YAKIMA — The bill came due in the fourth quarter for the Port Angeles girls basketball team.
The Roughriders were bumped, bruised and ultimately bounced out of the quarterfinals by a physical Burlington-Edison squad in a 50-45 loss Thursday at the Class 2A state tournament at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
The No. 6 Riders held a 41-32 advantage heading into the fourth quarter but foul trouble, which plagued Port Angeles from the early going, coupled with difficulties in sinking shots against the No. 5 Tigers’ 2-3 zone defense, conspired to do in Port Angeles’ chances at both a state semifinal appearance and in securing the program’s first state trophy since 2001.
Port Angeles’ Myra Walker dribbles during the Roughriders’ 50-45 loss to Burlington-Edison at the Class 2A Girls Basketball State Tournament at the Yakima Valley SunDome on Thursday. (Mark Krulish/Kitsap News Group)
Now the Riders (20-6) face an elimination game at 9 a.m. Friday against No. 2 Ellensburg, which lost 62-44 to No. 1 Lynden on Thursday.
A win today and Port Angeles will play for fourth/sixth-place at 8 a.m. Saturday.
Port Angeles out shot Burlington-Edison for the game, 31 percent to 29 percent, but hit just 1 of 23 3-point attempts to 4 of 16 for the Tigers.
“I credit both defenses for that,” coach Michael Poindexter said. “They hunkered down in the [2-3] zone, too. Both defenses caused the other team problems.”
Burlington-Edison also was able to shoot 30 free throws (hitting 18) on 22 Riders’ fouls, while Port Angeles hit 8 of 12 foul shots on 11 Tigers’ fouls.
“We were worried [about how the game would be officiated] once we saw the tone of Eve Burke picking up her first two charges of the season, and then we got a couple of other quick fouls in succession,” Poindexter said of Port Angeles’ first-quarter foul trouble.
“When Eve got those charges we immediately got hesitant at driving to the rim. The tenor and tone of the officiating did make us tentative. We did talk about overcoming that.”
The bigger, taller Burlington-Edison squad was allowed to extend arms and elbows to clear space on its drives to the rim and in battles for rebounds, but not so much on the other end for Port Angeles.
“Their physicality on the boards and on drives hurt us,” Poindexter said.
“No. 4 [Katie King] was quite effective inside when she was allowed to…no comment. The pre-game focus was to not get in foul trouble. We wanted to contain them.”
Easier said than done Thursday morning.
“We sent [Amey] Reinaud-Hines to the free-throw line 16 times up there [in a 66-61 loss in December] and we sent her 12 times today,” Poindexter said.
Limited by those two early fouls, Burke went off offensively in the third quarter, scoring 10 points as the Riders went up 41-32, but was called for her fourth foul late in the third quarter.
Jaida Wood fouled out first with 5:47 to play, with Burke following with her fifth in quick succession. She had 12 points and led the team in rebounding with eight.
Port Angeles’ Eve Burke prepares to shoot a free throw during the Roughriders’ 50-45 Class 2A State Girls Basketball Tournament loss to Burlington-Edison on Thursday at the Yakima Valley SunDome. (Mark Krulish/Kitsap News Group)
Down two starters, Port Angeles point guard Millie Long was soon whistled for her fourth foul — limiting her ability to play her trademark ferocious defense, all while the Riders managed one fourth-quarter field goal. Long led Port Angeles with 14 points and was second on the team with seven rebounds.
“Our whole vision narrowed late,” Poindexter said. “We forced passes and collectively fell apart. It wasn’t a falling apart of spirit, but of decision making.
“One of the assistants, I think it was Dan said that it even affected the bench. We had a little too much self-pity. We didn’t have good bench energy, we had “Oh, no.” It became a little influential. We tried to prevent it, but when you aren’t getting the calls it can get in your head.”
Despite the struggles, Poindexter said the Riders played tough.
“We could of won that game if we hung together and shot better,” Poindexter said.
“And the story here, as I say so much of the time at state, is that the coaching evens out, the strategy and all that and it becomes ‘Can you shoot the ball well enough to win?
“Their zone is good, we just had a bad shooting day.”
Poindexter said the worst part of the loss is missing out on a guaranteed top-five finish at state.
“On the whole, I’m really proud of the kids’ effort,” Poindexter said. “They battled, but things didn’t fall. The loss is on us and the win is on Burlington-Edison. They have great dribble penetration and great shooters.
“I spoke with their coach, he knows that we will both have our hands full [against No. 1 Lynden or No. 2 Ellensburg on Friday]. The tragic difference is one of us is trophying. We have to win [Friday morning] to win a trophy.”
No. 5 Burlington-Edison 50, No. 6 Port Angeles 45
Port Angeles 14 13 14 4— 45
Burlington-Edison 8 13 11 18— 50
Port Angeles (45) — Long 14, Burke 12, Larson 8, Walker 4, Wood 3, Brady 3, Brown 1, Brenkman, Gedelman, McGoff, Stensgard.
Burlington-Edison (50) — King 18, Rainaud-Hinds 11, Maskell 7, Axelson-Ney 6, Reisner 5, McKenzie 3.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
