Wolfpack cranks up the pressure

MILL CREEK

It took about a quarter for Jackson to get rolling in its showdown with Kamiak.

But once the Timberwolves cranked up the defense, the Knights wilted under the pressure as the Wolfpack prevailed 67-51 in a Western Conference South Division game Feb. 1 at Jackson High School.

Jackson found itself in an unaccustomed position after the first period when Jordan Keller and Julia Church powered Kamiak to a 17-11 lead. Keller and Church each scored eight points mostly by pounding the ball inside.

The Timberwolves shook off the doldrums in the second quarter by using a 21-2 run to take a commanding 41-28 lead into halftime.

Jackson’s turnaround started with its pressure defense.

“It was great to just see them work so hard and to really get their hands up because before we had our hands on our sides and we weren’t rotating in our pressure,” said Jackson head coach Jeannie Thompson. “That small adjustment that we made at the beginning of the second quarter really fed our offense and got us out and running.”

The Wolfpack continued to turn turnovers into baskets in the second half and extended its lead to 54-33 at the end of the third quarter.

“The game had more of a playoff atmosphere to it and I think our team really needed that, to be down early, and have to fight back, especially this time of the year,” Thompson said. “That’s a great thing to have your team battle.”

Senior guard Ashly Bruns scored 13 of her team-high 21 points in the first half. Sophomore guard Erin Feeney added 12 points. Senior guard Kristi Kingma, who missed Wednesday’s game against Mountlake Terrace due to the stomach flu, still wasn’t 100 percent and finished with six points.

“A lot of our girls aren’t feeling well,” Bruns said. “A lot of people stepped up. … Other people made some good passes and some defensive steals and defensive pressure. It was a really good team effort.”

Bruns is averaging 12.0 points per game, second on the team to Kingma (21.9). Bruns scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Wolfpack to a 60-42 victory over Mountlake Terrace on Jan. 30.

“She’s had a fantastic season, by far her best season at Jackson,” Thompson said. “Her confidence right now is off the charts and it’s a great one-two combo to have her and Kristi in the backcourt together.”

Thompson liked the way the other players helped shoulder the load in Kingma’s absence against the Hawks.

“If anything it’s going to help our team be more prepared,” she said. “If we can get everybody healthy, I think we’ll stand a good shot of going back to state,”

Jackson (14-0 in the league, 17-1 overall) already has clinched the 4A No. 1 berth to districts.

There also is a strong likelihood that the Wolfpack will face teams that have a similar height advantage that Kamiak possessed. Keller is 6-foot-3, while Church is 6-2. The Knight have two other 6-0 players. The Wolfpack’s tallest starter is Kingma at 5-11.

Kamiak took advantage of its height in the first quarter by feeding the ball to its big people.

“We knew if we tried to play them in a halfcourt set, they would definitely have the advantage,” Thompson said. “The first quarter was definitely a half-court game. They did a great job of slowing down the tempo, making us play at their pace. That was why we ended up falling behind.”

Kamiak, however, was unable to handle the Jackson pressure in the second quarter.

“We started throwing in traps and double teams and started playing our hectic defense,” Kingma said. “We were getting easy baskets. I think once you get easy baskets, the offense started coming.”

The defense led to more transition baskets and a faster tempo game, not to Kamiak’s liking.

“We got them more in our style of game, which is up and down,” Kingma said. “They want to slow it down a little bit more. Once we got in our style of play, we were able to control their bigger players and ultimate get the win.”

Added Bruns, “Once defense lead to a really good offense. When we play good, tough defense on teams, they start turning the ball over. We can start getting easy baskets and scoring that way. It brings an uptempo game and that’s our main style of game.”

Though neither team had a clear advantage on the boards, Thompson saw a need for Jackson to continue to work on blocking out.

“There were different series throughout the game where we definitely dominated,” Thompson said. “In a close game, especially in a playoff situations, a lot of times those offensive rebounds that we were giving up could be the ball game. … We’ve really got to clean that up going into the next two weeks.’