Rough stretch ahead for traveling team Wildcats fall to Valley rivals

The Mount Si High School girls basketball team traveled to Duvall last Monday, Dec. 15, to meet their Valley rivals from Cedarcrest.

By Rhett Workman • December 23, 2008 3:41 pm
Defenders didn’t have a chance against Mount Si’s Caitie Richards during the Wildcat’s Dec. 12 home match. The ‘Cats and Richards fared less well in last Monday’s visit to the newly opened Cedarcrest court. The Red Wolves held Richards to six points.
Defenders didn’t have a chance against Mount Si’s Caitie Richards during the Wildcat’s Dec. 12 home match. The ‘Cats and Richards fared less well in last Monday’s visit to the newly opened Cedarcrest court. The Red Wolves held Richards to six points.

The Mount Si High School girls basketball team traveled to Duvall last Monday, Dec. 15, to meet their Valley rivals from Cedarcrest.

On a night which was special for the Wolves, this latest edition of the Valley Cup turned into a bit of a barnburner. At the end of the day, it was the Lower Valley ladies who came out on top.

Mount Si shot 32 percent from the floor and saw three key players struggle from the field as the Red Wolves rallied to force an extra session, then beat the Wildcats 60-53 in overtime.

“We had so many opportunities to win the game, it was ridiculous,” said disappointed Wildcat Stevie Riley.

Traci Nelson scored 12 points to lead Mount Si, but the Wildcats’ key threesome of Jordyn Wilson, Karly Thompson and Caitie Richards had a rough night from the field. The three of them combined to shoot just 18 percent from the floor. Richards was limited to just six points, while Thompson had five and Wilson three.

Not only was it a special night for the Wolves, as they were christening their new gym at the high school, it was also a special night for one Wildcat sophomore, as Kassidy Maddux got called up from junior varsity to play in her first varsity game. She scored two points.

“I thought it was really, really fun to be with the older girls,” Maddux said. “I think being with them gives me a lot of experience in basketball.”

Maddux, who has two sisters involved in Mount Si athletics — Savannah, on the softball team, and Kendall, a cross-country runner — said her sisters help her prepare.

“We all know how to play each other’s sports, so we all help each other out,” she said.

Maddux says fans can expect a lot from her in her time on varsity.

“I can bring a lot with my defense and working with all the other girls,” she said. “I think I work really well with all of them.”

Coming into this week, Mount Si is 2-4, and the schedule between now and when they return to league play is no easy task. After facing a tough Inglemoor team this week in their gym, the Wildcats head to Coeur D’Alene and play in a holiday tournament there against three opponents that coach Dirk Hansen knows all too well from his days as a high-schooler. The three teams, Post Falls, Lewiston, and Lake City, Coeur D’Alene High’s city rival, all are doing well this season, with records above .500.

Riley expects that the team should be much improved coming out of this stretch.

“I think that having a week or two of just straight practices is going to help a lot,” Riley said. “We’ll probably step it up a lot more when we get back into our league games and our record will come up a lot.”