Third time’s a charm for Lady Cavaliers

Published 2:00 pm Saturday, March 18, 2006

KINGSTON — Systematically confident, cool as the night air and commanding on the defensive end of the hardwood, the Kingston Junior High School Cavaliers’ game has reached regular season perfection once again.

In the face of the astounding accomplishment after beating the cross-county rival Panthers 49-39, the Lady Cavs are already gearing up for the league tournament set to begin March 21.

“You don’t think about that stuff until the season’s over,” the architect of the three undefeated seasons, coach Tony Chisholm said of the feat. “(We’ve) got to continue to focus, and work hard in practice. It’s all about practice from here on out.”

For Poulsbo, coming into the belly of the beast Thursday, the game was all about charting a course into the playoffs.

“We wanted to control our own destiny,” said Poulsbo coach Karla DeVries. “Because winning that game would’ve sealed our spot in the top four for the playoffs.”

But even without the win, Poulsbo got a favor from Fairview Junior High, which lost its final game, giving the Lady Panthers the No. 3 spot in the league and a berth in next week’s playoffs.

In true North End rivalry form, neither team was going down without a fight.

The Lady Panthers struck first as Krista Vestman deciphered the code of Kingston’s defense to give Poulsbo the early 4-0 lead.

At the other end, the Cavs’ shots were fairly reluctant to fall, but the team was still fearless in it’s attack. Jamie Heggenstaller drew three fouls in the paint, but could only make two free throws to keep Kingston at pace. The first frame ended with Poulsbo ahead 10-9.

The second quarter turned into a slugfest as well as the teams traded buckets, neither with a clear advantage. Kira Markey kept the Cavs in the mix with a nearly single-handed 8-point run, while Kelle Taplin was a rock for the Panthers throughout the game.

Kingston’s defense also picked up in the second quarter, forcing a myriad of Poulsbo turnovers. But at halftime, the game was still tight at 22-19 as the Cavs took the lead and the momentum into the locker room.

In turbulent times, each team trusted its leaders, and undeniably Taplin took charge for Lady Panthers in one of her best games of the season, coach DeVries noted.

“Oh! That was the best I’ve ever seen her play,” DeVries said. “She was in my opinion, in that game, unstoppable.”

Taplin scored 23 points on the contest, shouldering the Panthers’ offensive duties, while gathering 16 rebounds. She displayed utmost poise at the line as she sank 13 of 15 free throws — shooting nine for nine in the second half.

“I’ll tell you what, Kelle Taplin is a great basketball player,” Chisholm noted. “She is off the hook, man!”

Thanks in large part to Taplin’s aggressive attacks to the rack and silky swishes from the line, Poulsbo took a 32-30 lead with just under two minutes left in the third. But the quarter ended knotted at 32.

The teams traded baskets into the final frame. But in the latter half of the quarter, Kingston started to pull away as Ashley Redican came in to provide a spark which ignited Kingston’s flame.

“When I put in Ashley in, it changed the whole tempo of the game,” Chisholm noted. “I believe that her energy, her spark changed the game. She caused turnovers and made things happen.”

Two Redican steals quickly translated into a five-point Kingston lead, then KJH leading scorer Markey sunk a runner to extend the lead to seven with two minutes left.

“Come on ladies, who wants it more?” Taplin asked after a timeout trying to revive her team.

But another Kingston steal segued into a Sophia Baetz lay-up.

Enter Poulsbo desperation.

“Defense (was) the biggest thing; especially in the fourth quarter, we had all our starters in and really picked it up,” Markey said. “We knew that it was our time. We had to take it. It was in our house — we couldn’t just let people take it away from us ‘cause we were so close.”

Kingston closed in on the undefeated season with a champion’s poise and a 17-7 performance in the fourth quarter. And even with 34 consecutive wins under its collective belt, the team knows there is no such thing as a free ride.

“We’re pretty confident but we know that we have to keep up the hard work and we have to keep it going and keep up the intensity all the way through the end,” Markey said.

Kingston will host the first round of the Olympic Junior High League playoffs against Marcus Whitman at 3 p.m. March 21. Poulsbo will travel to CK for their first round game at 3 p.m. March 21.

Kingston 49 – Poulsbo 39

Poulsbo: Lindsay Colson 2, Haley Fidler 1, Kelle Taplin 23, Krista Vestman 7, Crystal Hart 6

Kingston: Kira Markey 18, Arissan Ugles 17, Sophia Baetz 5, Anika Kramberger 3, Ashley Redican 2, Jamie Heggenstaller 4