Newport basketball coach Travis Whitaker could only shake his head looking over the stat sheet after his team’s opening round game against defending champion Kentwood.

He had told his team they needed to win the rebound battle against the larger Conquerer’s – and they did. He told them they needed to win the turnover battle – and they had only 11 to Kentwood’s nine. They had more second-chance points, more points off turnovers and shot 15 of 17 from the free throw line.

“It was literally everything that we asked them to do,” Whitaker said. “We just could not knock down a three.”

Newport (19-6) went just 2 of 25 from three-point range and Kentwood’s Kylie Huerta took over in the fourth quarter, leading the Conk’s to a 57-53 win in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.

Huerta – Kentwood’s 5-foot-1 point guard – scored 11 points in the fourth quarter and had several key plays, including a steal off a Newport inbound pass that she took to the hoop for two points with just 1:51 to play and her team nursing a four-point lead.

Huerta, who scored 20 points, finished things up for the Conks (23-5) by going 4 for 4 from the free throw line in the last 40 seconds of the game.

The senior also tied for the game-high in rebounds with nine.

“She made a couple of plays that were back-breakers,” Whitaker said. “That’s just the type of kid she is.”

Liz Mills led Kentwood with 21 points.

The Conks advanced to face Mead in the second round. That game will be played tomorrow at 7 p.m.

Betsy Kingma (22 points) and Caitlin Bennett (19) led Newport in scoring. The Knights will play Puyallup (18-9) tomorrow at noon.