TACOMA — The Port Angeles girls basketball team has made a habit of coming back in the fourth quarter this season.
And Saturday, they did it again, riding their stifling defense to a 44-38 regionals win over Cedarcrest to move on to the Yakima SunDome on Wednesday.
Port Angeles trailed nearly the entire game and entered the fourth quarter down 31-26, but outscored the Red Wolves 18-7 in the fourth. In the entire second half, the Roughriders allowed Cedarcrest just four field goals and 13 points.
“We … switched our defense to a combination man-man and zone, which frustrated Cedarcrest, especially in the second half,” said coach Michael Poindexter. “Lindsay Smith, Becca Manson and Lexie Smith excelled on the defensive end with a combined 14 steals. Mikkhia Stevens, Teanna Clark, and Morgan Politika helped keep two key guards, Kaylee Rogers and Stella Metcalf to just five points combined in the last three quarters
Lindsay Smith, despite struggling from the free-throw line, otherwise had a great game with 20 points and crucial rebounds and steals in the second half. She finished with eight rebounds and four steals.
The Riders were behind 32-34 with 3:10 left when Smith hit a 2-pointer and then followed that with a perfect 3-pointer that hit nothing but net to quickly give the Riders a 37-34 led with under three minutes left.
Clark also really helped save the Riders down the stretch with her outstanding free-throw shooting. She shot 8-for-10 on her free throws for all eight of her points, doing much of her damage in the fourth quarter.
Lexie Smith also had a big game with seven points, six rebounds and six steals, while Becca Manson had two crucial steals in the fourth quarter and finished with four points and four steals. Mikkiah Stevens added a 3-pointer.
The Riders started slowly, shooting 0-for-8 from 3-point range to open the game as there were college and high school 3-point lines on the University of Puget Sound court that seemed to cause the players to shoot from college range. Port Angeles fell behind 14-6 in the first quarter and had to climb a hill back almost all game.
In a strange quirk as far as the final score, Port Angeles seemingly went into the halftime break down 25-19, but the Riders were given two extra points on the scoreboard during halftime with no explanation. It didn’t affect the final outcome of the game as the Riders won by either eight points or six. The final score was officially reported at 46-38, but film and the online stream showed that the actual score should have been 44-38.
In any case, No. 10 seed Port Angeles (18-6, No. 12 RPI) will move on to the SunDome to play Columbia River (18-3, No. 6 RPI), a No. 7 seed, at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. This is a loser-out Round of 12 game.
It was the ninth straight win for the Riders and 14th out of their past 15 games.
Port Angeles 44, Cedarcrest 38
PA 6 13 7 18 — 44
CC 14 11 5 8 — 38
Port Angeles (44) — Lindsay Smith 20, Clark 8, Lexie Smith 7, Manson 4, Stevens 3, Politika 2.
