by Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Evergreen battled, and, battled, and, battled, through most of the first half, staying close, playing hard, before something seemed to get the best of the Wolverines as the game wore on, giving them a 55-18 loss to visiting North Kitsap in the first round of 2A West Central District girls playoff basketball on Wednesday.
The Wolverines, now, play a loser-out game for districts, traveling to a neutral court--Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma--for a game against Sequim at 7:45 on Friday night.

But, of this game, against the Vikings, a Bremerton area school, of playing hard and being in the game the first part of it, the Wolverines' leading scorer and a leader out on the court, Marleisha Cox, had this to say of her team's play.

"We were, we were," said Cox, a senior, and captain on the Wolverines' team, too.

The Wolverines, who finished second out of six teams in the Seamount League, a 9-4 league mark, and 12-8, overall, were in this game strong to begin. Cox, scored a short jumper in the game's opening minute of the first quarter to give her team a 2-0 lead with 7:00 on the first quarter clock. That's to say, too, backing up one series of possessions, the Wolverines' who won the opening, jump-ball, tip to start the game, turned the ball over on a 30-second clock violation. But, then, played strong defense on the Vikings' first possession to force a Vikings turnover.

So, good start, there, in that melee of action, and, then, however, the Vikings followed up the in-the-paint, Cox, jump shot, with their own score, a ball shot from well outside the paint, behind the three-point arc, in fact, and, it swished to give the Vikings a 3-2 lead with 6:45 left in the first quarter. Seemingly, momentum was important in this game, as, the Vikings just stayed ahead enough the rest of the first quarter to put the most pressure on the Wolverines. Of course, pressure can wilt a team's, a player's, emotions, sometimes. A lot of times, actually.

But, with 5:30 on the first-quarter clock showing, the Wolverines cut the Vikings lead to 5-4 on a Kindra Smith layup. But, after a couple good defensive stops for each team, maybe, a turnover, or two thrown in, the Vikings scored with 3:45 left in the first, on Olivia Selembo's bucket for the foe. Then, the Vikings' Selembo scored back-to-back buckets for her team, as,they led, 11-4, with 2:30 left in the first quarter.

But, the Wolverines, playing with three new players to the team because of off-court violations by a couple starters, including the team's point guard, fought back for a bucket with 45 seconds left in the first quarter, a nice pass inside by Marisol Serrano to Cox for the Wolverines.

Good defense, even offense to start, the Wolverines playing good on both sides of the court.
"We were," said Natasha Hicks McCray, the Wolverines' head coach.

Another nice stop by the Wolverines on the Vikings next possession led to one last shot to end the quarter, but a three-point shot by Cox hit iron and kicked off.

Looked like if that last three-point shot of the first quarter goes in, then, momentum would have been on the Wolverines' side, going forward, into the second quarter.

So, all and all, for a team, with some firepower missing that was there most of the season, the Wolverines competed in this playoff game against a good North Kitsap team who came into the game with an 8-5 record and 10-7, overall, good enough for finishing third place in the Olympic League out of nine teams.
And, things stayed in that competitive state for the Wolverines' fans in the stands, who had reason to shout "defense, defense..." as the teams opened the second quarter of play. The Vikings scored, first, in the second, on a layup with seven minutes left in the quarter. Evergreen, then, turned the ball over, and, the Vikings came down the court on a breakaway, but, the Wolverines' Elizabeth Lindo hurried back on defense an altered the shot of the Vikings' player going for a layup. So, that was a nice, hustling, defensive play, there.

Then, the Wolverines' went down court and Gloria Dabair let fly a three-point shot from the corner, clanking off the rim, and, it was back on defense for the Wolverines' who did great in it's 2-3 zone the Vikings next trip down the court, getting a turnover.
"We did really good on defense," said Dabairi.

And, on the Wolverines' next trip down the court, some good passing around the perimeter by Caroline Tupa, and, Cox to Dabairi, a sophomore, in the corner, was a good move to do, as, Dabairi knocked down a three-pointer. That cut the Vikings' lead to 13-9 with just under four minutes in the second quarter.
So, this was a game, mo-mo began to trickle ever so slightly the Wolverines' way.

But, the Vikings just seemed to flush that momentum every time the Wolverines had it to gain, with a layup on their end of the court, making it, 15-9, with 3:20 left in the second quarter.

