Sophomore Lili Wood gave a boost to the offense when the Wolverines needed it most, tossing in 13 of a career-high 16 points after the break in a white-knuckled 43-38 win in overtime against Shoreline Christian Tuesday, Dec. 9, in Turnbull Gym.

Early on, Friday Harbor rode the hot hand of junior Madi Kincaid, who scored 16 of the Wolverines first 20 points, before Wood tallied eight straight in a pivotal run to end the third period, and that carried over into the fourth.

“It got pretty stressful out there, especially at the end,” Wood said. “When we got ahead I think we started moving the ball around a lot better and got some better shots.”

With the victory, Friday Harbor notched a hard-fought win in its Northwest 2B/1B League opener and improved to 2-1 on the season.

Trailing by three at the half, 20-17, the Wolverines clamped down defensively in the second half on the Chargers top scorer, senior Sarah Ott. They grabbed their first lead, at 22-20, midway through the third quarter on a fast-break ignited by point-guard Taylor Turnbull that Wood turned into two points on a pass down low from Kincaid.

“I think some of the younger people on the team start off a little nervous and unsure of what to do,” said Kincaid, who put up a team-high 22 points  to lead the Wolverines on the scoreboard for the third consecutive game. “I’m ready to go right from the start. As the game goes on I think they start to realize how it’s going and what they ought to do, like Lili did.”

After the break, Kincaid drew the defensive assignment of shutting down Ott, who tossed in a game-high 24 points, but managed only six in the second half and four-minute overtime period combined. She missed four free-throw attempts in the final 90 seconds of regulation, and fouled out of the contest with 1:15 minutes left in overtime, and with the Wolverines nursing a one-point lead, at 39-38.

With Ott on the bench, Friday Harbor sealed the victory with back-to-back buckets by Kincaid and Wood.

Sophomore Hayden Mayer knocked down a critical bucket at the end of regulation, her first of the game, that gave Friday Harbor a 34-32 advantage with 50 seconds remaining on the clock. Shoreline’s Abby DeKoekkoek grabbed a rebounded and put it back up and in with 30 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Mayer contributed three points in overtime, finishing her first game of the season with five.

Sidelined by an ankle injury in the first two games of the season, junior Allie Galt re-injured the ankle in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s game and is expected to miss the Wolverines next game, and perhaps more.

Next

The Wolverines travel to Concrete Friday, tip-off is 5:30 p.m.

They host Darrington Tuesday, Dec. 16, at 4:30 p.m., and will join in the post-Christmas Day “Crush in the Slush” tournament in Port Townsend, Dec. 26-27, facing Squalicum in the opener, followed by Nooksack Valley.