Kingston girls come up short in overtime

BREMERTON —Kingston’s girls came up a mere one point shy of victory Friday night, losing 56-55 in overtime to the Bremerton Knights.

“I just don’t think we played to our potential,” said coach Kevin Strozier, who admits to having high standards for his team.

Though its early in the season for the 1-1 Lady Buccaneers, the coach already is noticing a disturbing trend.

“We tend to play down when we play people who aren’t as talented as us,” he said. “We need to get at a level where we are playing how we’re capable of playing, and I think that is a high level. Once we do that, I think we’ll be OK.”

There were multiple failed opportunities to put points up, which makes the loss a frustrating one for Strozier.

As a team, the Lady Buccaneers were 12 for 24 from the free-throw line. This is a far cry from the 70 percent accuracy rate Strozier preaches to his team.

“I’m a firm believer that this is one of our goals as a team. We have to shoot at least 70 percent or better to be in the game. Had we made five or six more shots, that’s when we’d win the game,” he said.

In the close loss, a few of the Lady Bucs came forward to play standout games. Riley Watts earned 16 points and eight rebounds for the night, and Arissan Ugles pulled off a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds, which drew praise from Strozier.

“That’s something we’re really working very hard on — to get in there and scrap for the ball. That’s what we have to do. We have to be a little more aggressive,” he said.

Sophia Baetz also had eight points.

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