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Lions break into State's top ten with 11 -3 start
J ennifer S itton
Staff Reporter
After battling illness, snow
and two of the top four teams
in the state, the Girls' Varsity
Basketball Team finished its
preseason games with a 6-2
record. Their efforts led the
Lions to a sixth place state
ranking according to the 6A
Girl's Basketball Coach's Poll
and a second place ranking
in the Three Rivers League
behind the number one team
in the state, Oregon City.
After losing to the Pioneers
and beating Milwaukie by
about the same margin of
points, the team played
Lakeridge on Jan. 13 battling
through illness to win, 53-
46. West Linn was ahead
the majority of the game, at
one point by as much as 12
points. The following Friday,
the team beat Lake Oswego,
49-39. The Lions are currently
8-2 in league play.
On Jan. 2, the Lions faced
the Clackamas Cavaliers,
a team that has given the
Elise Miller, sophomore, goes up for a lay-up, Brittany May, senior, dribbles past a Lake Oswego
player and Morgan Joscelyn, junior, takes the ball to the basket during the team's Jan. 16 game against
Lake Oswego. The Lions beat the Lakers 49-39 to secure their second place standing in the TRL.
Photos by Zack Mueller
Lions rebound strong from tough loss
M ax H ays
Staff Reporter
The Boys' Varsity
Basketball Team entered
league play with a 4-3
record that included
strong performances in
wins against Tualatin and
McMinnville. Entering
Three Rivers League play
against Oregon City, Eric
Viuhkola, head coach,
believed that Lake Oswego
was the favorite to win
league, but for the most part
TRL was wide open and that
the Lions would be fighting
for a playoff spot.
The first game in league
against Oregon City turned
out to be a disappointment,
with the Lions losing 48-77
in a weak effort against a
very young Oregon City
team. The Lions struggled
on offense, scoring only 48
points, the least amount
of points they have scored
so far this season. Defense
was also a challenge with
the Lions surrendering 77
points and letting three
opponents finish in double
digit points.
"We need to find other
ways to get the job done
when shots aren't falling for
us. We need to play smart
and find different ways to
score," Vuihkola said about
the team's adversity.
The next game against
Milwaukie went much
better with the Lions
winning in blowout fashion
65-32 against a Mustang
team that they were
expected to beat. Michael
Underriner, junior, lead the
way with 16 points and was
followed closely by Johnel
Gray, senior, with 12 points.
But defense was the story
them considerable trouble
in past years and matches
up very well with the Lions,
Jeffrey Bush, junior, goes for a layup during the Lions close 49-52
loss to Lake Oswego. The Lions started the season well winning 4-3
non-league games and have gone 2-2 in league.
Photo by William Thompson
of this game, with the Lions
giving up a season low 32
points.
One of the best efforts
of the season thus far came
against Lake Oswego when
the game came down to the
last second. The team made
a valiant effort, but in the
end came up short against
one of the best teams in the
TRL losing 49-52. Gray led
the Lions with 20 points,
and went five of six from
beyond the three point arc,
his only miss coming at the
buzzer to tie the game.
"1 was very proud of our
effort against LO, we were
competitive and played
hard," Viuhkola said.
The team followed the
strong effort against Lake
Oswego with four straight
wins against Putnam,
81-78, Clackamas, 82-70,
a non-league win against
West Salem, 77-63, a huge
blowout against Milwaukie,
70-39, and took revenge
against Oregon City,
winning 67-53. The Lions
are currently third in the
TRL with a 5-2 in league
record.
According to Viuhkola,
if the team continues to
compete and play high
percentage basketball while
making the other team take
low percentage shots, they
will be able to succeed in
league and accomplish their
goal of making playoffs.
according to head coach Glen
Lee. The Lions led the entire
game, but let down a bit in
the fourth quarter, which
gave the Cavaliers a chance
to come back. In the end,
the Lions pulled off a win at
Clackamas for the first time
in three years.
" I thought the team did
a nice job of following the
game plan for Clackamas. We
were focused and dialed in
to what they were trying to
accomplish and this helped
us secure an important win
on the road," Lee said.
The Lions beat Beaverton
in their first official non
league game 56-49, and then
took on the defending state
champions, the Southridge
Skyhawks. After coming out
flat, the team came together
and battled back to lose a
close contest 48-57. The team
was set to play Westview
the following Tuesday, but
a record-breaking amount
of snow, ice and cold
temperatures caused huge
problems for all teams in the
Portland-Metro area.
"We missed three games
during the layoff and only
practiced four times during
the two weeks off. It was
like starting the season over
again in November. The team
was pretty winded when
we returned but seemed to
bounce back pretty quickly,"
Lee said.
With a tournament just
around the corner, the team
had to work hard to get back
into basketball shape and
mindset.
"The snow was definitely
a setback and we had some
tough practices before the
Canby tournament to get
back in shape," Andrea
Maleike, sophomore guard,
said.
Luckily, the snow melted
in time for the team's Canby
Holiday Tournament on
Dec. 29. They claimed an
eight point win over Lincoln,
which moved them into
position to play Canby. After
being down by as many as 15
points, twice throughout the
game, the Lions battled back
to win 68-66 in the final 30
seconds.
Winning these two games
set them up to meet the
Clackamas Cavaliers in
the championship game,
but because they were
going to play them in the
league opener the following
Saturday, both coaches
elected to not play the game.
Instead, the Lions played the
Sheldon Irish, another close
game that the Lions won
49-45.
"It was pretty tough not
playing for a week straight,
but most of the teams in the
Portland area were facing the
same problems, so we were
really excited that we were
able to recover quickly and
beat a team like Sheldon who
were fresh and didn't have
to deal with snow," Sachie
Hopkins, senior guard, said.
Even with the lack of
practices, the -team came out
strong and played well in the
tournament.
"I thought the Lions
played some of their best
basketball to date during
the Canby tournament.
After missing a number of
practices due to the weather,
they did a nice job of coming
together and securing three
wins against three very
good teams, all of which
will be playoff teams in their
leagues," Lee said. "They
showed grit, determination
and focus in this tough
tournament which found the
Lions playing three games in
48 hours; two of which were
on the same day,"
The Lions will look
to finish in the top four
positions in the Three Rivers
League in order to secure a
position in the playoffs.
"I believe that if we
continue to stay focused and
push ourselves to get better
each day, we'll set ourselves
up for postseason play," Lee
said.
Playoffs loom in the future
and the Lions hope to make
it further this year than last,
when they lost in the first
round to Sheldon.
"Our team has really great
chemistry this year, which
will help us to hopefully
go far in playoffs," Amy
^
Christensen, sophomore pc*r
said.
.