The Wolves’ varsity basketball teams defeated Port Angeles in a double header last Friday, and wrestling teams congregated in town on Saturday for a JV tournament.

Boys win battle with PA

Sequim pressed its luck, trailing 54-41 entering the fourth quarter but turned on its 3/4-court pressure defense, blowing past the Roughriders and claiming a 71-66 Olympic League boys basketball triumph in Sequim on Friday.

Through a combination of Sequim-induced Port Angeles turnovers and missed field goal and free throw attempts by the Riders, the Wolves trimmed away at Port Angeles’ lead during a 15-1 run from 6:45 of the fourth quarter until 3:21 remained in the game, getting 10 points from Mason Rapelje in that stretch and five more from Solomon Sheppard, which included a gym-rattling alley-oop dunk, courtesy of a pass from teammate Zeke Schmadeke.

Sequim wasn’t finished with the heroics, regaining the lead for good when Hunter Tennell cashed in a corner 3-pointer with 2:55 to play. Sheppard produced an old-fashioned 3-point play and Nolan Bacchus knocked down a baseline jumper at the end of the shot clock to put the Wolves up 68-61 in the final minute.

Rapelje added some free throws to seal the game and add to his career-high point total of 37 as the Wolves capped off an 11-0 run from 2:55 until Port Angeles scored again with 28 seconds left. In the end, the Wolves scored 30 points in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve let teams hang around or we’ve had some slow starts and had to work back into it, but this was one of the best quarters we have played all season,” Wolves coach Craig Brooks said. “The guys were playing with fire, tough defense, and playing free and not thinking about it. In the first quarter we would miss a shot and we would start to think about it instead of moving on. In the fourth quarter it was natural and we shot the ball like I thought we could this season.”

Each team played through foul trouble, but Port Angeles was especially impacted. Big man Brock Hope and point guard Ashton Gedelman were forced to sit for much of the first half and hot shooting Hunter Flores picking up his third right before halftime.

“Hunter Tennell’s defense in the fourth quarter on Brock and his rebounding and tipping were crucial,” Brooks said.

And Bacchus, just a sophomore, hit a big shot and grabbed a haul of rebounds.

Earlier in the week, Sequim defeated Olympic 72-54 on the road on Jan. 27 with Sheppard pouring in 22 points and senior Sebastian Buhrer recording 14 points

The Wolves (8-4, 8-9) are currently fourth place in the Olympic League and were set to host North Kitsap on Tuesday, Feb. 3, and travel to Bremerton on Feb. 5 to finish the regular season.

Photo by Emily Matthiessen Sequim’s Jordyn Julmist fights for the ball among a sea of Port Angeles players on Jan. 30 during the Rainshadow Rumble. The Wolves won the game giving Port Angeles its first league loss of the season.

Girls take Rumble win too

Sequim put together its finest performance of the season in all facets of the game, erasing a nine point first-half deficit and surging past rival Port Angeles 58-51 on Friday.

Wolves point guard Gracie Chartraw led the way with 30 points on 11-of-26 shooting, alternately launching and draining NBA-range 3-pointers, blowing past Roughriders on her way to the rack for layups on offense and making a pest of herself defensively with seven steals and five rebounds.

“She played amazing help defense,” Sequim coach Joclin Julmist said.

The Wolves committed more turnovers (21) than Port Angeles (19), but they scored 12 points off turnovers while the Riders were limited to one basket off a Sequim mistake.

Rebounding also went Sequim’s way as each team grabbed 13 offensive boards, but the Wolves cashed in 11 second-chance points while Port Angeles managed just one basket after collecting an offensive miss.

Chartraw was strong down the stretch, hitting the go-ahead 3-pointer, finding teammate Kaiya Robinson for her third 3-pointer of the game from her preferred spot in the corner and knocked down 5-of-8 free throws late to keep Port Angeles’ charge mostly at bay.

Julmist said Hailey Wagner was a “warrior,” Nevaeh Owens “played great help-side defense,” and that Jordyn Julmist was “incredible on the defensive side guarding their best player.”

On Jan. 27, the Wolves at home 66-50 over Olympic. Chartraw scored 33 points with eight rebounds and eight steals. Jordyn Julmist had 14 points and six rebounds while Rilynn Whitehead scored a season high 11 points.

Sequim (9-3, 10-5) is currently in third place in the league, and was set to play at North Kitsap on Tuesday, host Bremerton on Thursday, and travel to Neah Bay on Friday night.

Wrestlers host home JV tourney

Sequim hosted the Olympic League JV tournament on Jan. 31 with Roland Brilhart and Cash Hiner both winning their weight classes.

Brilhart (130-138 pounds) swept his four matches with a 20-5 tech fall over teammate Levi Breithaupt, followed by a pin in 1:58, a medical forfeit win, and a pin in 1:34 over Juelz Melvin of North Kitsap.

Hiner (191-210) won both of his matches by pins including a pin in 4:45 against teammate Samuel Mason in 4:45.

Carson Mead finished second in the 111-121 weight class with three wins in the tournament, including a 6-0 decision, pin in 1:16, and a pin in 3:33 over teammate Kyler Read.

Breithaupt earned two wins and a second place finish in the 130-138 tournament with a pin in 3:55 over Juelz Melvin and a medical forfeit win.

Wolves earning one win at the tournament included Mason (191-210) with a 1:42 pin of Abraham Freemire of North Mason, Aidan Coonelly (131-140) with a 7-3 decision over teammate Jesse Sweers, and Harper Campbell (120-126 pounds in the girls tournament) with a pin in 3:41 over Hannah Weaver of Kingston.