Othello nerves, turnovers don't stop blowout victory

Othello 76, Black Hills 53

TACOMA - For anyone expecting some first-game jitters out of the Othello girls at their first-ever state tournament, they thought right.

Unfortunately for the Black Hills Wolves, a few nerves weren't enough to derails Othello.

The Lady Huskies jammed the throttle to the floor and didn't let up until they'd completed a 76-53 drubbing of Black Hills on Wednesday night at the Tacoma Dome.

Othello (23-3), which had barely qualified for its first state tournament by finishing third at districts, heads into the 2A quarterfinals tonight at 8:30 p.m. against Ellensburg, a 49-41 winner over Lynden on Wednesday.

The Lady Huskies had won 18 straight games entering the district tournament, but a loss to Prosser had them on the brink of elimination. They qualified with wins over Selah and East Valley, but felt like they hadn't lived up to their final regular-season ranking of No. 4 in the state.

"I felt like this was our chance to prove ourselves to everybody, and just kind of show them what we're made of," said senior guard Courtney Kirkwood, who had 17 points and eight rebounds. "And I think the whole team stepped up and did that tonight."

Othello had 11 of its 12 players score, and four finished in double figures. Allison Walker had 15 points, 14 rebounds and five assists, while Christine Kirkwood added 12 points and four assists.

But the unexpected contribution came from 5-foot-11 sophomore Kylee Mollotte, who buried the Wolves with 16 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

"She stepped up amazingly," Walker said of Mollotte, who averaged seven points a game in the regular season. "It's like the perfect time to peak, because state is the major place where you want to do your best."

Courtney Kirkwood scored 15 by halftime as Othello raced out to a 41-22 advantage. Black Hills seemed a step slow from the opening tip, and the Huskies repeatedly grabbed the Wolves' missed shots, then beat them in transition.

Did the Huskies think themselves capable of scoring 76 on a state-caliber team?

"Yeah," Kirkwood said. "We've averaged roughly 70 points this whole season. I felt like that was kind of our game, that we went out there and played Othello ball."

The Huskies used a 9-0 run to lead 28-11 after one quarter. Four different players scored during the spurt, and junior point guard Chantal Guzman capped it with a 3-pointer.

Things only got worse from there for the Wolves, whose three top scorers — Aisha Jones, Chelsea Haskey and Danielle Swain — combined for only 14 points, 18 below their average.

Haskey and Swain both stand at 6-1 and figured to challenge Othello's front line, but Walker felt good about the Huskies' chances of neutralizing them.

"We know how to box out and just play our game, and our game is rebounding," Walker said.

Othello coach Doug Boyer credited his team's 2-3 zone scheme for stopping the Wolves' posts, as well as a simple pre-game mantra.

"What we said in the locker room with this one was, 'Don't jump. If they can shoot over Allison and Kylee with their hands up in the air, that's a great shot.'"

Perhaps the one negative to come out of a 23-point victory was some sloppy ball-handling. The Huskies struggled at times with the Wolves' ball pressure, and committed 27 turnovers.

Boyer chalked that up to jitters and believed the problem would fix itself on Thursday.

"I think some of it will be focus, in the second game having the jitters out," he said. "When you play that run-and-gun style of basketball, you do tend to have a bit more turnovers."

Black Hills shot only 17 for 76 from the field (22 percent) and was outrebounded 61-41. The Wolves' guard did have a small impact, with Chelsey Kaasa and Tasha Shipman scoring 12 points apiece.

"The Shipman girl is incredibly fast - the fastest girl I've seen," Boyer remarked. "That was a big thing, was getting back on defense."

Othello 28 13 18 17 - 76

Black Hills 11 11 12 19 - 53

Othello (76): Mollotte 5-11 6-9 16, Guzman 1-4 0-0 3, Montes 0-0 0-0 0, Co. Kirkwood 7-14 3-7 17, Walker 5-11 4-6 15, Garza 0-0 2-2 2, Villarreal 1-5 2-2 4, Quezada 0-0 1-2 1, Martinez 0-0 1-4 1. Totals 24-55 25-39 76.

Black Hills (53): Kaasa 5-14 0-0 12, Jones 1-9 0-0 2, Castro 1-2 1-2 3, Johnson 0-10 2-2 2, Shipman 3-13 6-7 12, Meyers 0-0 0-0 0, Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0, Carter 2-4 4-4 8, Sauls 0-2 0-0 0, Kitchner 1-5 0-0 2, Haskey 3-11 1-4 7, Swain 1-6 3-4 5. Totals 17-76 17-23 53.

3-pointers: Othello 4-12 (Mollotte 0-2, Guzman 1-1, Co. Kirkwood 0-3, Walker 1-1, Ch. Kirkwood 2-5), Black Hills 2-17 (Kaasa 2-8, Jones 0-1, Johnson 0-2, Shipman 0-2, Kitchner 0-3, Swain 0-1). Rebounds: Othello 61 (Mollotte 14, Walker 14), Black Hills 41 (Haskey 6, Swain 6). Assists: Othello 27 (Walker 5), Black Hills 10 (Johnson 3, Shipman 3). Steals: Othello 10 (Mollotte 3, Walker 3), Black Hills 18 (Shipman 6). Total fouls: Othello 16, Black Hills 29. Technical fouls: None. Turnovers: Othello 27, Black Hills 19.