Storm wrecks Big Bend's plans with avalanche of turnovers

Storm 63, Vikings 53

MOSES LAKE - Just 24 hours earlier, the Big Bend Lady Vikings had earned a ridiculously easy win, beating Salish Kootenai College by 58 points.

What a difference a day can make.

Big Bend scored at will on Wednesday night, but committed 30 turnovers and shot just 28 percent on Thursday as they sustained their first loss of the season, 63-53 to the Seattle Community College Storm at DeVries Activity Center.

The Vikings (2-1) came out flat as Seattle scored the game's first 10 points. Big Bend made a couple mini-runs late in the first half and early in the second half, but the Storm never relinquished the lead.

"The energy wasn't there," Big Bend head coach Preston Wilks said. "The No. 1 key I felt we had to do tonight was, how hard were going to come out and play."

Wednesday's 101-43 win over Salish Kootenai was a good thing in the short term, but playing on back-to-back nights seemed to take a physical toll on the Vikings. Their normally strong pressure defense didn't have much effect on the Storm, who dressed just six players.

"Our offense is based upon our defense, so what we've got to get going is our defense," Wilks said. "Our press just got demolished."

Seattle was credited with 14 steals, and Big Bend added to the problem with a litany of poor passes. That was the back-breaker, Wilks believed, even on a night when his team hit just 17 of 61 field goals and only 2 of 17 from 3-point range.

"I don't even think it boiled down to our shooting percentage," Wilks said. "I think what it boiled down to was we just turned the ball over way too much.

"It was so apparent out there," he added. "We were just tossing the ball away and it was real ugly basketball."

The Vikings rallied a bit, trimming their deficit to 23-31 with 3 minutes, 45 seconds left before halftime. Kim Bluff was one of the catalysts - she led the Vikings with 18 points and was the only one to shoot over 50 percent (6 of 11).

Big Bend went on a 9-4 run early in the second half, pulling within two, but Seattle answered with a variety of drives to the basket. Jayme Estep hit a fall-away baseline jumper and Kayla Bennett converted a breakaway layup to move the lead back into double digits with 11 minutes left. The Storm's biggest lead was at 61-44.

Bennett shot 10 of 14 and led all scorers with 21 points, while Chiaki Nakamura added 16 points. Dana Bates added nine for Big Bend, with Kaitie Poston and Angela Fales chipping in eight apiece.

Poston had a game-high 10 rebounds as Big Bend controlled the glass 52-33, one of the few things Wilks was happy with.

"I think that we were riding high a little bit," he said. When you put up 101 points in a game and destroy another team defensively, I think it does that to you.

"I think we got in here a little over-confident," he added. "We thought we could just show up and we weren't going to have any problems."

The Lady Vikings have nine days to rest and regroup before hosting the Big Bend Classic next Friday and Saturday.