Then, the Wolverines had a nice play by Dabair, playing point guard, made a nice, no-look pass inside to a teammate, who put up a shot that missed going in.So, almost, a very nice play there.

"She's promising, going to be exciting," said Hicks McCray of the 5-9 Dabairi, who was the back-up, or, even, third point guard on the team, as, Cox, too, was forced into that spot with the starting point guard, off the team, late in the season.

And, so, it went, and, the Vikings went down the court, and, Tupa watched a shot of theirs hit the rim and kick high up, as, Tupa went up with her long arms and corralled the ball. Tupa grabbed 14 rebounds in this game, so, nice work there, for the 5-9 senior, forward, for the Wolverines.
Defense was doing well, to this point, doing its job, in a tough situation, with key players out, competing in districts. But, that's where the competition took a turn for the worst for the Wolverines, as, the Vikings went on a 6-0 run to end the second quarter, up, 21-9, at the half.

The first two quarters really told the tale in this one. The Vikings shot 4-for-8 from the field while the Wolverines were 3-for-7. So, that was even, pretty much, but, the Vikings also made a that three-pointer in the first quarter. Then, in the second quarter, the Wolverines took a big step backwards, shooting from the field, going 0-for-5 while the Vikings shot 5-for-7. The Wolverines' did get that three-pointer from Dabairi while the Vikings got no threes in the second quarter, but the woeful shooting from the floor by the Wolverines' nixed that three-point good shot.

So, to sum things up, in the first half, the Vikings were 8-for-15 from the field, or, 53 percent, while the Wolverines shot 3-for-12, or, 25 percent. Both shot 1-for-3 three-pointers, and, the Vikings were 0-for-1 from the free throw line in the first half while the Wolverines didn't get to the line in the first half. Turnovers were a difference, too. The Wolverines commited 12 turnovers through the first two quarters, and, the Vikings, only five.

And, in the third quarter, the Wolverines shooting did not improve, much, as, they were down 35-13 after it. The Wolverines shot 2-for-8 from the floor in the third while the Vikings shot slightly better, 4-for-6. The Vikings, also, made a three-point shot in the third quarter while the Wolverines just couldn't buy a basket from long range, going 0-for-4.

The fourth quarter played out much the same unlucky way for the Wolverines, who got a lot of open looks at the basket but couldn't convert. For the fourth quarter, the Wolverines got off 11 shots, but, only, made two, from two-point land, from the floor. The Vikings, on the flip side, put up 11 shots, too, but made nine of them. Big difference, there.

Just a trailing off of the early competitiveness for the Wolverines and Hicks McCray explained her reasons why.

"With this group of girls, we've only had three practices," said Hicks McCray. "Marleisha has to play point guard, and, it's not her primary position."

Why the drop off in the last half of the second quarter and the last two quarters just were more and more of a fade for Hicks McCray's Wolverines team?

"Stamina got us," said Hicks McCray. That's because of the players on the team to start the season not there, and, junior varsity players brought up not ready for this kind of competition, although, Hicks McCray thought those in new roles excelled to the best of their ability.

"We have eight players total on the team, three brand new to varsity," said Hicks McCray. "They're doing a good job, picking things up quickly. They came out and hustled."

Those players Hicks McCray named are Sabrina Pietron, Kiana Makasini, and, Serrano.

Hicks McCray, also, lauded her captains and seniors, Tupa and Cox, who lead the team in scoring and rebounding and leadership.

"Those two girls are phenomenal people, great work ethics," said Hicks McCray.
But, the stamina, the inability to get back on defense after scoring themselves, or, turnovers, which came in bunches in this game. Six in the first quarter, six in the second, five in the third, four in the fourth, were 21 total to the Vikings 10 total.

Cox admitted she's trying in that point guard spot, knows Dabairi is trying, and that her team is trying.
"We're always pushing," said Cox.

But, the trying that was so good in the one and a half quarters gave way to tiredness and just the gumption to keep going hard in spite of the adversity closing in on them.
"We could have had more heart in the third and fourth quarters," said Hicks McCray.
For the game, the Wolverines shot 7-for-21 from the field, 1-for-8 for three-pointers, and, 1-for-6 for free throws while the Vikings were 21-for-33 field-goal shooting, 1-for-8 for three-pointers, and, 10-for-12 on free throws.

Behind Cox's seven points, Tupa scored four, Dabairi, three, and, Smith and Lindo, two apiece. The Vikings were led by Rebecca Baugh's 12, and, Selembo's nine