Area Sports by Michael Dashiell

Rarely does a pair of free throws determine the outlook of a season so much.

But thanks to Sarah Moores' freebies on Feb. 12 - two points that helped beat North Mason in Belfair - Sequim takes the Olympic League's No. 2 seed into the West Central District playoffs this Saturday against Steilacoom.

Best of all, Sequim will host the winner-advances, loser-out contest.

But the Wolves' fate wasn't decided until Friday night, when both Sequim and North Mason, each ending up with identical 6-10 league marks, both lost.

While the Bulldogs were getting hammered at home by Port Angeles, Sequim fell 53-48 on the road at Bremerton.

The tiebreaker came down to best marks against the league's best teams, and Sequim's two-point win against Olympic all the way back on Dec. 7 proved to be the clincher. North Mason has to play at Foster, also a loser-out game.

On. Feb. 12, it was Laine Briggs controlling the middle and Moores adding the heroics late for the all-crucial 66-64 road win in Belfair.

Stephanie Hicks scored 28 points for North Mason but Briggs nearly matched her point-for-point, hitting for 25 points.

After the Bulldogs tied the game at 64-all with a three-pointer, Moores drove the lane and got fouled with nearly no time left on the clock. She nailed both free throws for the final scores and her own 14th and 15th points.

Yolanda Chinn added 11 points for the Wolves.

Kingston had already clinched the No. 1 seed heading into the West Central District tournament.



Olympic League standings

(Final)

• 2A division

Team Lg. Over.

Kingston 12-4 13-7

North Mason 6-10 7-13

Sequim 6-10 7-13

Pt. Townsend 3-13 5-15

Klahowya 0-16 0-20

• 3A division

Team Lg. Over.

Olympic 13-3 14-5

Port Angeles 13-3 15-4

Peninsula 11-5 12-7

Bremerton 8-8 9-11



Sequim hosts

playoff game

Sequim's girls basketball squad hosts Steilacoom (5-3 in league play, 12-8 overall), the Nisqually League No. 3 seed, at 7 p.m., Feb. 23 at the Sequim High School gymnasium, 601 N. Sequim Ave.