When Newport coach Travis Whitaker was asked to assess when everything broke down for his team Friday night, he had quite a blunt opinion.

“Right from the tip,” Whitaker said.

No. 2 Newport couldn’t get anything going without senior Randi Boseman, who sat due to injury, and Issaquah’s Maddey Pflaumer couldn’t be stopped as the No. 4 Eagles knocked off the Knights 56-34.

Without Boseman, who injured her ankle in Newport’s win Wednesday over Ballard, the Knights couldn’t get their defense set or their offense rolling – and Issaquah took advantage.

The Knights trailed 11-4 just five minutes into the game before clawing back to trail 30-24 at the half – but that’s when Issaquah senior Maddey Pflaumer imposed her will on the Knights. Pflaumer scored seven of her game-high 14 points in the third frame.

“She’s a tough matchup for us,” Whitaker said. “She’s not too tall, but she’s long and she can jump. We do what we can, but we didn’t do a good enough job on her.”

Pflaumer was also a presence in the middle for the Eagles (9-1, 6-0 KingCo 4A), grabbing 12 rebounds and throwing down three blocks.

Meanwhile, the Eagles locked down defensively on Newport, which had been averaging 57 points per game. Issaquah held Newport leading scorer Betsy Kingma to 11 points overall and just two points in the second half, her lowest point total of the year.

“The one thing about our defense is that it’s not dependant one person, it’s the whole team,” Pflaumer said. “Everybody has each others’ backs.”

Newport didn’t help its own cause. The Knights were outscored 13-5 in both the third and fourth quarters, shot 23 percent from the field for the game and were just 3-for-28 shooting in the second half.

“We were out of sync the whole game,” Whitaker said. “They are very similar to us in that they want to pressure you to take you out of what you do. We fell into that and I think we just got stagnant.

“For whatever reason we didn’t want to have a lot of poise on that side of the floor and we really struggled,” Whitaker added.

The loss is the first this season for Newport (9-1, 5-1). Whitaker said he hopes his team doesn’t read too much into the loss.

“Playing a game in January, in the end, it’s not that important,” he said. “It’s a matter of playing your best at the right time and that’s what we need to be focused on.”

Whitaker added that the Knights could be without Boseman for two weeks.

“No one person is going to make our team but our persona is pressure, speed and athleticism and Randi is all of those things,” he said. “She’s out front on defense for us on up top on offense. She’s a big part of what we do.”

Issaquah takes over sole possession of first place in the Crest Division with the win.

“It’s just another step on our way to hopefully reaching postseason play,” said Issaquah coach Kathy Gibson. “It’s big in that both of us were undefeated, but not bigger than the game itself.”

Other girls games

Mercer Island 65, Bellevue 40*

After getting off to a slow start the Mercer Island girls basketball team showed why they are the top team in KingCo, knocking off Bellevue 65-40 on Friday night.

The game between the Wolverines and the Islanders started fast, but Mercer Island had trouble getting their shots to stick, resulting in the first quarter ending with a tie 11-11. Bellevue did their best to block shots and run defensive angles to keep the home team from the basket, but once the Islanders found their zone in the second quarter there was no looking back.

The Islanders had a solid lead of 32-17 going into the second half and, by the end of the third quarter, the lead grew to 51-30. In the fourth quarter the Wolverines tried to battle the Islanders, causing both sides to foul, ended with Sarah Taylor and Hannah Lilly fouling out.

“Our defensive intensity was much improved,” said head coach Jamie Prescott. “We had better ball movement and better decision making.” The team, who considers Bellevue a game to measure themselves, proved they were where they wanted to be on Friday night.

Freshman Kris Brackman, who also celebrated her birthday Friday night, led the Islanders with 12 points, while Heidi Black had 11. Bellevue’s Kelly Meggs and Taylor Cooke each had nine points.

Interlake 48, Sammamish 24

Sarah Anderegg and Margo Parker combined for 34 points as Interlake rolled over Sammamish 48-24.

Anderegg had a game-high 19 for the Saints (8-3, 1-2). Sammamish (2-9, 0-4) was led by Taylor Ferleman with 11 points in the loss.

Bellevue Christian 74, University Prep 37

The Vikings continued their strong season by beating University Prep by 37 points, 74-37, in Bellevue.

Maren Haines led all scorers with 22 points for Bellevue Christian. Alina Valle added 17 for the Vikings and Kelli Taylor had 12.

Anna de Vries scored 12 points for University Prep.

*Mercer Island Reporter sportswriter Megan Managan contributed to this report.