SILVERDALE — Ball control problems sank the North Kitsap Vikings dreams of pulling off an upset Bridge Division victory Wednesday night against the Central Kitsap Cougars.
In the league opener for both teams, the Cougars (1-0 League, 3-1 overall) came out like a team obsessed with getting the win, which they did convincingly, 61-31.
They dominated the Vikings (0-1 League, 1-4 overall) in the first quarter by scoring 25 points and upsetting the visitors’ offense so badly that they failed to score at all.
“We came out flat in that first quarter,” NK coach Dan Weedin said. “They buried us early and we never came back from that. We tried to do it a possession at a time, but that’s hard to do when you’re down 25-0 after the first quarter.”
The Vikings finally got on the scoreboard in the first minute on the second quarter when senior Ashley Davis hit a 15-footer for her only points.
North looked to go on a roll when sophomore forward Kristen Sprague made a bucket on the following possession, but the Vikings went on a five-minute long scoring drought.
“Leading up to today, handling the ball hasn’t been a terrible problem for us,” Weedin said. “I don’t know why we had trouble shooting the ball like we did. We didn’t transition well. They beat us up and down the court.”
Junior Brenda Stice led the Vikings with 12 points.
Several Cougars said they needed to have strong transition play following a 72-50 loss to Capital last week.
“When we played Capital we didn’t work well on our transitions at all,” senior forward Nicole Zygmontowicz said. “So tonight we wanted to play our game and get a lot of fast breaks.”
Zygmontowicz scored 11 points despite sitting out for the second quarter and most of the fourth.
Senior Adria Layne showed no signs of slowing down despite having rolled her ankle in the Capital game as she scored a game-high 18 points.
“I felt good and ready to play,” Layne said. “I just tried to focus on playing hard.”
Sophomore Emily Zygmontowicz had plenty of fast-break opportunities as she frequently burned the Vikings for 12 points.
