Wilson wing Alaundra Alford looks for her next pass.
When Wilson’s offense couldn’t pick up the pace, defense took over to lead the Rams to a 59-39 victory over Kentlake.
Wilson (6-2, 4-0) is on the hunt for a third consecutive trip to the state tournament, and is third in the Narrows 3A league. Kentlake (7-2, 3-0) is second is SPSL 4A North.
Defensive effort
No. 8 Wilson was looking to pick up the pace early against unranked Kentlake, which is a young team with just one senior starter.
Despite an 11-0 run starting off the game, the Rams (6-2, 4-0) were not where they wanted to be offensively.
“We had a defensive plan that we wanted for Kentlake. They’re young, very hungry, disciplined team, so we wanted to speed them up a little bit,” said Wilson coach Michelle Birge. “Once we got our defense going, things got a little easier, but offensively we’re stalling. We’re capable of so much more.”
Wilson’s offense did speed up in the second half of the game, and led to several fast breaks and easy points in the third quarter.
Forwards Violet “Kapri” Morrow, Kiki Knox, and Erica Hamlin stepped up defensively to make up for it. Morrow led the team with 22 points and eight rebounds. Together Knox and Hamlin added seven rebounds.
“We had a hard time for a while containing [Kentlake’s Sydney Peterson]. She’s a phenomenal point guard, and we put Erica on her, and that seemed to do the trick in slowing her up, keeping her out of the lane a little bit,” Birge said.
Peterson, a sophomore, had seven points for the Falcons.
Foul play
Both teams battled penalties in the first half, but Wilson suffered the consequences. Of Wilson’s 10 first half penalties, seven resulted in points given up at the free throw line. Other than free throws from Wilson’s fouls, Kentlake struggled to get going in the first half, earning just six of its sixteen points from field goals.
“We don’t want them to get comfortable,” Morrow said. “We need to rise together, and then we’ll be great.”
