PORT ORCHARD — South Kitsap hung in with Puyallup for three quarters in a Saturday afternoon matinée, but the Vikings pulled away to victory in the final frame of the prep girls basketball game Jan. 5.

Puyallup junior Hadylie Jeffers scored nine of her game-high 13 points in the fourth quarter as her team surged ahead to a 42-27 win over the Wolves.

South Kitsap could muster only eight points in the second half. A few too many turnovers and some good offensive rebounding by Puyallup did them in. The Wolves also had a number of good offensive opportunities that ended with an unlucky bounce as the ball simply rimmed out instead of dropping in. Compounding their woes was that the team took to the court without one of their top players, senior Emily Riehl, who has missed the past couple of games with an injury.

“I think it was just inside shots,” head coach Mike Allen said. “Man, we just missed a lot. We gave up a ton of offensive rebounds too. That was rough.”

South Kitsap (1-5, 2-6) had an 11-5 lead after one quarter, thanks to a strong early performance by senior Emma Erickson, who picked up a couple of solid inside buckets and sophomore Danae Hughes who was able to get behind the Puyallup press a couple of times for easy baskets.

Erickson finished as South Kitsap’s leading scorer with 9 points.

The Wolves were all over the court in their own end, as well, swarming the Vikings at every opportunity.

“We did pretty well. We had some breakdowns in some places that were a little unfortunate, some baseline cutters that we didn’t call out,” Allen said.

After a quiet first quarter, Puyallup guard Athena Taylor sunk three 3-pointers in the second quarter to pull her team ahead for the first time. Still, South Kitsap trailed by just two points heading into halftime as freshman Peyton Byrd hit a pair of baskets.

“I thought [we had a chance to win] going into the game and I thought so during the game, but we didn’t have a great fourth quarter,” Allen said.

Puyallup 42, South Kitsap 27

Puyallup 5 16 7 14 — 42

South Kitsap 11 8 4 4 — 27

Puyallup (42) — Jeffers 13, Taylor 13, Edmonds 4, Hagen 4, Marvin 3, Worley 3, Forbus 2.

South Kitsap (27) — Erickson 9, Byrd 4, Hughes 4, Amian 2, Linne 2, Millet 2, Reyes 2, Rodriguez 2.