POULSBO — Nov. 8 is a day that North Kitsap High School head girls’ basketball coach Dan Weedin is already looking forward to.
That day — the first of winter sports season — couldn’t come sooner for Weedin, whose Lady Vikings summer team just finished off its season, going 33-19.
“We had very good participation and the kids played very hard,” Weedin said. “I’m very pleased.”
The team capped the summer with a 3-2 record at the Last Chance Tournament held in Kirkland, which included wins against Enumclaw, Lake Washington and Eastlake. It opened the tournament with a loss to Chief Sealth by a 55-35 score Friday but rebounded to beat Enumclaw 37-25 the same night.
“(Chief Sealth) was our first game and we weren’t as sharp as we would’ve liked,” Weedin said. “But we never had any doubt against Enumclaw.”
After a 5-point loss to Bellevue Saturday 39-34, North Kitsap took on Lake Washington in the late game.
NK trailed by three with 29 seconds to go in the game but a Jasmine Hill 3-pointer knotted things up, 39-39. On Lake Washington’s next possession, Katie Swanlund was able to get the rebound and was subsequently fouled. Swanlund went one-for-two from the line, all North needed to secure the 40-39 win.
“It was a very exciting finish to a closely contested game,” Weedin said.
The Vikings finished the tournament versus Eastlake Sunday, with what Weedin called a “comfortable win,” 37-30.
North’s Swanlund, Hill, Molly McCluskey, Kristen Sprague, Jenna Reed, Rachael Kramer, Katie West, Jessie Eadie and Erin Nicol participated in the final tournament.
The team went 14-7 at NBC team camp in Spokane and finished 19-12 in all other tourna-ments, including the Viking Invitational and tournaments hosted by Olympic College, Hudson’s Bay and Gig Harbor.
Weedin said success came from all members of the team but the surprise player of the summer was Nicol, a Kingston Junior High School eighth grader who impressed him with her ability to play at a high level despite her youth.
“She played really well with the varsity group, especially from an offensive standpoint,” Weedin said, adding that he hopes summer victories will equal ones during the winter.
“It was a very successful summer season,” Weedin said. “We’re excited about how summer went and will be ready when November comes.”
