A deafening crowd roared through the North Kitsap gym as the Vikings hosted and split with Bainbridge in boys and girls basketball games Jan. 19.

While Agate Cup games normally fill most seats, NK actually had to refuse hundreds of fans from entering since around 1,000 people already flooded the courts.

The intensity of the games rose in the third quarter of the girls games when both student sections began chanting.

“I was preparing the girls for it at practice,” Bainbridge girls coach Zach Burnham said. “We were using some crowd noise the other day, and that helped get the jitters out of their system because they were rattled at practice. We expect to go to playoffs so that’s what it will be like for us.”

That experience paid off for the Spartans as they beat the home team 42-35.

Bainbridge took the early lead behind Bella Ramirez’s 11 points in the first half. The visitors continued to roll in the second half as Ramirez scored four more points, and Hannah Bounketh nailed five points.

Avery Kline led the Vikings with seven points.

“We can never reduce the gap,” Viking girls coach Karla DeVries said. “We were down by nine and can never chip away at it. These girls are not used to shooting in front of that many people. It was stage fright.”

The boys game was thunderous as the Vikings won 79-52. Both crowds packed the bleachers so much that leftover fans began watching the game on the baselines.

NK boys coach Scott Orness said it was the largest crowd he has seen since coaching Bainbridge against O’Dea in 2007. Although the crowd fueled the players, Orness was not pleased with his squad.

“We were not well disciplined,” he said. “It left a bad taste in my mouth with all the theater stuff our players did because that is what we are not about.”

NK’s theatrics put them in a hole early as Bainbridge’s Sam Nylund nailed a three-point buzzer-beater to give the Spartans an 18-14 lead after the first quarter. But while the Spartans cooled off the Vikings went on a roll.

The Vikings held Bainbridge to eight points in the second quarter, taking a 34-23 lead at halftime. At the half, Nylund led the Spartans with 14 points while Harry Davies had 10 and Jordan Williams had eight points for NK.

The Spartan student section and squad fell flat in the second half as NK outscored Bainbridge 37-22. Williams scored 11 more points for NK while Nylund had 13 more for BHS.

“When you look at our fourth quarter compared to our first quarter, our guys are running the floor and there is no difference,” Orness said. “We have guys who have motors who can go 32 minutes.”

Despite the loss, Spartan coach Will Ferris praised his team.

“I wrote down ‘Trust your players, and they will win,’” Ferris said. “I left the win portion to be ambiguous for a reason because they (NK) are a great team. We missed a lot of shots, but I am so proud of these guys because they did everything mentality-wise.”

There is a link to a video of the crowd here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2YHecztaSC/?hl=en

Bainbridge’s Sam Nylund drives to the hoop for the layup.

NK’s Jordan Williams dribbles down the court in transition.