FIFE — The Port Angeles boys, Forks boys and girls and East Jefferson girls basketball teams all came out on top in must-win playoff games this weekend.
The Port Angeles boys shook off a slow start to bury six 3-pointers in the second half, including three straight by Gus Halberg, in a 60-47 victory over Fife in the Roughriders’ West Central District III loser-out tournament opener Saturday night.
Halberg ended up hitting a total of five 3-pointers and scored 29 points. The team as a whole hit nine. Keatyn Hoch hit a pair of bombs and finished with 14 points while Blake Sohlberg hit a trey at the first-half buzzer to give the Riders momentum going into the second half.
Port Angeles got off to a shaky start, quickly falling into an 8-0 hole against the Trojans. The Riders crashed the offensive boards well and were getting good shots, but the shots simply weren’t falling early as they entered the second quarter down by double digits at 16-6.
The Riders simply dominated the next 21 minutes of play, outscoring Fife 48-23 over that stretch.
In the second half, Halberg went wild from outside. He hit a 3-pointer to open up Port Angeles’ scoring in the third quarter, then drilled three straight 3-pointers to turn a 37-35 game into a 46-37 lead within a minute. Hoch and Angevine added 3-point shots as Port Angeles built its lead up to 54-39 with three minutes left in the game.
Port Angeles (10-12 overall), a No. 9 seed, has now moved on to the double-elimination portion of the tournament. The Riders get to play the No. 1 team in the tournament, Bremerton (15-5) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Bremerton. No. 3 seed Sequim will host Foss at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Forks 67, Chief Leschi 32
ROCHESTER — The Forks boys basketball team bounced back from a painful opening-round loss to Rainier by getting off to a blistering 17-0 start in the first quarter against Chief Leschi, going on to win easily 67-32 in the second round of the District 4 2B tournament to remain alive in the postseason.
The Spartans built up their lead to 25-2 in the second quarter and 48-14 late in the third quarter before letting up on the gas.
Forks had great balance with five players scoring at least nine points. Brody Lausche was unstoppable inside and had 16, while Bubba Hernandez-Stansbury had 11, Gabe Willenbrink 10, and Landen Olson and Noah Foster nine each.
Forks (18-3) will play Mossyrock (6-14) at Castle Rock High School at 6 p.m. Wednesday in its third-round game. The Spartans must win two more games to qualify for the state tournament.
Muckleshoot 87, Crescent 49
AUBURN — The Crescent boys basketball team’s season came to a close with an 87-49 first-round Tri-District tournament loss to Muckleshoot.
Eighth-grader Liam Sprague led the Loggers with 11, while Dom Sprague had 10 and Jax Sprague and Josh Noel nine each. Henry Bourm had eight.
Girls basketball
East Jefferson 41, Cascade Christian 36
PUYALLUP — The East Jefferson girls assured themselves of a winning season after coming from way behind in the fourth quarter to beat Cascade Christian 41-36 this weekend.
Cascade Christian went into the fourth quarter at the District III 1A tournament opener up 32-23, but the Rivals outscored the Cougars 18-4 in the fourth to move on to the next round. East Jefferson (12-9) will play at Annie Wright (14-4) at 6 p.m. today, but win or lose, the Rivals will move to play either Bellevue Christian or Life Christian on Thursday. That game will likely be against Life Christian.
East Jefferson shot 80 percent from the free-throw line with Kay Botkin shooting 12-for-13. She also hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with 20 points, adding five assists and three steals to her stats.
Penina Vailolo scored 11 points despite foul trouble, while Teri Wiley had 12 rebounds and three steals.
Bre Huntingford knocked down two free throws to ice the game with seven seconds left.
With the win, the Rivals improved their record to 12-9 and assured themselves of a winning season.
Forks 65, Chief Leschi 28
ROCHESTER — The Forks girls basketball team (10-11) got a monster game from Bailey Johnson in romping over Chief Leschi 65-28 on Saturday to stay alive in the District 4 2B tournament.
Johnson had her best game of the year, scoring 37 points while only playing the first three quarters.
“We wanted to play with pace and she took that to heart,” said coach David Hurn. “She’s a very dedicated individual. Very driven.” He said Johnson got a lot of her baskets on steals and drives to the bucket.
Both the boys and the girls will now play the same school — Mossyrock (10-10 overall). That game is at 7:30 p.m. today at Castle Rock High School. The girls must now win two straight to qualify for state.
Muckleshoot 72, Crescent 36
PUYALLUP — A young Crescent team’s season ended with a 72-36 Tri-District tournament loss to Muckleshoot.
The Loggers made postseason despite starting as many as three eighth-graders this season.
Two of the eighth-graders, Ella Kneiss and Kali Hopper, started every game, gaining invaluable high school basketball experience.
Naomii Sprague, one of the team’s few veterans, had 28 points. She will be back next year as a senior.
