YELM — Basketball often is a game of response.
But that was rendered moot when South Kitsap put Yelm in a deep first-half deficit en route to a 54-38 win Dec. 17 in a Class 4A Narrows League contest.
Behind senior Alona Lund, who scored all 10 of her points during the first quarter, the Wolves jumped out to a 16-2 lead.
“I thought we came out and played a really solid first half,” South coach Mike Hulet said. “I thought we were in a nice sense of rhythm.”
The Wolves (4-1 overall, 2-0 league) do not feature a go-to player, but a cast of seniors filled that role throughout the game. As Lund’s production decreased, 6-foot Kaylee Yergeau emerged during the second quarter. She hit a 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining in the half that gave South a 33-11 lead at the intermission. Yergeau scored 10 of her team-high 12 points during the first half.
“It’s just kind of any given moment that anybody steps up,” Hulet said.
While games often feature runs by both teams, the Tornados (1-6, 0-3) were too turnover-prone to mount a challenge. Yelm committed 20 turnovers during the first half and 31 overall.
That was significant because the Wolves, who rotated the ball well during the first 16 minutes and accumulated several assists, were not as fluid on offense after halftime. They were outscored 27-21 during the second half.
“We didn’t bring that same effort quite as much,” Hulet said.
And much of Yelm’s fourth-quarter production came late against South’s deep reserves.
“We tried to rotate people in and get some others some minutes,” Hulet said. “It’s kind of hard when it gets helter-skelter.
“We just need to continue to improve our bench — and we will.”
In an effort to address that, Hulet added 6-4 post Amanda Lind from the junior-varsity squad. Lind played significant minutes during the second half and scored six points.
“She moves pretty well … and has great hands,” Hulet said.
Lind’s effort, along with senior Brianna Shafer, who scored eight of her 10 points during the second half, helped prevent any Tornados’ comeback hopes. But Hulet, whose team plays its final league game before New Year’s Day at 7 p.m. Friday against Timberline, said his team’s second-half performance revealed some areas for improvement.
“Just the little things we need to polish and refine,” he said. “Our help-side defense and we’re still not there with our conditioning. We get a little tired, we stand up and we have a tendency to reach too much.”
Yelm converted 12 of 17 free-throw attempts.
“That kind of kept it closer than it should’ve been,” Hulet said.
The Wolves have struggled with free-throw shooting early in the season and that did not change against the Tornados. South converted just 13 of 28 attempts from the stripe.
“That’s been kind of our bugaboo and I think it’s attributed to our conditioning,” Hulet said. “And we have some young kids, too.”
The Wolves will have some time to work on that before their next league game, which is Jan. 7 at Olympia. They host Peninsula on Monday and Jackson on Dec. 27. South also plays a nonleague game Dec. 30 at Kingston.
South Kitsap 54, at Yelm 38
South Kitsap 20 13 10 11 – 54
Yelm 7 4 9 18 – 38
South Kitsap-Savannah Foster, Libby Borgonia 2, MaryBeth Bray 7, Mckenna Mallory 3, Brianna Shafer 10, Darian Ambler, Olivia Hermann, Alona Lund 10, Vanessa Davis, Sophia Canton 2, Kaylee Yergeau 12, Kaylee McEdwards 2, Amanda Lind 6.
Yelm-Chelsie Brantley 4, Arizona Clowes, Kalista Fourre 6, Hannah Hale 6, Chloe Zimmerman 3, Jessilyn Enlow 7, Jamie Connally 4, Madison Anderson, Mackenzie Anderson 4.
