New coaches. New players. Adjustment phase.
That is what Tuesday night felt like as South Kitsap’s girls basketball overcame a sluggish start to defeat Bremerton, 70-53, in its season opener.
“I thought the girls were really excited,” said first-year South coach Mike Hulet, who served as an assistant under Gary Wilson, Doug Green, Mike Allen and Mark Lutzenhiser at the school. “They were anxious and forced things at times. Especially late in the game when they needed to settle down, they did.”
The Wolves never trailed after senior forward Taylor Sunkel, who scored a game-high 26 points on her 18th birthday, gave them a 12-11 lead with 1 minute, 38 seconds, remaining in the first quarter.
But rarely was it easy. Behind 6-foot-2 post Jalen Carpenter, who signed with Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, the Knights did not allow South to put the game out of reach until the last few minutes. That is because the Wolves struggled to contain Carpenter, who scored 24 points, and her 6-foot sister Kourtney, who added 15 points.
“Both of those posts players really work well together,” Hulet said. “It is tough to see a couple of post players like that.”
Sunkel fouled out trying to guard the Carpenters, while guard Jackie Steiger, who had 18 points, was among several South players in foul trouble during the second half.
“We’ve got to play defense with our feet — not our hands,” Steiger said.
Fortunately for the Wolves, Bremerton was unable to take advantage of its opportunities from the free-throw line. The Knights converted just 15 of 34 (44 percent) of their attempts from the stripe.
Bremerton also committed 30 turnovers.
South’s lead never was reduced into single-digits during the second half, but shooting woes prevented the Wolves from extending their lead. They converted just 33 percent of their field goals.
“Everybody wanted to get something up,” Hulet said. “We obviously were forcing some things.”
South continues nonleague play Friday against Yelm and faces Wednesday at Lincoln before Class 4A Narrows League play begins Dec. 9 at Olympia.
Hulet said his team will continue to improve from its opening performance.
“We kind of got some nerves and jitters out of the way,” he said. “We’ll build from this.”
At South Kitsap 70, Bremerton 53
Bremerton 11 4 15 23 — 53
South Kitsap 17 13 15 25 — 70
Bremerton—Cass Busch 0, Charlese Gaines 3, Khadijah DeWalt 2, Sawyer Kluge 7, Sharnaee Grettenberger 2, Rebecca Frei 0, Nichole Chambers 0, Kourtney Carpenter 15, Jalen Carpenter 24.
South Kitsap—Darian Dickey 3, Amy Bakalarski 0, Ali Davis 5, Carly Bakalarski 3, Jackie Steiger 18, Taylor Sunkel 26, Hayley O’Dell 4, Maile Keanu 7, Rachel Rocconi 4, Savannah Gromling 0.
