The Vashon Pirates girls’ basketball season began with a trio of losses on Tuesday, Dec. 1, at a home game against the Peninsula Seahawks.
This year’s Pirate team includes six seniors who have been playing basketball together since they started junior basketball in fifth grade: Kate Atwell, Lilly Hennessey, Annika Hille, Siena Jannetty, Melanie Stoffer and Natalie VanDevanter. The varsity team also includes freshmen Olivia Larson and Chloe Kuyper, sophomore Kasandra Hernandez and juniors Eva Anderson, Selena Mildon and Maren Fremstad.
The Pirates’ head coach is Rob Kearns, with assistant coaches Mary Fairbanks and Brian Van Buren.
The Pirates appeared a little nervous to start the season against the Seahawks last Tuesday and began by playing good defense and moved the ball well for good looks at the basket, but the shots weren’t falling. The VHS girls fell behind 18-4 after the first quarter, settled down as the game went on, but could never overcome the rough start. The Seahawks were able to maintain the early lead they had built and won, 49-32.
The Pirates’ scoring was led by Hille with nine points and Anderson with seven. Atwell had five points and VanDevanter added four. Atwell also grabbed 10 rebounds, and Anderson had five.
The girls’ second game came the next night with the Mountlake Terrace Hawks visiting Vashon. The Pirates started this game much better, making some good shots and committing fewer turnovers. VHS led 11-5 at the end of the first quarter, but then went cold from the field, scoring only 10 points during the second and third quarters. Mountlake’s Hawks took a 23-21 lead going into the final quarter.
The Pirates finally connected on some shots during the fourth quarter at Wednesday’s home game, but the Hawks eventually prevailed by a final score of 38-28.
Jannetty led the scoring with nine points; Hille added seven; Anderson had five, and Kuyper wrapped it up with three. Kuyper also led the rebounding effort with five boards, while Atwell, Hennessey and Jannetty grabbed four each.
Three nights later, on Saturday, the Franklin Pierce Cardinals from South Tacoma visited Vashon for the Pirates’ third home game in a row. Both teams started slowly on the offensive end, with the visitors leading 5-4 at the end of the first quarter.
The scoring picked up a little during the second quarter, but the Pirates were down 15-12 at halftime. In the second half, the Cardinals connected on several three-pointers and also established some strong inside play that proved difficult for the Pirates.
The aggressive play of the Cardinals eventually wore down the Pirates, and the final score was 52-34. Hille and Anderson scored nine points each,;Jannetty added seven, and Hernandez made five. Atwell led the rebounding effort with seven boards; Hille grabbed six; Anderson had five, and Kuyper added four.
Despite the disappointment of the 0-3 start to the season, Coach Kearns says he thinks the girls will benefit from the difficult games they have played so far.
“Each game last week they were able to improve on several things that hampered their start, like beating the full court press and getting better shot attempts,” he said. “Obviously we need to improve on our shooting and rebounding, but if we can eliminate some of the turnovers and keep getting good looks at the basket, we will get better in those areas.”
He said that the team is larger this year with 24 girls who turned out and that he will need to figure out how to work in the younger players.
The Pirates traveled to Port Angeles on Tuesday, Dec. 8, after press time. The team will play at home Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. against Klahowya Secondary School.
— Joel Hille is the father of a Pirates basketball player.
