KENT — White River, ranked fifth in state, was just a little too much for Port Angeles in the West Central District 2A girls basketball championship game Monday afternoon at ShoWare Center.
The Hornets, 23-2, beat the Roughriders 41-32 in a defensive struggle to send Port Angeles to the regional tournament as the No. 2 seed Saturday.
The Riders, 17-7, will take on the winner of today’s district game between North Thurston and River Ridge in a one-shot winner-to-state, loser-out 2A regional game at 4 p.m. Saturday at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.
River Ridge is ranked No. 10 in state.
The Hornets, meanwhile, beat the Riders for the second time this year.
White River clobbered Port Angeles by 19 points when they first faced in the subdistrict tournament two weeks ago.
“We were a lot closer to them in a very winnable game,” Port Angeles coach Michael Poindexter said.
Early jump
The Riders went out to a 6-1 lead on two 3-pointers early but didn’t score again in the first quarter and struggled with their shots the whole game.
Port Angeles led 6-5 after one but trailed 19-12 at the break.
“Holding White River to 41 points was pretty good,” Poindexter said.
Port Angeles struggled offensively because of tiredness from a long two weeks of bus travel to tourney sites and strong defense from the Hornets.
“They are a good defensive team and we didn’t have a lot of energy,” Poindexter said.
“It seems like we have been living on the bus.”
The Hornets got the bulk of their scoring from a freshman guard, Amanda Lampe.
Lampe netted 15 points, all on 3-pointers. She was 5 of 6 from beyond the arc.
“We got beat off the dribble, which opened her up,” Poindexter said.
Kennedy Hobert scored 12 points for the Hornets while Kiah Jones dropped in a team-high eight points for the Riders.
The Riders plan to take today off to rest, but will start practicing for regionals Wednesday.
White River 41, Port Angeles 32
Port Angeles 6 6 7 13— 32
White River 5 14 14 8— 41
Individual scoring
Port Angeles (32)
K. Jones 8, Northern 6, Johnson 6, Hinrichs 5, Rodocker 4, Walker 2, Moseley 1, Frazier, B. Jones, Jeffers, Norberg.
White River (41)
Lampe 15, Hobert 12, France 9, Norlosai 2, Worley 2.