Basketball season is back for South Kitsap High School, where a pair of Wolves teams are likely to resume their rebuilds under two second-year coaches.
Girls basketball
Coach: Dexter Clark
2023-24 record: 11-15
Key returners: juniors Peyton Evans, Camille Citizen and Sylvi Allen
It’s all about learning new faces for Clark with his five senior leaders from last season all graduated, including Grace Degarimore and captains Kyla Hoisington and Kamdyn Hagerty.
The good news: there’s plenty of them with approximately 47 girls suiting up for tryouts for day one. “According to the AD, it’s the most we’ve had in a while. I would say that’s almost unheard of for girls basketball, but it’s nice to see it come together.”
For Clark, the high turnout presents the perfect proving grounds to restructure a South Kitsap team that won a West Central District game for the first time since 2011 as members of the Narrows League. Getting his first crack at coaching the Wolves with a “one-and-done” roster, he now hopes to truly build his “do better” team for the first time.
“We’re kind of rebuilding, but at the same time, it seems like we could still compete on a big level,” he said. “Going as far as we did last year while being in the SPSL, it looks promising to still keep that competitive nature going forward throughout this year.”
Boys basketball
Coach: Anthony Lewis
2023-24 record: 4-12
Key returners: seniors Josaiah Asuega, Anthony Flashey
The 2023-24 season was a hard one for South Kitsap, which went from winning three of its first four games to closing on a nine-game losing streak.
For Lewis, who had managed to bring the girls program to a .500 record in 2022, it was an offseason spent working on getting more comfortable with himself as a coach and building up confidence in his vision for the program. “It’s just learning more and more and going off of that. I think this summer, a lot of our boys had a lot of growth, and we’re in a lot better place than we were at this time last year.”
The boys will also have holes to fill due to graduation but will also return several key contributors, including seniors Michael Hulet, Asuega and Flashey. The latter two have Lewis excited for an offense that could feature a lot of inside shooting from the paint and the blocks.
“Asuega is a force, and I think he and Flashey play well together and feed off each other well. They’re friends off the court, and it shows on it,” he said.
SK will have plenty of work to do in its league schedule but select non-league games could have the same effect as the Wolves will clash with last season’s 2A Cinderella story in Bremerton in January.
