North girls’ unbeaten streak snapped by Mount Tahoma, 84-49

Published 12:00 pm Wednesday, December 20, 2006

POULSBO — A rescheduled match-up with Mount Tahoma — which was supposed to be played last week — gave North Kitsap something to think about as they enter the holiday madness.

The Thunderbirds came to the NK gym and schooled the Vikes with a resounding 84-49 lesson.

“They are a very athletic and physical team, and I think that was a big wake-up call for us, just what we needed though,” NK coach Kaelea Makaiwi said.

Going into their meeting with Mount T Monday, the Vikings boasted a sparkling 5-0 record and an emotional boost from a win over Central Kitsap Dec. 8. Following the blackout shake-up and the loss to Mount Tahoma, the Lady Vikes will host Olympia at 7 p.m. tonight and then travel to face Olympic in Silverdale Friday.

Not much time to digest Monday’s loss, but perhaps that’s a good thing.

“We’ll talk about it, debrief, let it go and focus on the next one,” Makaiwi said.

Focusing on Monday’s game, the Vikings were simply outmatched by a swift and tenacious Thunderbird squad. The early minutes of the game would be the only time North stayed within single digits.

“This is the best team we’ve ever seen,” said senior Jade Niemeyer, who led North in scoring with 17 points. “It was a big wake-up call.”

When searching for positives, Niemeyer noted the fact that the Vikings didn’t fall apart in the face of adversity.

“Nobody got bitter towards each other,” Niemeyer said.

“I talked to them at halftime and said, ‘You guys, it felt like your heart and your passion were gone in the second quarter. I don’t care what the scoreboard says, you’re down by 20, you’re down by 40, there’s no excuse to not play with heart and passion,’” Makaiwi said.

Though its offensive attack was anything but consistent, North showed grit on the defensive end. Even as the game slipped out of reach as the T-birds soared to a 60-33 lead at the 3:25 mark of the third quarter, Coach Mak called a time out, rallied the crew and NK came out with four steals, three from the deft hands of senior Leah Siem-Brown. But the shots at the other end wouldn’t fall, and Mount Tahoma easily coasted to the final buzzer.

“We had some good runs, we transitioned well at times,” Niemeyer said of the NK offense. “But it came in spurts.”

The Thunderbirds’ scoring came in 20-point bursts. Mount Tahoma scored more than 20 points per quarter while three of its players — Ranesha Pate, Nicole Samms and Brittany Lamar — each dropped 20 points on the game.

Niemeyer led North with 17, while sophomore Arissan Ugles chipped in 10.

While the Vikings made plenty of both mistakes and good plays against the Narrows League No. 1 team, a testament that could prove pivotal to the remainder of the season was what Coach Makaiwi termed, “They quit playing scared.”

Confidence should be a key for NK in the upcoming games and into the new year, she added.