, 68-65 over South Puget Sound and 79-72 over Lane — a game the Pirates trailed in with six minutes left). They’ve also won by margins of 16, 20, 22, 24 and 64 points.
Their leading scorer is Roosevelt Williams Jr., but they’ve been winning without him lately as he sprained a knee.
Peninsula women
The Peninsula women, who came within a couple of seconds of winning the NWAC title last year, were missing some players early and got off to an 0-2 start, not really a sign of a preseason No. 1-ranked team.
Since then, the Pirates have rattled off eight straight wins, beating No. 2-ranked and last year’s champion Lower Columbia twice. Peninsula is now ranked No. 2 in the NWAC behind always-powerful Lane.
The Pirates have had a couple of close wins — 71-67 over Mount Hood and 82-75 over Big Bend — but most of their wins have been by double digits.
One of the fun aspects of the women’s team is all the local players. Sequim’s Hope Glasser graduated, but the Pirates are still led by all-everything Millie Long, who very nearly had a quadruple-double in a victory last week. Port Townsend’s Gina Brown gets significant minutes, as does Neah Bay’s Ruth Moss.
Other stars on this team are Tati Kamae of Hawaii, who set a school record last week with 14 steals in a game, and Ituau Tuisaula, who is a double-double machine in the paint. The women won three straight without Tuisaula, who is also resting a sprained knee. Coach Alison Crumb is also looking forward to Chasity Selden, a transfer from Bryant & Stratton College, to join the team in January.
The Peninsula College teams enter North Region play beginning Jan. 11.
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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
