- video by Jim P.

WA Girls B first team to advance to Pee Wee Championships

 

BELFAIR, Wash. – Last night (Monday, Mar. 13) the Warren Ave (WA) Girls B Knights (7-3) travelled to Belfair, Wash, for the opening round of the 2018 Kitsap Co. Pee Wee Basketball Playoffs, at the Old Hawkins Gym, and got into a dog fight. Quite literally. Their opponent, the North Perry Girls B (8-2), mascot is the Bulldog.

 

This was the third match-up between these two teams this season and the Bulldogs won the first two games – 19-to-16 on Jan. 24th in Belfair, Wash., and 20-to-19 on Mar. 2^nd in Bremerton, Wash.

 

Fortunately for the Knights, they prevailed in this tussle, 19-to-15, and advanced to the Pee Wee Girls B Championship game on Saturday (Mar. 17) at North Mason High School.

 

“Third time is the charm,” said an enthusiastic WA Head Coach Bryan Kurzrock after the game.

 

The key to Warren Ave’s success this time was speed and conditioning. Defensively, they snatched 17 steals in the contest, a season-high 10 steals in the 1^st half, and scrambled down the floor to convert those takeaways into 4 points.

 

Four points may not seem like a lot, until you do the math. It was almost a fourth (21%) of the Knights game-winning 19 points.

 

North Mason, the other hand, only took the ball away from Warren Ave seven times and got a measly two points for their effort.

 

Additionally, there were a high number of long-rebounds thorought the contest, shots that come off the rim or backboard and don’t hit the floor until the free throw line or beyond. Time and time again the Knights’ came speeding out of the pack to retrieve the long-rebound and then scooted down the floor on another fastbreak.

 

“We ran, ran, ran,” Coach Kurzrock added. “My team is very athletic and I get them out to run as much as possible.”

 

But Warren Ave did not dominate this contest, at least not in the first half.

 

After Knights starting guard Danielle Irving scored the first two points of the game, the score seesawed back and forth until Warren Ave emerged ahead 11-to-8 at the end of the 1^st half.

 

“I am lucky enough to have athletes,” Kurzrock went on to explain. “I have multiple athletes on my team, from guards, to centers, to post players, and they all work hard.”

 

To start the 2^nd half Irving again convert the first field goal. From there her teammate would extend the Knights advantage to seven points, 15-to-8, the biggest lead achieved by either team in the forth-four minute game.

 

A fourth personal foul with 5:30 remaining in the contest relegated Warren Ave starting point guard Isabelle Garcia-Kurzrock to the bench. This permitted North Mason to slowly eat away at the Knights' lead.

 

Garcia-Kurzrock, the fastest player in the gym, returned to the game with 1:18 remaining, with her team holding on to a slim 16-to-14 lead.

 

But it wasn’t speed Warren Ave need to close-out the game, it was successful free throw shooting.

 

North Mason had to have the basketball to make up the deficit and were left with no other option but to foul the Knights ballhandler. Coach Kurzrock had done a good job teaching his girls how to play keep-away.

 

Power guard Jailiah Blair, who ended the game with 2 points (pts), 5 rebounds (reb), 2 assists (ast), and 3 steals (stl), and Irving were the first two Knights to step to the line. All three of their free throw attempts were unsuccessful.

 

Irving returned to the charity strip a second time, ten’s of seconds later, and got the front-end of her two shots to go through. But, she was done.

 

Returning a third time, inside of twenty seconds, she sealed Warren Ave’s victory, making both free throws and scoring the games final points.

 

When asked if they were tough free throws down the stretch, Irving quietly said, “yea., because there were a lot of people talking.”.

 

The North Mason parents and fans are not known for their congeniality. I accidently sat in their section of the bleachers.

 

In the contest, the heroine of the game tallied a double-double, 10 pts and 10 reb, as well as 1 ast, 5 stl, a 1 blocked shot.

 

Forward Lucy Taylor’s 12 rebounds were also a key factor in the Knights advancing to the Pee Wee Girls B Championship game on Saturday (Mar. 17) in the North Mason High School Gym. Tip-off will be at 3:00 p.m.

 

- video by Jim P.