Wolves drop squeaker to CK

The last two minutes of Friday night’s Narrows League Bridge Division home game against South Kitsap left Central Kitsap coach Denise Baxter with just one word to say.

“Wow.”

That’s what the reaction will be when a team loses its best player to a debatable charging foul with 47 seconds remaining and still pulls out a 34-33 to clinch a tie for first place in the Bridge Division.

The loss put the Wolves in a tie for third place with Gig Harbor.

The two teams played late Tuesday night to break the tie and set up the seedings for Thursday’s Narrows League crossover game.

The fourth places team out of the Bridge will play the Bay’s third place team while No. 4 from the Bay is at No. 3 of the Bridge.

The top four teams from each division advance to the West Central District Tournament next week.

“With this young of a team … what a feat,” Baxter said. “What a great tribute to Aimee (Carroll). They didn’t let the emotions get to them.”

Carroll, the lone CK senior, scored the game’s opening basketball, but it rarely was easy for the Cougars, who trailed 29-28 heading into the fourth quarter.

“It stayed at 28-29 for a while and I was waiting for (SK) to make a run,” Baxter said. “They couldn’t do it.”

The Cougars regained the lead with 3:43 remaining when Amy Spieker made a baseline jumper to bring the score to 32-31. Nearly two minutes later, Emily Zygmontowicz, who scored a game-high 12 points for the Cougars, made a shot near the free-throw line to increase the advantage to 34-31.

Wolves’ guard Christina Bui converted a layup to cut CK’s lead to 34-33 with 1:12 left before Zygmontowicz’ layup was waived off by officials, who called a charging foul. It was the fifth foul for the Cougars’ star, relegating her to the bench for the duration of the game.

“I think it was questionable,” Zygmontowicz said. “But the game is over and you can’t do much about it now.”

But Megan Gilbert shot rolled out on the Wolves’ ensuing possession and SK was called for assessed a turnover on a three seconds in the key call with 4.2 seconds remaining.

The Wolves fouled Kaitlin Poppe, whose free throw missed, but SK wasn’t able to attempt a shot before time expired.

“It’s great,” said Carroll, who finished with six points. “People didn’t really expect us to be here. “We stayed focused, never gave up and never doubted ourselves.”

Loni Tostenrude paced the Wolves with 11 points while Leah Bradley added 10.

CK wasn’t able to claim the Bridge Division title outright because Port Angeles defeated Gig Harbor 58-42 Friday.

Central Kitsap 34,

South Kitsap 33

South Kitsap 8 9 12 4 — 33

Central Kitsap 8 14 6 6 — 34

South kitsap - Christina Bui 2, Shamika Curtis 2, Leah Bradley 10, Jamie McLean 2, Loni Tostenrude 11, Megan Gilbert 6.

Central Kitsap - Meagan Hoisington 6, Randie Lee 2, Katie Poppe 2, Aimee Carroll 6, Emily Zygmontowicz 12, Amy Spieker 6.

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