Defense proved to serve the Buccaneers well as the Kingston girls basketball team beat the Steilacoom Sentinels 50-39 in the first round of the District 3 2A tournament at Steilacoom High School Feb. 15.

The No. 9 seed Bucs move on to play at No. 1 seed Bainbridge Feb. 18 at 6 p.m.

“We were trying to press, but our press wasn’t working too well,” Kingston coach Charles Deam said. “We just tried all kinds of different things, [including] a full court man to man.”

The full-court man-to-man strategy proved to work early on, with the Buccaneers generating consecutive turnovers that eventually led to fastbreak points.

Buccaneer junior Taizah Franklin generated multiple scoring opportunities throughout the first quarter via forced turnovers and offensive rebounding, accruing six total points by the end of the period. Kingston led at the end of the first 14-5.

Kingston was finally able to get on the board in the second quarter after Franklin was sent to the free-throw line, where she made both. Due to the tight defense being played, both teams saw themselves get into foul trouble with the Bucs proving to be the benefactor, pushing Kingston’s lead to eight with 1:47 remaining in the half via free throws.

Sophomore Tatiana Fontes-Lawrence led the team with eight at halftime.

“We had a [full-court] press breaker set up and we ran it well, even though we didn’t have much practice with it,” Kingston freshman Maili Edwards said.

The Bucs struggled to get anything going offensively at the beginning of the third quarter, allowing Steilacoom to go on a run of their own and draw to within five points with four minutes remaining in the period, largely due to the full-court press they were facing.

Both teams saw themselves with foul trouble at the end of the third with five apiece. Kingston led 35-24.

Turnovers began to creep up for the Bucs at the beginning of the fourth, but it did not prove to affect their scoring abilities, jumping out to a 9-2 scoring run to jumpstart the quarter. The run eventually led to Kingston getting out to their largest lead of the game at 17.

Despite a late Steilacoom resurgence, the Bucs held on for the win.

“We get to play another game,” Deam said. “I mean, we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, but it’s a game of runs, and we had a run at the right time.”

Other Kitsap scores

In other 2A district girls action, North Kitsap won its opening district game, defeating Franklin Pierce 62-26. The No. 5 seed Vikings will play at No. 4 seed Fife Feb. 18 at 6 p.m.

The Olympic girls fell short losing a tight game 41-38 to Clover Park, ending the Trojans season.

In 1A girls action, Klahowya was eliminated by Life Christian Academy 46-31.

On the boys side in 2A, Olympic won a thriller against Washington 66-65. The No. 10 seed Trojans move on to play at No. 2 seed Franklin Pierce Feb. 19 at 6 p.m.

The NK boys lost in a blowout to Clover Park 78-52, ending the Viking season. No. 5 seed Clover Park moves on to play at No. 4 seed Bainbridge Feb. 19 at 6 p.m.

No. 1 seed Bremerton will host Port Angeles Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. The Roughriders beat Fife 60-47 to advance to play the Knights.

In 1A boys action, Klahowya was eliminated in a blowout fashion by Cascade Christian 71-38.