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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1995)
The Clackamas Print Page. 7 SPORTS /Wednesday, Jan. 18,1995 Two tough road losses put Cougars in an early hole by Jesse Sowa Sports Writer The much-improved Clacka mas Women’s Basketball team suffered two tough road losses to start their league schedule, which has put them in a big hole on their road to making the NWAACC tournament. The Cougars were defeated 57-54 by Mt. Hood Jan.4 at Gresham. Clackamas travelled to Lane Community College in Eugene on Jan.7 and were beaten 64-57. In the game with Mt. Hood, the Cougars had some points in the game where a lack of concen tration cost them the lead. Head Coach Karen Twain noted that a lack of offensive movement was a major reason for her team com mitting twenty-four turnovers. “We had some mental offen sive lapses where we didn’t ex actly know where the basket was,” Twain said. “We couldn’t get an offensive going tonight.” Clackamas was unable to stop Mt. Hood’s Wendy Welch, who scored a game-high 33 points, including 8 of 11 behind the 3-point line. “She (Welch) was uncon scious,” Twain said. “She just couldn’t miss.” The score remained close throughout the first ten minutes of the game, as neither team was able to gain a lead of more than four. Welch kept the Saints in the game in the first half by nailing four 3-point bombs. Stephanie Kadell stole the ball and scored on a breakaway hoop to give Clackamas a 9-5 lead early in the game. The Saints tied the game at 10-10 before sopho more post Rachel Ferguson drove to the basket twice to put the Cou gars ahead 14-10. Clackamas took their biggest ead of the game when Kadell hit Ferguson for a lay-tip and an 18- 12 lead with 8:30 remaining in the first half. Melanie Sharp scored on a 3-point play to put the Cougars ahead 26-20 with 1:13 to go. The Saints scored the last eight points of the half, includ ing two three-pointers by Welch, to put them ahead 28-26 at the break. The Cougars put together a strong run to start the second half by regaining the lead. Laura Stahl drove to the hoop for a score and a 32-29 Cougar lead with 17:50 to go. Ferguson sank two free throws with 12:30 left as Clacka mas maintained their slim lead at 40-34. But just as they did in the first half, the Saints crept back in the game with their three-point shoot ing. Welch hit two back-to-back long bombs to put Mt. Hood even with the Cougars at 40. She then scored on a four-point play when she sank a three and was fouled. Welch sank the foul shot to give her team a 44-41 advantage with eight minutes left. Clackamas eventually pulled even with the Saints again when Kadell found Ferguson in the paint for a lay-in and a 48-all tie with five minutes remaining. With just under four minutes re maining, Ferguson gave the Cou gars their last lead of the game at 50-49 with a 15-foot jumper at the foul line. -Mt. Hood scored five con secutive points over a three- minute period before Stahl hit a 15-foot jumper from the foul line to pull Clackamas within two at 54-52. The Cougars fouled the Saints in trying to regain posses sion, and Mt. Hood made three of their four free throws in the final photo by Chad Patteson The women's basketball team will look for their first road victory In league play when they travel to Salem to face the Chemeketa Chiefs, then take a trip to Albany to face the Road Runners of Linn-Benton. minute to take the victory. Both teams made just 38 per cent of their shots from the field, but the game was won behind the three-point line. Mt. Hood con nected on 9 of 20 three-pointers, while the Cougars missed all three of their long shots. “We’re a much better shoot ing team than we showed to night,” Twain said. ‘1 still think if we run our offense, we’re go ing to get a lot more shots, and better ones at that.” Twain says her team needs time to develop into the team that she thinks they can be. “We have a young team,” Twain said. “We need to give some kids experience playing and some confidence, and we should be alright.” Twain believed it would have been easier for Clackamas in the second half had the Cougars played with full intensity on both offense and defense for the entire game. ‘We just couldn’t seem to put them away,” Twain said. Ferguson led Clackamas with 23 points and eight rebounds. Sharp added 9 points and eight rebounds. Clackamas struggled against Lane as they made just 19 of 64 shots from the field (30 percent), and 18 of 31 (58 percent) at the free throw line. The Cougars (7-5 overall, 0- 2 in league) trailed by just two at halftime, 32-30, but the Cougars were unable to stop Jenny Sink and Jenny Kammer, the Titans big guns who scored 25 and 21, re spectively. Clackamas was outscored 32-27 in the second half. Stahl led Clackamas with 13 points and nine assists, while Ferguson had 12 points, includ ing 6 of 6 from the foul line. Sharp contributed 10 points and 16 re bounds. Cougars chop down Timbermen, leak by Lakers >y Jesse Sowa »ports Writer The Clackamas Men’s Bas ketball team got back on the win- ling track with a decisive 111-78 vin over Umpqua CC last Wednesday. The Cougars were hitting rom everywhere on the floor in he second half as they outscored he Timbermen 59-48 in the last wenty minutes for the home vic ray. Clackamas jumped * on Jmpqua right from the beginning is they took an early 15-3 lead vhen Aaron Pierson completed a i-point play with 15:05 remain- ng in the half. Pierson then ailed a long bomb for an 18-3 dvantage. The Timbermen played even dth the Cougars over the next ew minutes, but once again, 'lackamas began to take advan ce of the many Umpqua mis ikes that led to twenty-four turn vers during the game. “We played pretty good de fense and they (Umpqua) didn’t Execute very well,” said Clacka mas Head Coach Royce Kiser Rout his young, but promising Ram. “We played pretty well to- ■ght.” Matt Stahl took a pass from Nate Williams for a layin before Jay Moore scored five consecutive team. He also commented that Umpqua had a hard time defend ing against the three-point shot Kiser believes that excellent play by his posts caused the Umpqua defenders to help out in Royce Kiser gets his team pumped up before their game against Umpqua. Clackamas won the game 111-78, with key performances from Aaron Pierson, Nate Williams and Ryan Valley. up 40-19. The Cougars scored the last points of the half when Jer emy Armstrong hit Jay Moore for a layin and a 52-30 halftime lead. Clackamas was almost on fire in the second half as they con nected on 22 of 36 field goals in cluding 6 of 12 from behind the 3-point line. “They didn’t handle us very well,” said Kiser of the visiting Clackamas’ post players caused the Umpqua defenders to help down low. Pierson nailed consecutive three-pointers midway through the half to put the Cougars up 75- 49. Soon after, key reserve Brian Brutke canned his own pair of threes to put the game out of reach with a 85-54 advantage with 7:50 left in the game. gars to get open outside shots. Kiser believes that running on the fast break helped his younger players know where to go in transition. Kiser sees a lot of promise in first-year post Jay Lassen. “Of fensively, he moves as well as anyone I’ve seen,” he said. Al though he enjoys Lassen’s offen sive, Kiser sees a need for im provement in Lassen on the de fensive end. The Cougars pulled out a close one on Saturday against Southwestern Oregon at Coos Bay. Clackamas defeated the Lak ers 67-66 after trailing by two at halftime to improve their league record to 3-1. Jay Moore came through for the Cougars once again with an all-around performance. Moore scored 13 points and brought down seven rebounds. Nate Wil liams added 17 points including 3 of 5 from behind the three-point line while Aaron Pierson contrib uted 16 points in the winning ef fort. Clackamas controlled the boards most of the night. The Cougars outrebounded SWOCC 31-20. The Cougars also outshot the home team from the field in cluding three-point shots. Clackamas faces a big test this week when it travels to Sa lem tonight to take on Chemeketa CC and to Albany on Saturday to face Linn-Benton CC.
