t SK (5-1) will play in Riverside Invitational in Auburn this coming week.

There’s no room for flexibility when it comes to this league schedule.

Perhaps that’s why South Kitsap girls basketball coach Mark Lutzenhiser enjoys compiling his team’s nonleague slate.

The more challenging, the better, from his perspective.

Some of those games were arranged before Lutzenhiser was hired prior to the season, but he was able to get the Wolves into the Riverside Invitational on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It’s shorter than many tournaments — and doesn’t feature placement or championship games — but the coach is excited about the caliber of competition.

The Wolves (5-1) play Skyline (1-2) at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at Auburn Riverside High School. The Spartans, who play in KingCo 4A, placed seventh in the Class 3A state tournament two seasons ago but now have their third coach in as many years. Senior guard Lindsey Perry is averaging a team-best 17.3 points per game.

“They’ve been pretty competitive,” said Lutzenhiser, who taught at Skyline when the school opened in 1997. “I know they have some really good athletes and ball players.”

South faces perhaps a greater challenge at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday when it plays Sunset. The Portland-based school was the runner up for the Class 6A state championship last season.

“That’s kind of what I look for in nonleague games,” he said. “I would rather play five teams that are going to beat us because we can learn.”

Lutzenhiser doesn’t enjoy losing, but feels that teams take away more from setbacks than victories. He cited University of North Carolina women’s basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell, who was upset by her team’s performance in a 68-59 win Dec. 20 against Illinois. Lutzenhiser said that it’s sometimes difficult for players to understand after a victory.

“I think it’s more effective to learn from your failures,” he said. “It’s hard to get kids to learn when they’re winning.”

Partially because of its tradition, Auburn Riverside — the two-time defending state 3A champion — is able to attract quality teams to its tournament. While South won’t face the Ravens or Moses Lake, which placed second in the 4A state tournament last season, Lutzenhiser said his team can learn from those squads.

“They need to see what it’s like to play the full court and intense, physical-style basketball for 90 feet,” he said of Moses Lake. “Hopefully, the kids will want to stay around and watch it.”

The winter-break competition won’t end there as the Wolves play Jan. 3 at Auburn. The Trojans advanced to the 3A tournament last season.

“This is the level we need to play at to make it to state and be competitive at state,” Lutzenhiser said.

Defensively, Lutzenhiser is satisfied with his team’s performance at this point and calls it a “carryover” from last season under former coach Mike Allen.

But South was offensively challenged in 2007-08 — no player even averaged five points per game — and he feels there’s still work to do.

He said the team needs to continue to build confidence on offense, and while the players have worked to find high-percentage opportunities, they need to find even more open shots.

Lutzenhiser said he’s happy with his players a quarter of the way through the season. But, as with any coach, he wants the team to become more refined — and thinks it will.

“I’m just happy to have an opportunity to coach these kids,” he said. “They’re fun to work with and are really eager to improve. When you have that, it makes it a lot of fun.”