Bremerton, WA - The Trojans won their 4th straight game on Saturday afternoon and as a result punched their ticket officially to the NWAC playoffs. The win guarantees at least a #4 seed and potentially a #3 seed, currently tied with Shoreline at 8-3 in conference play.
While the Olympic College conference record at 0-10 entering the contest may not seem very formidable, the Rangers had been playing opponents extremely tough losing by a combined total of 8 points in the previous three games against Edmonds, Shoreline, and highly ranked Peninsula College. The first quarter was an indication that OC would not go down without a fight, and their stingy defense held EvCC to just 11 points. The Trojan defense held strong as well, giving up 10 points and forcing 6 turnovers to go into quarter number two with a one point advantage. The Trojans started to get a little more comfortable offensively, led by Mikail Montez's 7 points on 3 of 4 shooting from the field. By halftime, Everett held onto a five point lead at 29-24.
Out of the break, both teams shot a less than stellar 5-16 from the field in the 3rd quarter, but Olympic was 2-6 from beyond the arc, compared to EvCC's 0-8, and hit an additional free throw to cut into the Trojan lead. The fourth quarter is where Everett created their separation and really started to capitalize on the size advantage. Courtnery Perry led the way with 10 points, and got to the line 5 times. As a team, Everett shot 17 free throws in the 4th quarter and converted on 12 of them, accounting for half of their 24 points in the quarter. That ended up being the difference in the game, as the defense continued to play strong, holding Olympic to just 11 field goal attempts. By the final buzzer the Trojans had a comfortable lead and put the game on ice 65-54. Mikail Montez and Courtney Perry both finished with 17 points. Montez also added 15 rebounds, her second highest total of the season and 3rd highest in her career. Mikail now has 326 career rebounds (one of those seasons was an abbreviated COVID season) and sits just outside the top ten rebounders all time at EvCC.
The Trojans are now vying with Shoreline for the #3 seed in the region. Everett will take on a tough Peninsula squad (currently in first place) at home on Wednesday night while Shoreline travels to Whatcom. Tip off is set for 5pm.