NEAH BAY — Even the flu isn’t slowing down the Neah Bay girls basketball team.
The Red Devils blew out rival Clallam Bay 71-11 in North Olympic League action despite starting center Faye Chartraw missing the first half because of dealing with a full-blown case of the flu the past 10 days.
Coming off the bench in the second half, Chartraw scorched the nets with a fever-pitch 23 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the field.
She also made both of her 3-point shots, had two blocked shots and pulled down six rebounds.
Neah Bay was hitting on all cylinders in Wednesday night’s game despite having three starters coming down with the flu during the past three weeks.
“We’re getting our fair share of the flu,” Neah Bay coach Nate Tyler said. “I’m hoping this is the last of it.
“This is a good time to be dealing with [illness].”
That’s because in three weeks tri-districts are coming up as the Red Devils begin their postseason trek to the 1B state tournament.
They have two regular season games left this coming week, Wednesday against Crescent and again next Friday against this same Clallam Bay team, and then the intensity level will be picking up.
The Red Devils are starting to play at the top of their game heading into the stretch, despite battling the flu.
“We’re probably playing our best ball so far,” Tyler said.
The team’s execution and shot selection was its best of the year, Tyler added.
In addition to Chartraw’s outstanding game, Cierra Moss had another stellar contest with 13 boards, eight points, six assists and two steals.
“Cierra had a strong game,” Tyler said.
Three players scored in double figures as Kaela Tyler netted 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting from the field and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line, while Holly Greene sank 10 points.
The Red Devils, 4-0 in league and 11-1 overall, have been dominating teams, and so Tyler has been playing all of his deep roster in most games.
That’s going to change, though, once the Red Devils hit the playoffs. Their top players will be seeing most of the action on the floor.
“We will be using our top seven players, for use,” Tyler said.
The only game this year the starters got a good workout was against 1A Forks.
“Forks was good competition for us,” Tyler said. “We matched up well.”
The coach’s plans for the last two regular-season games is to give his starters a short but intense workout, and then to let the reserves take over for most of the remaining minutes.
“Our starting five will come out and give a good strong quarter of basketball, for sure, and in the last three quarters will be for all the girls to work on their execution,” Tyler said.
Neah Bay 71, Clallam Bay 11
Clallam Bay 6 0 1 4— 11
Neah Bay 23 12 23 13— 71
Individual scoring
Clallam Bay (11)
Erickson 4, Welever 3, Wilson 2, Ritter 2.
Neah Bay (71)
Chartraw 23, Tyler 12, Holly Greene 10, Moss 8, Hill 6, Murner 5, Hailey Greene 5, Akin 2.
NW Yeshiva 64, Quilcene 34
SEATTLE — Plagued by illness, the Rangers struggled through the Sea-Tac League game against Northwest Yeshiva earlier this week.
Senior Andrea Lara was a welcome addition back to Quilcene after being sidelined for almost three weeks due to a concussion.
She scored eight points and played solid defense.
Freshman Megan Weller sank a couple of 3-pointers and rounded off the night with 14 points.
Boys Basketball
Neah Bay 80, Clallam Bay 54
NEAH BAY — Abraham Venske and Ryan Moss combined for 42 points as the Red Devils rolled to their 11th win of the season in North Olympic League competition Wednesday night.
Venske made 23 points on 10 of 11 shooting from the field, and he had five steals and three assists.
Moss added 19 points on perfect 5 of 5 shooting from the field and 3 of 4 shooting from 3-point range.
Jericho McGimpsey netted eight points for Neah Bay while Kelly Gregory had a team-high 17 for the Bruins.
The Red Devils, 11-1 on the year and 4-0 overall, will conclude regular-season play next week against Crescent on Wednesday and Clallam Bay again Friday night.
Neah Bay 80, Clallam Bay 54
Score by quarters not available
Individual scoring
Clallam Bay (54)
Gregory 17, Ritter 9, Goplen-Dean 8, Welever 7, Mohr 5, Cheeka 2, Randall 2, Willis 2, Hess 2.
Neah Bay (80)
Venske 23, Moss 19, McGimpsey 8, Winck 2, J. Greene 5, Z. Greene 5, Claplanhoo 3, Johnson 2, Buttram 6, McCaulley 2, Reamer 3, Royster 2.