Wildcats whip King’s girls

Published 5:40 pm Saturday, January 10, 2009

SHORELINE

Thanks to a nice defensive effort and 16 points from Samantha Pettinger, the Archbishop Murphy girls basketball team opened up league play with a 49-25 win over King’s Jan. 7.

Archbishop Murphy (1-0 Cascade Conference, 6-0 overall) held King’s (0-2, 4-4) to 30 shots for the game and 26 percent field goal shooting.

“We’re an experienced team and this team believes in each other and plays defense the way we like to play,” Archbishop Murphy coach John Barhanovich said.

“And so if we can get a run somewhere in a game we feel comfortable with getting a lead we can do certain things, that’s the way the things went today.”

The Wildcats outscored King’s 13-4 in the second quarter, led 27-12 at the half and cruised to the win.

King’s committed 23 turnovers to Archbishop Murphy’s 12, another advantage for the Wildcats. Pettinger scored 11 points in the first half, several coming off transition after turnovers.

“If we can get some turnovers, Samantha Pettinger is a quick person to get up the court running,” Barhanovich said. “We got some kids who can throw a long pass. We usually can get Sammi open for a few layups.”

The Wildcats held King’s to only three points in the fourth quarter. Archbishop mixed man-to-man defense with a half-court trap and held the Knights to 26 percent shooting on the night.

“We’re a strong defensive team. We all buy into coach’s strategy and philosophy on defense,” said Archbishop senior forward Alyssa Smith, who finished with 11 points.

“ We’ve been together a couple years now so I think that has a lot to do with it.

The Wildcats out rebounded King’s 29-24 and limited the Knights to six offensive boards.

“We knew coming in we needed to shut down those guys underneath mainly their posts underneath and rebound,” Smith said.

King’s struggled to make shots and adjust to the Wildcats’ 1-3-1 zone, coach Tressa Berg said.

King’s inability to take care of the ball kept the Knights from staying close.

“I think we played sloppy some of the time and we needed more composure but I think we’re better than that,” said Makenzie Taylor, who scored a team-high six points. “One of our main goals for each game is to keep our turnovers low. For this game we wanted to keep them under 15 so that was kind of a disappointment we need to take care of the ball more.”

Archbishop shot 43 percent from the field (18-for-42) and 58 percent from the foul line (11-for-19). King’s made 5-of-10 free throws for 50 percent.

The unbeaten Wildcats have a nucleus of players that want to get to state after winning their first conference title last year.

“I think our team is confident but humble,” Pettinger said. “We know we have a lot to work on to get to the next level.”