Olympic girls knock down Eags’ structure

"As the level of organization on the Klahowya Secondary School basketball floor took a downturn, the corners of Jerry Hurd’s mouth took an upturn.On the other bench, though, Sara Rosin’s smile was goin’ south.Hurd’s Olympic Trojans played their frantic, racehorse style Tuesday night (Dec. 14) well enough to capture their first victory of the season, a 63-45 Olympic League win over the Rosin’s Eagles.“Our transition is a big part of our game,” said Hurd. “We’ve got to be able to beat you up and down the court.”Not possessed of great size or scoring ability, the Trojans try to turn the game a bit chaotic, creating easy points with steals and fast breaks.It’s just the kind of game the Eagles — who aren’t very long on basketball experience this year — need to avoid like the plague. For them, Olympic was the wrong team on the wrong night.“They bring out our weaknesses. We have to have structure, or we just fall apart,” Rosin said of her team, a patchwork of a few veterans surrounded by basketball neophytes. “Our consistency is going to be a struggle.”In short, it’s just the type of team Olympic can take advantage of. And after absorbing a pair of one-sided defeats to begin their season, the Trojans weren’t about to pass up the opportunity.“We needed to get up off the mat,” Hurd said. “Now we’re back at 1-1 (in league play, going into Friday night’s home contest against North Kitsap). We feel like we’re back, at least part of the way.”Olympic used two stretches of what K. C. Jones used to call “organized disorganization” to outdistance the Eagles. Over the final 4 minutes, 21 seconds of the first half, Troy outscored the host team 20-8 to open a 35-21 halftime lead.After Klahowya knocked 10 points off that deficit in the third quarter, the Trojans ran off a 19-3 surge over the first four minutes of the fourth to put the game away.The first run was fueled by Shar Agee, who scored 11 of her 21 points in the second quarter — including seven in a row at one point.The fourth-quarter clincher was applied by Janel Gillies, who hit four layups and a pair of free throws to pad her game total to 16 points. She did most of her damage after the Eagles had doggedly cut Oly’s lead back to four points, 42-38.“We just fell apart,” Rosin said of what happened next. “We lost our focus and started making mistakes again, and they took advantage. They’re quick, and they have some great athletes.”Quick enough, and good enough, to still be a factor in the race for one of the league’s two West Central District playoff berths, Hurd pointed out.“I’m not conceding anything to (first-place) Port Angeles,” he said, “but that second spot especially is going to be a dogfight. We can still be in it.”Against the Eagles — who can sport a front line of 6-foot-2 Rachael Rolle, 6-1 Darcy Hutchins and 5-11 Jayme Baxter — second-chance points didn’t come often for the undersized Trojans. But Agee’s first-half shooting binge and Gillies’ spurt in the second was enough to carry Oly.“It was good to see Shar have a game like that,” Hurd said. “She’s a good open-court player, but her shooting helps our half-court offense, too.Neither team helped itself from the free thrown line. They were a combined 22 for 53 — 41.5 percent — in a game where, with some hot free throw shooters, Klahowya could’ve made things tense, or Oly could’ve won in a laugher.Rosin, who got 18 points from Rolle and 13 from Baxter, was left to lament about the times her team got close, only to watch the Trojans scurry away to a safe lead.“We had our opportunities,” Rosin said, “but we couldn’t sustain anything. We’d be under control one second, and then everything would fall apart.”"

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read. Please see our FAQ if you have questions or concerns about using Facebook to comment.