The Port Townsend girls’ basketball team locked up first place in the 1A Olympic League, with a 45-38 win over cross-county rival Chimacum Jan. 30 followed by a league-ending 39-36 victory over Klahowya Feb. 3.

This pair of wins gave the PT Redhawks a 7-2 league record, followed by Coupeville at 6-3, Chimacum at 4-5 and Klahowya at 1-8.

PTHS coach Scott Wilson pointed out that this marks the first time “in many years” that the Redhawk girls have achieved first in the 1A league. Last year, they came in second, and the year before, in third.

“Being first gives them a bye in the opening round of district playoffs,” Wilson said, adding that the Redhawks are slated to play their first district game Feb. 14 at 7:45 p.m. at Bremerton High School, starting the playoffs in a double-elimination round.

If the Redhawks win even one game at districts, they advance to the regional playoffs, where they need to win a game to advance to the 1A state tournament in Yakima’s SunDome in late February.

“These Redhawks have worked very hard and against high odds this season,” Wilson said, citing a number of early-season games against opponents from much larger schools. “Being first in league was not handed to them. They had to earn it, and they did. There’s no quit in them.”

Wilson rated both of the week’s games as “gritty matches” with several lead changes, during which the Redhawks “proved their mettle” in the final period.

CHIMACUM

Wilson described the third and final matchup between the Redhawks and the Cowboys as “a noisy, energetic affair” in the Chimacum gym. The winner would keep the Janelle Perillo Memorial Trophy, given to whichever team won the best of three games, and take what Wilson deemed “a long step” toward locking up first place in the Olympic League.

Wilson credited the Cowboys with jumping out to an early lead, on the shooting of Maddie Dowling and Grace Yaley, the latter of whom scored all 8 of her points in the first half.

Chimacum jumped out to a 15-11 first-quarter lead, took a 22-20 lead into the halftime locker room, and led 30-28 at the end of three quarters.

But in the fourth quarter, the Redhawks “turned it on,” in Wilson’s words, holding the Cowboys to 8 points, while scoring 17 points of their own.

Redhawks senior guard Kaitlyn Meek took a hit while making a lay-in, and hit the free throw just seconds into the fourth period, giving Port Townsend its first lead of the game, at 31-30.

Meek followed this with assists to Izzy Hammett, “who worked for post points,” according to Wilson, and PT junior Jazmine Apker-Montoya, who hit from the outside.

The Redhawks scored 12 straight points, until Mia McNair hit a trey with 4:35 left to play in the game. McNair would finish with 13.

Apker-Montoya would hit four 3-pointers in the game, including 8 points in the second half, to finish with a game high of 16, shooting 50 percent from the 3-point line.

Hammett scored 6 of her 10 in the final period, while Meek scored 9 of her 13 in the second half, in addition to grabbing 10 rebounds and making 4 assists.

KLAHOWYA

The Redhawks jumped out to an early lead over Klahowya, holding a 13-5 first-quarter lead, but Wilson freely conceded the Eagles “owned” the second quarter, and the game drew even down the stretch, as both defenses tightened up.

Wilson credited Klahowya’s Amber Bumbalough with getting loose in the game, scoring a game high of 15 points, including four treys.

However, he also emphasized that the Redhawks responded in kind, with Apker-Montoya hitting for 17, while Meek scored 14.

“Both of Port Townsend’s scoring leaders found their touch in shooting free throws in the game, making a combined 11 of 18,” Wilson said.

In the fourth period, free throws by Apker-Montoya tied the score at 35, with 20 seconds to play. A shot at the buzzer by Hammett went off the rim, and the teams headed into overtime.

During the overtime period, Wilson praised the Redhawk defense for “stifling” the Eagles, holding them to a single free throw.

When Meek drove for a lay-in, and Apker-Montoya hit a pair of overtime free throws, it simply sealed the win, in Wilson’s mind.

The game coincided with Senior Night for the Redhawks, who celebrated five seniors, four of whom – Meek, Jordyn King, Cece Nielsen and Taylor Tracer – have played for the girls’ basketball team all four years of high school. The fifth senior is Vilma Juurmu, a Finnish exchange student who plays on the junior varsity squad.