MUKILTEO — It took awhile for both the Kamiak and Marysville Pilchuck offenses to get going — it was just 13-12 at halftime — but, once they did, they provided an exciting finish to a Wesco 4A game Wednesday night at Kamiak High School.
After scoring 22 points through the first three quarters, Kamiak almost doubled its point total with 21 in the final period to come from behind and defeat the Tomahawks 43-36 in a girls basketeball game.
“I have no idea,” Kamiak head coach Wes Williams said when asked what changed late in the game. “At halftime, the girls talked amongst themselves. I said my little thing and then we let the girls motivate themselves.
“They just rallied.”
The Knights were down 27-22 after the third quarter, thanks to an offensive surge by MP (15 points) that saw the Tomahawks more than double their point total from the first half (12).
The fourth quarter began with back-to-back turnovers by both teams. Afterwards, they settled down and began trading baskets with the Tomahawks never leading by more than the initial five. As the clock wound down to two minutes remaining, Kamiak’s Kate Blackwell made two free throws to break a 35-35 tie and the Knights never trailed again.
“(The win) means a lot,” Williams said. “They’re sitting around third, fourth in the (Wesco) North, and we’re third, fourth down here (in the South). We’re pretty evenly matched.”
Marysville Pilchuck head coach Julie Martin said her team couldn’t finish strong and were tired by the end of the game.
“We kind of ran out of gas in the end,” she said.
Kamiak’s Erika Larson, a team captain, led all scorers with 14 points — nine of them coming in the fourth quarter.
“Down the stretch she came alive,” Williams said.
Blackwell added 13 points for the Knights, including the go-ahead free throws. Martin was impressed both with Blackwell’s individual effort as well as the way it seemed to spread to her teammates on the floor.
“Katie (Blackwell) controls the court really well, and she’s very confident in herself and her ability,” Martin said.
Knights post Salena Taylor grabbed nine rebounds to go along with her four points.
There were lots of rebounds to be had in the early quarters.
A combination of strong defense and overeager offense led to a 13-12 halftime score. Both teams were consistently turning the ball over. When they were able to get a shot off, it rarely went in the hoop.
Then the halftime adjustments came.
Kamiak used a full-court press on several occasions in the second half. Marysville Pilchuck countered by switching from attacking the rim to passing more while trying find the open player.
“We needed to work the ball a little bit more and get an open shot,” Martin said.
Meanwhile, Kamiak began to drive through the lane, drawing fouls on Tomahawk defenders and heading to the free-throw line.
The Knights had their share of fouls called on them, too. Marysville Pilchuck was in the bonus with 3:03 remaining in the third quarter. All four of Emily Enberg’s third-quarter points came from the free-throw line, where she had become a fixture by the end of the game after continuously causing the Kamiak defense to foul her.
Enberg led the Tomahawks with 12 points and sophomore Charlee Pilon contributed 11 points. Point guard Amanda Klep scored eight points and grabbed four steals while running the MP offense and Jessica Boyle snagged 11 rebounds and four steals.
“Their point guard, No. 11 (Klep), man I love that,” Williams said. “I like the way she was directing traffic. It started with her and ended with her. She can come to Kamiak anytime.”
There was a little excitement at the 6:52 mark in the fourth quarter when Williams was whistled for a technical foul. There was a mixup at the scorer’s table as to who had been assigned a Kamiak foul, and Williams says he was just trying to clear up the confusion.
The first-year Kamiak coach also says it won’t be a regular occurance.
“That’s my very first technical ever,” Williams said. “Even coaching AAU. The stat takers were confused. Maybe it fired the team up.”
At Kamiak H.S.
Marysville Pilchuck57159—36
Kamiak76921—43
Marysville Pilchuck—Pilon 11, Tuemmler 2, Klep 8, Reynolds 0, Bengen 1, Watson 0, Boyle 2, Enberg 12, Rossnagle 0. Kamiak—Downing 0, Blackwell 13, Patrick 0, Batie 5, Taylor 4, Plourd 3, Aboulhosn 0, Dean 4, Larson 14, Stoltz 0, Hamill 0. 3-point goals—Pilon 1, Enberg 1, Larson 1, Batie 1, Dean 1. Records—Marysville Pilchuck 3-5 league, 7-6 overall. Kamiak 4-4, 7-7.
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