The Newport Knights finished sixth at the 4A KingCo girls basketball tournament, going 1-1 and booking their ticket to the Wes-King District Tournament.

The Knights opened their tournament on Feb. 7 with a 66-55 win over North Creek in a loser-out game. Newport head coach Cuong Luu said the win over the Jaguars was very important because it guaranteed them a spot in the district tournament.

“We want to keep our season going as long as we can,” Luu said. “We have a great group of seniors and we really want to pay some respect to them. So being able to go to North Creek on a Friday night, it’s a long drive from Bellevue, and taking home that victory leading from tip to buzzer is amazing.”

In the fifth-place game, the Knights faced the Mount Si Wildcats on Jan. 8 at Sammamish High School. The Wildcats jumped out to an early 17-9 lead after the first quarter and never looked back to defeat the Knights 71-51. Mount Si forwards Sela Heide and Lauren Glazier were able to make life difficult for the Knights.

Luu said the main goal for the game was to take momentum into the district tournament. Even in defeat, Luu said there were positives.

“There were flashes,” Luu said. “Mount Si is a tough matchup for just about anybody. We really did our best and gave our best, but a lot of playoffs is about matchups and they have some really tough matchups to cover.”

The Knights will have the No. 6 seed at the district tournament. Luu said the team is excited to compete at the tournament.

“This is what we wait all season for,” Luu said. “We put ourselves in a situation where we can go and I’m just excited for the kids and I’m excited for myself and the team to have a chance to go in and compete and really show what we’re about.”