Big Bend women rout Salish Kootenai behind stifling defense

Vikings 101, Bison 43

MOSES LAKE - There wasn't much suspense in the eventual outcome of Wednesday's non-league women's basketball game after the Big Bend Vikings scored 18 of the first 20 points.

In fact, the crowd's excitement reached its peak in the final minute of play when walk-on guard Mandy Peone stroked a 3-pointer, putting the Vikings over the century mark in their 101-43 demolition of the visiting Salish Kootenai Bison at DeVries Activity Center.

Big Bend (2-0 overall) led by as many as 61 points as five players scored in double figures. The Lady Vikings were the beneficiaries of 39 turnovers, and while some were simply the result of poor decision-making by the Bisons, Big Bend deserved the lion's share of the credit by collecting 23 steals.

Big Bend's full-court pressure was so good in the first half that, with a 48-21 halftime lead, head coach Preston Wilks gave his girls a bit of a break.

"We took off our press because we wanted to work on our half-court defense," Wilks said. "At halftime we had nine steals, and I told them I wanted at least 18 steals at the end of the game.

"We had 14 steals in the second half, and it was mostly from pressure in the lane, denying the post, all that kind of defense that we preach every day," he added. "It was beautiful to see them do it."

Former Cusick High School teammates Kim Bluff and Misty Ostlie shared the team lead with five steals apiece. Warden High School product Dana Bates had four, while Kaitie Poston and Teianna Mabe added three each.

All nine Vikings scored in the rout, with Bluff - one of the team's two sophomore co-captains - pacing all scorers with 26 points. Bluff was 9 of 16 on field goal tries, including 2 of 4 from 3-point range.

"She's such a great person and great athlete," Wilks said of Bluff. "She's going to be an all-league performer, I think. I'm really happy with her leadership tonight."

Poston, a star volleyball player as well, showed off her athleticism by dominating the paint. She finished with 17 points on 6 of 10 shooting and a team-best nine rebounds.

"She was a monster tonight," Wilks said of Poston. "I think she could've had 25, 26 points if she would've made a few more easy lay-ins.

"She's so strong and she just wants to go right up with it every single time," he explained. "We're working with her on lift faking, getting her defender up in the air before she goes right up."

Mabe and Natalie Lindley scored 11 points apiece for Big Bend and Bates added 10 points and eight boards. Ostlie tossed in eight boards and seven points, while co-captain Heather Burke had a somewhat slow night with seven points.

"Heather's a little bit down on herself right now for not hitting 3s like she knows she can," Wilks said. "The season's long and this is where we work out the kinks."

The coach was quick to point out the positives Burke brings to the court even when her long-range accuracy isn't on.

"She's playing great half-court defense for us," he added. "Heather's not the fastest person, but she's just learned how to get her body in the right spots. Just from the simple fact of denying the person she's guarding, she's coming up with steals left and right for us."

Big Bend also had a 52-39 edge in rebounding and limited Salish Kootenai to 29 percent shooting.

Tonight at 8 p.m., the Lady Vikings host Seattle Community College in another non-league game.