B
S PORTS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2017
Section B
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail sports@cgsentinel.com
Lions survive Sisters with buzzer-beater; spread
the ball out to roll past Sweet Home on Friday
Cottage Grove had
its hands full against
the Outlaws, but the
Lions put on a show
against the Huskies
and put themselves
atop of the Sky-Em
League
BY SAM WRIGHT
sports@cgsentinel.com
Last week we reported that
a key to the Lions’ success on
the court was their ability to
spread the ball around and have
a variety of players scoring 10
points or more. While that may
hod true for the majority of the
season, it was not the cast last
Tuesday when Cottage Grove
hosted the then-third-ranked
Sisters Outlaws in a sluggish
and slow defensive battle that
came down to the wire.
In the 40-39 victory, Blake
Sentman scored 29 points on
the night, the third-highest scor-
ing game he’s had this season.
For Cottage Grove, however,
it was the lowest scoring game
the team has had all season, yet
they still managed to pull out
the win.
Sisters struck fi rst and hard
with 16 points in the fi rst quar-
ter, holding the Lions to only
six. But Cottage Grove respond-
ed and had a 16-point quarter of
its own and held the Outlaws to
eight points. At 24-22, Sisters,
the game had the potential to
go in any direction, and after
the third quarter, nothing had
changed, at least not that much.
The Outlaws and Lions com-
bined for just 10 points in the
third quarter, where Cottage
Grove edged Sisters by just two
points (6-4). This put the teams
deadlocked at 28, accounting
Photos by Gary Ordway
Hunter Gipson (right) and Tucker Porter (left) were both strong contributors against Sweet Home after having a relatively quiet game against
Sisters.
ons on a three-game win streak,
for just 56 points in the three the points. The Lions only had more impactful than they ap- 68-50.
Here were once again the exactly how they needed to re-
quarters. In the fourth quarter, two free throw attempts, which pear on paper. And while Sent-
Sisters took a 39-38 lead with came from Sentman. Although man carried most of the scoring Lions Cottage Grove knows so spond after a two-game skid.
seconds left on the clock. Rem- Parent’s spectacular poise won weight on his shoulders, the rest well. Sentman led the team in The wins also put Cottage Grove
iniscent of the playoff game the game in crunch time, Sent- of the team made up for their scoring yet again, but this time at the top of the Sky-Em League
against Baker City last season, man’s free throws (the only free lack of offensive production with 14 points. Tucker Porter, and back at 10th in the OSAA
Kory Parent took charge to sink throws) may have also been ex- with stout defense, including who had a strong overall perfor- rankings. But the defending
a buzzer-beating shot to win the actly what kept Cottage Grove signifi cant blocks from Hunter mance himself, followed with league champs will have their
12 points. DeJean Alonzo had crown challenged once again as
alive. With his 29 points, Sent- Gipson and Jesse Ellingworth.
game.
Cottage Grove then hosted 11 points and Parent had 10. Sisters (now ranked seventh in
The 79 combined points man shot 10 for 15 from the
marks the lowest scoring game fi eld, which includes sinking Sweet Home in a game that saw That’s four players with 10 or the OSAA rankings) will host
the Lions for a rematch.
of the season thus far. The Li- seven of 10 from the three-point no such low numbers and re- more points.
Cottage Grove travels to
The Lions once again found
sembled a more typical Lions’
ons were 15 of 34 from the line.
Parent was the second-high- basketball team. Cottage Grove their rhythm and for the most Sutherlin this week before host-
fi eld, eight of which were from
beyond the arc, making Cot- est scoring player from Cottage never trailed the Huskies and part were in sync with each oth- ing Junction City.
tage Grove’s three-point shoot- Grove with just four points, ran away with the game with a er.
The two victories put the Li-
ing account for over half of although those points were far 19-point fourth quarter to win
Lady Lions see best week of the season
with two blowout victories at home
Athlete of the Week
Blake Sentman leads Lions with 29 points
over Sisters
Photo by Sam Wright
Hudson Weybright (right) was quiet on offense but loud on defense against Sweet Home with four steals and seven
defl ections.
Lions fi nish week with 21-point and 35-point victories in two of the best games the girls
have played in all season
BY SAM WRIGHT
sports@cgsentinel.com
The Lady Lions have just
come off what could quite pos-
sibly be called the more im-
pressive week of the past two
seasons combined. Head Coach
Kevin Yoss and his team not
only defeated their opponents
this week, they routed them in a
dominating fashion.
First up was Sisters. Follow-
ing a miraculous buzzer-beat-
ing victory from the boys, it
would’ve been hard to have just
as memorable of a performance,
but the girls’ team did not dis-
appoint.
The Lions held their lead
from the start, outscoring the
Outlaws in every quarter, slow-
ly building a lead until the game
was out of reach for Sisters.
Cottage Grove had a 19-12 lead
at halftime, but then they went
on a 16-4 run in the third quar-
ter. The Lions then fi nished off
the Outlaws with a 10-8 fourth
quarter and sent the Outlaws
home with a 45-24 rout.
Cottage Grove shot 17 of 44
from the fi eld and, more im-
portantly, improved their free
throw game, shooting at a rate
of 55.6 percent.
Once again, the Lions
reached their rebounding goal
by out-rebounding the opponent
by 12 or more. This time it was
well beyond their goal as Cot-
tage Grove came away with 45
rebounds and Sisters fi nished
with 28.
Keara Murphy led the team
in scoring on the night with 14
points. The junior shot 50 per-
cent from the fi eld and was one-
for-one from beyond the three-
point line. She was also 83.3
percent from the line.
Freshman Reilly Kelty fol-
lowed Murphy with 13 points,
shooting 45 percent from the
fi eld and 75 percent from the
free-throw line.
Though
Cottage
Grove
seemed to have cleaned up a
lot of its issues, turnovers still
persisted as an issue. The Li-
ons had 27 turnovers and the
Outlaws had 25. Two-thirds of
the Outlaws points came off of
turnovers. The score could have
been a lot more devastating to
Sisters had the Lions limited
turnovers.
Though 27 turnovers might
not have been great for Cottage
Grove, the team seems to be
moving in the right direction.
On Friday, the Lions managed
seven fewer than the previous
game and allowed no points off
of those turnovers.
The Sweet Home Huskies
were in for a really rough night
at Cottage Grove High School.
The Lions started things off ear-
ly by going up 13-0 at the end
of the fi rst quarter, and Sweet
Home wasn’t going to score
much after that. In the second
quarter, Cottage Grove out-
scored them 16-4 then 16-7 in
the third quarter. Then fi nally,
Please see ROUTS, Page 3B
While it was Kory Parent who sank the buzzer-beating
fi eld goal to beat Sisters 40-39, Blake Sentman carried
his team with 29 points, outscoring the next Cottage
Grove high scorer by 25 points. The senior accounted
for nearly 75 percent of the Lions' points that night and
shot 10 for 15 from the fi eld and shot 70 percent (sev-
en of 10) from beyond the three-point line. Sentman
led the Lions in scoring again against Sweet Home but
this time with only 14 points. He is currently Cottage
Grove's top scorer with 299 points on the season, well
over twice as many as the next leading scorer. His
highest scoring game was against Montesano where he
scored 37 points on the night.