TACOMA — Quilcene’s boys and girls basketball teams each advanced to Class 1B Tri-District play-in games Saturday, both against the Northwest District’s No. 2 seeds, after victories in the Class 1B Sea-Tac League Tournament on Thursday at Evergreen Lutheran High School.
Each team held off late challenges, with the Ranger boys triumphing 53-48 over Christian Faith and the Quilcene girls topping Northwest Yeshiva 37-33.
“We just hit our 3s today,” Quilcene boys coach Mark Thompson said.
“They [Christian Faith] tried to defend the middle because in past games we have driven right down the lane and gotten easy scores.”
Quilcene drained 10 3-pointers in the game, the most important to break a 48-48 tie game with less than two minutes to play.
The Rangers held a 12-point lead midway through the fourth quarter before the Eagles came back to even the score.
But Quilcene’s J.J. Smith found Jacob Pleines who knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the 3-point arc to give the Rangers the lead for good at 51-48.
“It was just a monster shot for us,” Thompson said.
Triston Williams hit two free throws to seal the game for the Rangers.
Smith scored 16 points, Pleines had 15 and Williams added 13 for Quilcene.
“We also considerably out rebounded them today,” Thompson said. “Our boys decided we would compete for the ball and they went out and did that.”
Quilcene will visit either Lummi or Tulalip Heritage on Saturday in a loser-out, winner to Tri-District matchup.
Quilcene 53, Christian Faith 48
Quilcene 11 18 14 10— 53
Christian Faith 12 11 11 14— 48
Individual scoring
Quilcene (53)
Jason Smith 16, Jacob Pleines 15, Tristan Williams 13, Jordan 5, King 4.
Christian Faith (48)
Ignatius Medani 16, Harrison Zimmerman 18, Cabiles 10, Weed 4.
Girls Game
Quilcene 37, Northwest Yeshiva 33
TACOMA — Megan Weller’s 19 points and Sammy Rae’s 21 rebounds and nine points helped the Rangers advance.
“We played really well in the first and fourth [quarters] and were able to hang on at the end,” Quilcene coach Briana Weller said.
“They played phenomenal defense today,” Weller said of her team.
Allison Jones didn’t score but hauled down eight rebounds and had two assists and two steals for the Rangers.
Quilcene will visit either Mount Vernon Christian or Tulalip Heritage on Saturday in a loser-out, winner to Tri-District matchup.
Quilcene 37, Northwest Yeshiva 33
Quilcene 11 6 4 16— 37
Northwest Yeshiva 4 7 10 12— 33
Individual scoring
Quilcene (53)
Weller 19, Rae 9, Kieffer 3, Burnston 2, Bailey 2, Viloria 2.
Northwest Yeshiva (33)
Goldberg 13, Hasson 11, Aaronson 8, Menaste 1.