Warden boys slip past Kittitas
Alan Dale/Columbia Basin Herald<br> Finding an open teammate, Warden Cougar Nate Stott (10) wraps a bounce pass through traffic in his team's game against Kittitas last night.
WARDEN — A tougher, more muscled, and athletic Warden Cougars basketball squad took its time to exert itself on Monday night in their makeup non-league game against Kittitas.
But when they got going it was game on.
It was also game over Kittitas.
Warden used a 14-2 second quarter and pulled away for a 53-31 win to up their record to 3-4 on the season.
“We upped the intensity and our guys were really active in the passing lanes,” Warden coach Wes Richins said. “We really gave their guards a hard time. They had a pretty decent post player but they couldn’t get it to him.”
Warden came out and took a quick 5-0 lead but then things got a little choppy, allowing Kittitas to get within one at 5-4.
“We came out and hit our first few shots and then we got complacent,” Richins said. “We were passing the ball around too much and not attacking. So we turned up the pressure and that got our momentum going.”
The Cougars employed a half-court trap with changing looks in the second which allowed them to build their lead to 26-10 at the break.
In the second quarter alone, Warden forced six turnovers and held Kittitas to 1-for-8 shooting.
Ty Jesse and Nathan Brown combined for 10 of the team’s points, most off of turnovers.
In the second half each team came out firing, scoring 13 points apiece in the third quarter.
“They hit a couple big shots that kept them close and we pounded it inside in the second half,” Richins said.
But when the fourth quarter came around, Warden holding a 16-point lead, begin to substitute in waves, and the fresh legs helped them pull away.
“We got a chance to play some of our younger guys and they did pretty good,” Richins said. “I was pleased with our hustle since we played our third game in four days and they looked good.”
Brown finished with 16 points and four steals, Eric Bates had 15 points and three blocked shots, and Jon Burkholder collected eight rebounds and four steals.
Nate Stott dished out four assists.
Kittitas girls 46, Warden 20
WARDEN — Missing three regulars due to injury or personal reasons the Warden Lady Cougars’ young squad battled and scrapped before succumbing to Kittitas 46-20 last night.
Warden (0-7, 0-2) came out slow and trailed 15-2 after the game’s first eight minutes.
“We had 12 of our 20 first-half turnovers in the first quarter and we were trying to make adjustments without our point guard there,” Warden coach Todd Kisler said. “They put a lot of pressure on the ball and we were trying to force it.”
Warden ended up with 30 turnovers on the night.
The Cougars were playing without their regular point guard Lindsay Cole who was out due to a back injury.
In the second quarter Warden’s defense stiffened but their offense couldn’t close the deal on multiple good looks as they went into halftime down 21-5.
“At the quarter break we talked about tightening up our defense to help our offense get some flow,” Kisler said. “We did and held them to six points. We ended up getting some good looks but it was like we had a lid on the bucket.”
In the third quarter Warden managed to keep Kittitas’ offense in check but not enough to put a big enough dent in the deficit.
“It was better in the second half but I am expecting some big steps and we made some baby steps,” Kisler said. “We had a lot of young girls playing and they were doing what we asked them to do. We had just dug the hole to deep and we couldn’t get ourselves out of it.”
The Lady Cougars also made only six-of-18 foul shots.
Kacey Kisler tallied six points and 14 rebounds for the Cougars and Emily Shuler scored four points.
Emma Bisnett had eight rebounds and her sister Hannah added seven rebounds.
"Overall each game we seem to make some improvements and hopefully by the end of the year we’ll get some victories,” Todd Kisler said.
Both teams play at the Moses Lake Christian Academy Christmas tournament next week.
The doubleheader was a make up for the schools’ cancelling their Tuesday, Dec. 15 date due to inclement weather.
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