Cougs handle Wolves

The South Kitsap High School girls basketball team had a simple game plan — slow down Adria Layne and the team will have a chance of upending the Narrows League Bridge Division leading Central Kitsap Cougars.

The plan to stifle the 5-10 senior center worked for the most part, but the Wolves’ struggles offensively continued.

Defensively, SK enduced CK into 25 turnovers. But the Wolves gave the ball back with 23 turnovers of their own to allow CK to escape the SK gym with a 64-53 win Friday night.

Central Kitsap (6-0 league, 9-3 overall) remains one game ahead of Port Angeles, while South Kitsap (3-3, 5-7) holds a one-game lead over Shelton for fourth place.

A win at Shelton tonight at 7 p.m. would give SK a two-game cushion.

A win tonight — coupled with the loser of tonight’s game between Gig Harbor (5-1) and Port Angeles (5-1) — would pull SK within one game of third place as the teams head into the second half of league play Friday.

Against CK, SK showed it can play with any team in the league.

SK clawed back from a 25-8 deficit before reeling off a 17-4 run to pull within four points at halftime.

But the Wolves also showed they can be their own worst enemy.

The majority of SK’s turnovers came in the second half, and CK made sure it converted those turnovers into buckets.

It wasn’t so much CK’s pressure as much as poor decision making, SK coach Mike Allen said.

“We had some opportunities, but we gave (CK) too many opportunities,” Allen said. “The transition baskets killed us in the second half. You can’t give up open layups, and they must have scored 12 points on open layups. That was the difference in the game.”

Allen said he’s seen improvements with his team despite the recent losses to Gig Harbor and CK, but he said there are still problems that have yet to be re-solved.

“We are doing some things better, but there are some things we’re still struggling with,” he said. “We’re still struggling at the free-throw line (50 percent), and we’re still struggling against the press.”

Allen said the pressure isn’t as tough as the poor passing decisions he’s still getting from his guards.

‘I’m tired of having 5-1 people trying to throw the ball over 5-7 people. It gets a little old.”

On the positive side, Jamae Feddock had her best offensive output of the game with a game-high 20 points.

Leah Kendrick chipped in 12 points, but no other SK player scored more than six points.

Feddock said she is seeing improvements with the team despite its recent losses. “When we lost to Gig Harbor we cried because we had that game,” she said. “But everyone is up after this loss (to CK). Against the best team I think we did pretty good. We just need to work on (cutting down the turnovers).”

One player bright spot in SK’s second-quarter comeback was the emerging play of sopohomore Morgan Wiggin. In limited play, Wiggin pulled down six rebounds against a big and tall CK team.

Allen said he’s been pleased with Wiggin’s progress this season.

“She doesn’t have a lot of offense yet, but she’s working on it,” Allen said. “This is a kid who comes to the gym before anybody else, and she’s the last one to leave. She’s really working and she wants to get better.”

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