Wolves run into buzzsaw against Mount Tahoma

Having gotten of to a 3-0 start, the last thing the South Kitsap girls basketball team needed heading into Narrows League Bridge Division play was to be on the wrong end of a blowout.

But that’s exactly what they received Friday night as Mount Tahoma used its superior speed and athletism to roll to an 87-50 win.

“I knew how athletic they were,” coach Mike Allen said. “I expected them to be athletic. I expected them to do what they did. I just expected us to execute better.

“We had a decent game plan, and when we executed it we scored layups,” Allen said. “And when we didn’t, we didn’t. Defensively, we were not very good.”

While very entertaining at first, as the teams raced out to a 21-21 first-quarter tie, Mount Tahoma’s pressure defense, combined with an abundance of quick whistles, had the Wolves reeling and trailing 42-28 by halftime.

“Having kids sitting on the bench with touch fouls when they should be playing, it’s not the way the game should called,” Allen said of the refs’ quick whistles.

Senior guard Megan Gilbert suffered the worst of the calls as she missed virtually the entire first half when she picked up three quick calls.

Gilbert later fouled out of the game after scoring 10 points.

Morgan Wiggin led the Wolves with 12 points while Sharrisa Pauley scored nine.

And while the foul trouble opened the door for many players to see action, it also led to a ton of turnovers that resulted in easy baskets for Mount Tahoma.

Tiffinni Archie paced Mount Tahoma with a game-high 26 points, while Brittany Lamar had 19 and Shauneice Samms and RaNesha Pate scored 10 each.

“This is the most turnovers I’ve ever been associated with,” Allen said. “I think my worst record before was 29 and I know we were over 40 tonight. In fact, we may have been closer to 50. This showed where our weaknesses are. Unfortunately, it all came at once.”

The blowout loss comes a a bad time, since the Wolves travel to Shelton tonight to open Narrows League Bridge Division play.

South played Eatonville late Monday night in a game they needed to play well in in order to shrug off the Mount Tahoma loss.

“I don’t think you ever shrug off getting crushed like that,” Allen said. “Coming out mentally unprepared to execute the game plan, I don’t you ever shrug that off but you do learn from it.

“We just need to come back together,” Allen said. “The loss doesn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things unless we don’t learn from it. So we have to make some pretty serious adjustments as coaches and as players. There’s some individuals that need to solve some defense issues on their own. And some of it rests on me, too. I have to get some things in order, too.”

The Wolves’ junior varsity pulled out a 49-44 win against Mount Tahoma, getting 10 points and 10 rebounds from Erin Hegland while Michelle Webber scored 10 points and had five steals.

Mount Tahoma 87, South Kitsap 50

Score by quarters

Mt Tahoma 21 21 24 21_87

South Kitsap 21 7 13 9_50

Mt Tahoma – Latasha Traylor 8, Tiffinni Archie 26, Shauneice Samms 10, RaNesha Pate 10, Tre’onna Wilkerson 4, Brittany Lamar 19, Mischaela Matthews 2, Chanell Scott 4, Tshlene’ Curry 4.

South Kitsap – Schelsey Zimmerman, Sharrisa Pauley 9, Morgan Wiggin 12, Caty Lieseke 4, Megan Gilbert 10, Jamie Boyer 3, Erin Carpenter 2, Valerie Robinson 5, Kristen Emel 2, Michelle Webber 3.

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