KNAPPA – Highly touted Knappa defeated Ilwaco 74-52 there Monday in girls high school basketball action. The Lady Fishermen fell behind 15-9 at the end of the first period and were within striking distance at 35-26 at the half, but Knappa’s speed, shooting, and pressure defense took its toll in the second half.

Veteran coach Joe Williams summed the game up by saying, “We turned the ball over 32 times against their defensive pressure and we appeared to tire near the end.”

Williams had a great deal of praise for sophomore Ashley Kitzman, who led Ilwaco in scoring with 24 points and in rebounding with 15.

Her double-double and the competitive play of senior guard, Heather Hocking (21 points), kept Ilwaco in the contest the first half. The Lady Fishermen, besides being blitzed by the Loggerette defenders, had entirely too much of the high scoring Evans (28 points) and the power moves of Nygaard (15 points) inside.

“Knappa is one of the better teams in the area, if not the best, and Evans may be the finest player we see all season,” Williams said.

The Lady Fishermen had 17 steals compared to Knappa’s 32 and they grabbed 31 rebounds to 37 for their opponents.

Brittney Fox contributed six boards to Kitzman’s 15 rebounds to lead Ilwaco in that department. Kitzman had four steals and Herlet Padilla pilfered the ball three times. As a squad, Ilwaco shot 15 of 49 from the field for 31 percent and were 19 of 28 from the foul line for a respectable 68 percent.

Williams said, “You just can’t turn the ball over 32 times against a quality team like Knappa. Our girls did play hard, though, and I am happy with that.”

The loss moves the Lady Fishermen to 2-1 on the season.

The Junior Varsity was defeated 55-35 by their Oregon counterparts. Coach Larry Chapman was pleased, however, as his young players were within nine points of Knappa in the third period. Monica Smith led scorers for the JVs with nine, Amanda Faggard chipped in eight, and Nicole Adams scored seven for Ilwaco, who is 0-2 for the year.

Ilwaco 9 17 10 16 -52

Knappa 15 20 19 20 -74

Scoring – Kitzman 24, Hocking 21, Wroble 3, Padilla 2, Adams 2, Tomberlin, Fox, Fauver

Knappa leaders – Evans 28, Nygaard 15