NAPAVINE — The glimpses were there to see Saturday in Napavine.
The Napavine girls basketball team had its moments of disorder and panic, its missed layups and its mental mistakes against Mabton. But the Tigers also showed just how good they could be for long stretches at a time, and the good outweighed the bad heavily in a 61-44 non-league win against the team ranked No. 4 in the latest 2B AP poll.
“It gives us the confidence that we can play with anybody,” Napavine coach Shane Schutz said. “We all tie our shoes the same way, we use the same size of basketball. I think they’re seeing that now.”
The first such glimpse came three minutes into the game, with Napavine still looking for its first field goal of the afternoon. Keira O’Neill got it in transition to tie the game at 4-4; three minutes later, it was 14-4, after back-to-back-to-back fastbreak layups.
Then the Tigers (9-1, 4-0 C2BL) let the Vikings back into the game, before another glimpse came midway through the second with a 13-6 run to end the half, powered by 3-pointers by Avery Schutz, Jessie McCoy and Grace Gall.
And in the fourth, Napavine kept its best foot forward the longest to end it, with Hayden Kaut drilling back-to-back 3-pointers, setting up one fastbreak and finishing another as part of a 12-0 run in a matter of two minutes.
“You get the picture,” Shane Schutz said. “If we get cooking on all cylinders, I think we’re as good as anybody in the state. I do. But it’s getting ourselves physically and mentally right for that.”
Kaut and Avery Schutz shared the Napavine team lead with 14 points each.
Ten of Kaut’s points came in the fourth quarter, and she also finished with nine boards, five steals and five assists.
“She has the capability of doing that,” Shane Schutz said. “It’s just getting her to play that way all the time.”
O’Neill added a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double. Dakota Hamilton added 10 rebounds, and Taylen Evander dished out five assists.
There were some trouble spots, too, for the Tigers, particularly in a third quarter where the Vikings outscored their hosts 14-12.
“We just didn’t communicate well on defense,” Schutz said. “That brings energy when we’re doing that, and when we’re not doing that I don’t think we’re as good. The communication wasn’t very good in that third quarter, and I think we were just in a non-competitive mode.”
That cut Napavine’s lead to 10, but the Tigers’ last run quickly flipped the game back in their favor.
Napavine will get one more game before New Year’s hosting Tumwater next Friday in a rematch of a non-league game the Tigers won last year in Thurston County.
