Lions get a Tostenrude awakening

Two teams combined for 49 turnovers in a sloppy non-conference girls basketball game Wednesday at South Kitsap High School.

But when the two teams are the South Kitsap and Bellarmine and the result of the game is won in the final seconds, it’s easy to forget the sloppy play that marred the majority of the game.

After scoring just four points in the third quarter and trailing by 14 points in the fourth quarter, the Wolves went on a run themselves and capped it with Loni Tostenrude’s baseline jumper at the buzzer to give SK a 46-45 win.

The drama in the last three minutes of the game was worth the price of admission.

SK had pulled within seven points after going on an 11-2 run.

Kristi Utter pulled the Wolves to within four points after nailing a 3-pointer with 3:18 remaining, but Bellarmine’s Meagan Triller came back and hit a 3-pointer to get the seven-point lead back.

Tostenrude, a junior, scored on a reverse layup and junior Leah Kendrick converted a Bellarmine turnover into a bucket to pull SK within three points 45-42 with 1:18 remaining.

After another Bellarmine turnover senior Jamae Feddock—who scored a team-high 16 points—sank her short jump shot from the baseline to cut Bellarmine’s lead to one point with 44 seconds left.

Bellarmine killed the clock on its next possession but after rebounding its first missed shot, SK’s Christina Bui rebounded Allison Maul’s errant shot with 20 seconds remaining.

As SK pushed the ball upcourt, SK coach Mike Allen called a timeout with 16 seconds left, even though Tostenrude was wide open underneath for a lay up.

“I shouldn’t have called that one time out because we had a lay up,” Allen said. “But I wanted my 16 seconds to get something set up.”

On the inbounds play, Bui raced down the right side and down the baseline where she found an open Tostenrude about six feet from the bucket.

Tostenrude’s shot bounced off but the scramble for the rebound ended up bouncing off a Bellarmine player’s knee out of bounds.

Two seconds still remained, but SK had no more time outs.

On the right sideline, Bui fed the ball to an open Tostenrude on the baseline eight feet from the basket.

Tostenrude quickly squared up and got the shot off before the buzzer sounded and tickled the twine to perfection in front of a jubilant home crowd.

Tostenrude said she wanted to make up for her prior missed shot.

“I knew there was two seconds left and when I got the ball I knew I had to make it,” Tostenrude said. “I didn’t think about it. I just put it up. I’m just glad I made that shot. I would have died if I would have missed that shot twice.”

The Wolves entered halftime with a slim 22-21 lead, but the 24 turnovers by SK and 25 turnovers from Bellarmine had all the elements of an early-season game.

“We were very sloppy,” Tostenrude said. “We weren’t handling the ball very well and not following through with our plays. But our defense was...oh wow.”

After two games, Allen said he can’t be hard on the team because they’re still learning to play together, and Bellarmine is one of the Narrows League Bay Division favorites.

“It’s pretty early in the season and Bellarmine is a good team,” Allen said. “We had some great spurts. We’re still trying to see who’s going to be able to do things. We did get a great effort out of a lot of people.”

After undergoing an 0-4 start last year, Allen said he’ll take this 2-0 start any day.

“I think we’re going to be a lot better in March than we are now, and I like what I see right now.”

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