By Pierre LaBossiere
TACOMA — The Neah Bay girls basketball team drilled 12 3-pointers, including six from Cerise Moss in overwhelming Pateros 66-31 in the state 1B regionals Saturday as the Red Devils kept alive their quest for three straight state championship.
Moss hit three straight 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Red Devils got up 21-7 after the first eight minutes in the game played at a neutral site at Mount Tahoma High School. Neah Bay built that lead up to 32-7 at one point in the second quarter.
Angel Halttunen hit three treys and scored 19 to go along with eight rebounds, while Qwaapeys Greene scored 14. Brianna McGimpsey, Caylee Moss and Tisalee Ramos also hit 3-pointers as the Red Devils shot 12-for-29 from beyond the arc.
The win puts the Red Devils (20-1) straight into the state quarterfinals as the 1B’s No. 1 seed. Neah Bay begins play at the Spokane Arena at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in what could be an interesting game, because they may face an unbeaten team right away. The Red Devils will play the winner of Oakesdale (18-5, No. 9 RPI) and Pe Ell (20-0, No. 6 RPI).
Neah Bay 66, Pateros 31
Pat. 7 9 10 5 — 31
NB 21 15 13 17 — 66
Neah Bay (66) — Cerise Moss 20, A. Halttunen 19, Greene 14, McGimpsey 3, Caylee Moss 3, Ramos 2, Martin 2, Johnson 2.
Boys Basketball
State 1B playoffs
DeSales 64, Neah Bay 52
RICHLAND — Despite 25 points from Tyler Swan, including 12 straight points in the fourth quarter, the Neah Bay boys basketball team couldn’t get past DeSales in a 64-52 loss in the first round of the state 1B playoffs.
The Neah Bay boys are still alive, however, and play No. 12 seed Garfield-Palouse (17-6) at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Spokane Arena. DeSales moves on directly to the state quarterfinals.
On paper, both teams were evenly matched and it showed. DeSales came in to the game 20-2 and ranked No. 5 in the state in Ratings Percentage Index while Neah Bay was 18-3 and ranked No. 6.
The game was close until the fourth quarter with both teams going on big runs. Neah Bay’s biggest lead was 21-18 in the second quarter, but DeSales rallied to take a 34-29 lead into the halftime break.
In the fourth quarter, DeSales finally managed to take control of the game, opening up a lead of 49-40 with 5:45 left. That was when Swan took over. Makyah Chambers made a great hustle play to track down a loose ball and fired a pass to Swan cutting down the the lane. Swan made the bucket.
After a DeSales basket, Swan came back with quick bucket, followed by a 3-pointer. Then, he had a steal and a basket to make it 51-49 with 4:14 left in the game.
From that point on, the Red Devils couldn’t buy a basket, missing four straight 3-pointers as DeSales built its lead back up to 62-49. Swan finished with a late 3-pointer as DeSales ended the game on a 13-3 run.
