SPOKANE VALLEY — A daunting task awaits the Port Angeles girls basketball team.
Of the 192 boys and girls teams competing across six classifications in the state regional round, the 15th-seeded Roughriders face the longest journey — 406 miles — to their Class 2A regional loser-out contest with 10-seed East Valley (Spokane) at 4 p.m. Saturday at University High School in Spokane Valley.
A pretty vast region, huh?
To win the game against the hard-charging Knights (16-6), winners of the Great Northern League, Port Angeles (13-10) must impose its style on East Valley.
That brings up a good question: just what exactly is that style for these Riders, a team that has had its share of ups and downs this season.
This is a Port Angeles team that holds wins over Olympic League champ North Kitsap and runner-up Olympic. A group that beat two Class 3A teams (Bainbridge and Kelso) in regular season play. A squad that forced Eatonville into 40 turnovers in their district tournament opener, clinched a regional berth by confounding Renton and holding the Indians to eight first-half points, and held No. 3 White River 24 points under its scoring average in a close district semifinal loss.
It’s also a squad that was blasted by 31 by Burlington-Edison, that played poorly in close road games against Pullman and Centralia, lost some close league games during a January mini-swoon, was embarrassed at home in a turnover-filled struggle against North Kitsap later in the season and sleep-walked offensively through a district loss against Franklin Pierce last Saturday.
Consistently, inconsistent. But surely capable of eliminating East Valley and advancing to the first round of the Class 2A State Tournament at the Yakima SunDome on Wednesday.
When the Riders are rolling, much of the team’s confidence stems from a frenetic 1-3-1 zone look defensively that began to take shape last summer. Port Angeles also mixes in the 2-3 zone and can play man-to-man depending on matchups. But the 1-3-1 has provided the team’s biggest spark.
Mental tormentors
“We have a lot of fun defensively, the kids take a lot of pride in it,” Riders coach Michael Poindexter said.
“We’re not too greedy, we like to get steals, but we don’t gamble stupidly. We are aggressive, but we are smart and we play clean. There’s just a huge amount of pride and fun.
“They enjoy playing the defense, they enjoy, I guess it’s a little masochistic, they enjoy causing other people pain. Not physical pain, more mental and emotional pain.
“Eatonville turned the ball over 40 times against us, and we were not out full-court trapping, we were getting in passing lanes, being long, stopping dribble penetration and there’s a certain team unity in that.”
Junior guard Brennan Gray said the team has bonded while playing defense.
“We have good focus together in our zones,” Gray said. “I think that’s when we are playing our best, when we are playing together in our zones.”
Senior post Nizhoni Wheeler said her squad’s effort as a unit makes the team stronger.
“I think everyone shines in our zones, we all work together to make it work,” she said. “Natalie [Steinman] does really well in the back getting steals, Chey[enne Wheeler] and Aeverie [Politika] do well up top and they slow down the girls and get deflections and steals.”
Cheyenne Wheeler is the aggressive nuisance at the top of Port Angeles’ 1-3-1.
“In our zone defenses we try to force turnovers, we try to stop their breakaways and their counterattacks,” she said.
“We have to stay in our little zones, we have to know how far over we can go, we have to keep an eye on the ball and an eye on our positioning.”
Steinman works from side-to-side along the bottom of the zone, wearing herself down with her efforts.
“I love getting steals, that’s my favorite part,” she said.
“Running back and forth [across the baseline] is tiring but it is worth it. I just push myself to the best I can, I go the hardest I can and I know if I’m tired coach will take me out and I’ll take a rest and get back out there.”
Poindexter enjoys the efforts of Steinman, Kyrsten McGuffey and Gracie Long at the bottom of the 1-3-1.
“Natalie Steinman, Kyrsten McGuffey and Gracie Long play that bottom as well as anyone,” he said.
“You can’t play that style unless you have a really good girl at the top, and a really good girl at the bottom.
“Natalie’s a steal-getter, Kyrsten is really steady and never gets beat on the dribble — she’s rock solid — and Gracie is like a blend between the two. They love it, they eat it up. And Chey[enne} is long and athletic at the top.”
Poindexter also pointed to Nizhoni Wheeler’s contributions in the middle.
“Nizhoni is hugely important in our zone because she has great vision, she stays in front of the offense, gets a lot of deflections and steals and we stay out of foul trouble in our zone,” he said.
To win, the Riders also will have to put the ball in the basket. That’s something the team has struggled with at times this season and in years past.
“What we’ve noticed over the last few years here, is they forget that offense is the same kind of team game as our defense,”Poindexter said.
“Offense isn’t about them as individuals. Somebody sets a screen to open somebody up, somebody is making a good pass, or a good shot. East Valley plays very good team offense. They are great passers, dribble penetration, they are playing as a unit.”
Port Angeles ran an offensive drill at a recent practice, simulating a final seconds situation in which the team had to push the ball upcourt for a quick shot. There was a purpose to that portion of practice, Poindexter said.
“We are trying to get back to that free-flowing, offense is fun, not thinking and more [instinctual] style,” he said. “Getting back to trusting their instincts and seeing the whole floor and reading and reacting to what the defense is doing now and what do you do as a result. And sometimes we just forget to do that.”
To make that trip to the SunDome, the school’s first since 2014 when she was a freshman, Nizhoni Wheeler knows the offense will need improvement.
“We need to play physical and make more shots than we have the past two games,” she said.
“Just stay strong and don’t let them get in our heads.”
In other words, play like they are capable of playing.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
