Knights ready for Class 2A foes

SHORELINE — The cadre of Class 2A girls basketball powerhouses has grown by one.

King’s boasts the experience, talent and chemistry to make a considerable impact during its first season away from the 1A ranks.

All five starters off last year’s 23-5 team that finished fourth at state are back, along with a handful of key reserves who provided pivotal minutes.

“It’s 10 kids who can all really contribute,” King’s coach Eric Rasmussen said.

Topping that list is point guard Sara Mosiman. Despite playing out of position much of the season, the 5-foot-9 junior averaged a team-high 13.8 points per game and was named most valuable player of the now-defunct Chinook League.

Mosiman is starting to receive attention from college coaches in volleyball and track and field as well as basketball.

“She’s always been a great player,” said junior guard Caitlyn Faidley, a backcourt partner of Mosiman’s since the fourth grade.

“She can jump out of the gym. She’s a great teammate. She’s got her game face, but I don’t think you’ll ever play a game where she doesn’t smile.”

The three-sport star is a defensive pest and quarterbacks the fastbreak attack the Knights favor.

“She’s a very gifted ball handler and a very good passer. She likes to distribute the ball,” Rasmussen said.

“If we can create some tempo and get up and down the floor, she is a critical part of that. We like to have the ball in her hands because we think a lot of good things happen when that takes place.”

Mosiman and Faidley both earned all-tournament honors at last year’s state championships. In four games, the duo averaged a combined 33.3 points on 43 percent shooting from the field.

Heidi Kieling and Chira Louie joined Mosiman and Faidley as the only Knights to appear in all 28 games last year. The senior guards will share time with seniors Clarissa Sather and Brooke Simons and sophomore Kim Mayhle, who piloted the junior varsity team to a 20-0 record.

With their depth in the backcourt and forwards who can hustle up court in a hurry, the Knights plan to continue pushing the pace.

“If we can we’re going to run it the entire time,” senior forward Hayley Zevenbergen said. “That’s one of our strong points definitely.”

Zevenbergen anchors a solid frontline that also features returning sophomores Danielle Clauson and Sarah Strand. The third-year starter chipped in 10 points per game last season, mostly off second-chance hoops.

“We have to encourage her to shoot it more,” Rasmussen said. “She plays great defense and pounds the boards on both ends of the floor. All those little things you kind of take for granted that she does night in and night out are huge for us.”

Strand shot up two inches in the past year to 5-11 and Clauson emerged as an offensive weapon the second half of her freshman season. In the playoffs, the 5-10 forward averaged nine points off the bench.

As a team, the Knights outscored their opposition by an average margin of 23 points per game. That differential can be traced directly to the fierce fullcourt trap King’s executes.

“The kids really know that’s the heart and soul of what we do,” Rasmussen said. “That allows us to play more uptempo on the offensive end. We’ve got to play good defense regardless of whether we’re going to do it in a fullcourt or halfcourt set.

“We think it’s a lot easier to contain people and hold them down than outscore them. We’ve prided ourselves on being good defensively.”

At state the Knights used their spirited defensive pressure to force 82 turnovers.

“If we’re having a bad shooting game, it saves us,” Zevenbergen said. “It psyches everyone up and gets us going again.”

Last year’s state appearance was the 11th straight for the Knights, who placed in the top four six times since claiming the school’s only girls basketball championship in 1997.

The Chinook League did little to prepare King’s for the playoffs. In five seasons, the Knights compiled a 62-1 conference record and won five consecutive league and district titles.

“You want to be as battle-tested and as sharp as you can be,” Rasmussen said. “It’s hard to replicate and create that in practice and even non-league games. When you can play league games that have some bearing on your playoff position that’s going to be a benefit.”

Rasmussen expects the seven-team Cascade Conference will provide more consistent competition.

“This will be a great test for us,” he said. “The kids know we have our work cut out for us to be able to meet some of our goals at the end of the year.”