TACOMA — In a game that resembled an old-school rumble, the North Kitsap Viking girls brought home a hard-fought 58-55 win over the Stadium Tigers Wednesday night in Tacoma.

The Tigers played an aggressive, in-your-face game and led for the first three quarters. In the fourth, the Vikings just started to click, and outscored the Tigers 18-10.

The Viking girls are now 1-1.

Brandy Ritter started the tide change by hitting three 3-pointers within two minutes. Then Ashley Tobin and Siara Byers made huge contributions, hitting two jump shots each. All the while, coach Bill Hobaugh looked on, wishing he’d brought a paper bag to breathe into.

“I think we just wanted it more,” Tobin said. “We just wanted to prove we could do this.”

Tobin kept a close eye on the scoreboard throughout the game to keep up the motivation factor. Trailing for most of the game did wonders for the team’s work ethic, as did the back-and-forth scoring.

“When we scored again, we’d just keep going,” she said.

Racking up the points in the fourth quarter played a huge role in the win, as did the Viking girls stepping up their defense in the second half, Hobaugh said.

“The whole second half we played man-to-man,” he said.

He attributed the fast-paced game to the locale of the event. In Tacoma, things are done differently on the court. Namely, referees are a bit more, well, accepting of aggressive play.

“One of our girls got thrown into bleachers and nothing was called,” Hobaugh said. “She went three rows up. We literally got beat up. In Tacoma, the refs let a lot go. A lot of the girls have bruises.”

Kristin Stringer seconded that emotion.

“Everyone was really aggressive. We all got pushed around. It was really crazy,” she said.

Instead of taking a beating and calling it a night, the Vikes chose to step it up and stay in the game.

“That’s what I’m most proud of. They kept their composure,” Hobaugh said. The Vikings ruled the court with near-perfect ball handling and, as a team, managed 20 steals.

While the Vikes were able to match the Tigers play for play, Hobaugh said his team’s youth did work against them. With only one starting senior, the girls have a lot of good skills, but they’re “just not as physically strong as some of these other teams.”

That will come in time, he said.

And he does have an ace in the hole when things start to waver against them: Darcey Hughes. Hughes brought in 10 points, 13 rebounds and an uncanny ability to get the ball down the court.

“When we get in trouble, we just give the ball to her and no one can stay with her,” Hobaugh said.

The Viking girls will play at home tonight against Kings West. The game starts at 5 p.m.