Bremerton 51, Sequim 41 - The Knights overcame a sluggish start to keep a share of the Olympic League lead at 2-0. The taller Knights had difficulty handling the Wolves’ pressure defense, particularly in the early going, but it and the turnovers it caused throughout the game are what kept Sequim in it, according to Knights coach Doug Wagner.

In fact, Bremerton started so slowly that Wagner felt it couldn’t stay in a man defense. The Knights opened the second quarter with a zone and held the Wolves to three second-quarter points, taking a 20-13 halftime lead.

Still, Sequim managed to close within tow points in the final period.

“We didn’t play a clean game,” said Wagner. “We knew what they were going to throw at us, but we didn’t’ execute. The girls said after the game that it’s in the win column, but they’re not happy how they got it. Sequim was scrappy. They didn’t let us break away. If they had any height at all, the outcome probably would’ve been different.”

Monica Blye, who scored 14 points, went down with an ankle sprain in the third quarter. She returned in the fourth and despite scoring just one point helped the Knights sew it up with her defense and rebounding.  The 5-9 junior finished with 15 boards. Six-foot center Missy Beard added 11 points and 12 rebounds and Stephanie Watson had 10 points.

With Beard, Watson and Amy Keller spending time on the bench in foul trouble, Nancy Harris and Jackie Borja filled in well, according to Wagner.

The Wolves were led by the 12 points of Lisa Jones and 10 from Beth Salxman.

Bremerton, 4-2, plays a non-league game Wednesday at Ingraham.

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Sequim 61, Bremerton 58 – It didn’t turn out to be the wild scramble many thought it would, but it was close. The spread was never more than seven points. The Wolves, trailing 50-49 early in the fourth quarter, ran off 11 straight points and held off Bremerton at the end.

Ryan Kaps hit a three-pointer, Brad Peterson sank a pair of jumpers and Derrin Doty added three points during the run.

The Knights held Kaps to 13 points and prevented him from penetrating, though he finished with six assists. They double-teamed him in back court with Todd Lewis and Casey Lindberg, but Kaps made just one turnover.

The lead changed hands several times with Bremerton holding a 32-29 advantage at halftime and Sequim moving in front 49-47 after three periods. The Knights’ biggest lead was five.

“I though they played very well,” Sequim coach Rick Kaps said of Bremerton. “We were just ugly. We didn’t shoot well and our floor game was very poor. We didn’t show much poise.”

Doty led the Wolves with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Brad Peterson scored 18 points on 6-for-10 field goal shooting.

Kaps said sophomore DeForrest Phelps, who had eight points and nine rebounds, hurt Sequim when he was in the game but he sat a lot with foul trouble.

Lindberg paced Bremerton with 16 points and five assists., Lewis had 12 points, Brian Coombe 10 and Chris Liebmann 11 rebounds.

Bremerton coach Larry Gallagher felt his Knights played an outstanding defensive game.

“For us to be competitive, we’ve got to be able to take things away from certain teams and Todd Lewis and Casey Lindberg drew the assignment on Ryan Kaps and did an excellent job,” he said. “He like to penetrate and when you try to stop him from that he has a tendency to dish off and his teammates score a lot of points. We intended to stop his penetration, which we did. They beat us on the outside, not the inside.”

Gallagher said Coombe and Keith Krell did a good job underneath and Liebmann played will defensively inside as well as rebounding well.

Sequim improve to 2-0 in league and 5-0 overall, the Knights slipped to 0-2 and 0-5.

Olympic League