Tough girls’ squad falls to Knights
Published 10:44 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
The King’s Knights are considered to be one of the top teams in the state in girls’ high-school basketball, and they have proven it this season by scheduling and beating significant nonleague opponents.
The Mount Si Wildcats girls’ basketball team last Tuesday became the latest nonleague victim of this strong squad from North Seattle, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort.
“We felt that there was a point in the game tonight when we really had them, and it was the beginning of the fourth quarter. They hit a couple of big buckets, and the wind went out of our sails, and [it was] something I didn’t have an answer for,” said Mount Si Coach Dirk Hansen, and the Knights pulled away for a 61-41 blowout of the Wildcats.
University of Washington-bound senior Sara Mosiman scored 15 points to lead the Knights.
“We had a lot of good defensive stops down the stretch, and it took us a while to get warmed up in the first half, but by the end we knew what we had to do, and we executed and we made the small shots in the second half that were missing kind of in the first half,” Mosiman said.
Knights’ coach Eric Rasmussen praised his star senior.
“She just does so many things well. She’s a great ball handler, a good passer, great athlete and great leader,” Rasmussen said.
The Knights blew out to a quick 13-3 lead to open the quarter and held the lead throughout. The Wildcats climbed back into the contest late in the first half behind a key three-pointer from senior Nicole Remish and kept things close well into the second half, but as the game moved along it became apparent that Mount Si was not going to be able to turn the corner and pull it out. The Knights opened the fourth quarter on a 12-3 run and closed the door on the Wildcats.
Remish finished with 15 points, while freshman Caitie Richards added nine rebounds and seven assists to the effort. Fellow freshman Madison Yakaboski had a rough night scoring points; she only scored seven, but pitched in 10 rebounds and four assists of her own. Danielle Clauson scored 13 before a knee injury took her out of the game with less than a minute in the third quarter, and Caitlyn Faidley added 12 to pace the Knights.
The loss was frustrating to Hansen. “We practiced well this week. We were ready, and we’re disappointed in the outcome, but the thing is that on any given night, when we have a little bit better shooting performance than what we had tonight, that is a game that is very attainable to us,” said the coach, who added, “We’re disappointed in the outcome, but we’re not disappointed in our kids. Kids are kids and kids are going to make mistakes, and it’s up to us as a coaching staff to fix those mistakes to the best of our ability.”
Mount Si is in Ellensburg for their holiday tournament this week, then they resume Kingco play next week with a Wednesday home game against Mercer Island. The Islanders are seen as another bottom-feeder in the league this season. That game leads up to a huge game with the Bellevue Wolverines next Friday at Bellevue. In that game, the key for Mount Si will be to shut down the Brazen sisters, Cody and Joey. If they can do that, it should be a winnable game. Both games tip at 7:30 p.m., and the home game against Mercer Island will be Webcast via the school’s Web site at www.mountsihighschool.com. To see the game you will need a minimum of a DSL/cable connection, and a RealPlayer (downloads are available for free on the Webcast page should you need to download that to see the contest).
