Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1997)
Sports 8 Cougars claw their way into NWAACC The Clackamas Print Wednesday, March 5,1997 to one point. John Thorburn “I had total confidence that Assistant Sports Editor The women’s basketball team Lauren was going to go in and is headed to Skagit Valley for the knock down both of her Northwest Athletic Association of shots,’’said Twain. “She missed Community College’s Champion that one and that was too bad but that wasn’t the game-deciding ships.. After an electrifying 84-79 factor. We missed some easy shots overtime victory over Chemeketa early on, so it wasn’t just one play. Thursday, the Cougars assured It was one of those shots that rimmed out. It wasn’t like ‘Ooh, themselves a ah, she bricked because she was cede in this nervous’, it was a nice shot.” week’s Immediately after the shot, the NWAACC Cougars fouled the Chiefs to pre tournament Women’s serve time on the clock which sent held at Skagit Basketball Chemeketa star Kelly Johnston to Valley Com the foul line. Johnston made her munity Col Opponent: Skagit Valley first free throw to increase the lead lege in Mt. When: to two points once again, but Vernon, Tomorrow missed her second shot. Wash.. Where: Melissa Hollenbeck raced A packed Skagit Valley down the sideline to the basket but gymnasium pf Tip-off: her shot was partially blocked, rowdy fans 7 p.m. stopping the clock with eight sec was the set onds remaining. On the ting as Chemeketa in-bound pass Clackamas took the floor in Salem last week Johnston was fouled once again. to face the Chiefs in hopes of cap This appeared to seal the fate of turing the tournament berth. As the Cougars and secure a Chiefs both teams went through drills victory. during their pre-game “I think all of us had thought shootaround, tension began to rise that Kelly Johnston was going to in their third meeting of the year. make that free throw,” said Twain. The Cougars won the opening “She didn’t. I had coached it like tip-off but failed to convert on two she was going to make it and I lay-ups, so Chemeketa quickly think he [Chemeketa Head Coach stormed down the court for the Dennis Melcher] had too. We score. Clackamas quickly fell be were going to look for a three- hind 15-5 in the opening minutes pointer and I think they had set and soon faced a 15-point deficit up to defend against that.” When Johnston missed the as the first half progressed. At times, the Chiefs seemed to game-clinching shot with six sec have the game well in hand. The onds remaining, Mohan quickly Cougars could not seem to man scooped up the rebound and took age any consistency on offense. the ball down the floor to weave Small momentum shifts in the in between the Chiefs defenders game, however, allowed to knot the game at 69-69 as regu Clackamas to keep the game close lation expired. “I don’t think anybody was ex and only face a 37-26 score at pecting that,” said Twain. “Not half-time. “There were all kinds of mo even me. That wasn’t a dia gramed play. rn e n t u m That was Lauren shifts,” said with her head Head Coach up. You can say Karen Twain. that she missed “Anything that free throw could have but, hey, that kid, happened.” she practically In the sec won the game ond half, the for us.” fired-up Cou Coach Twain gars took the went on to praise game to the Mohan. Chiefs as “She had an Clackamas outstanding jumped out game for us,” quickly to cut said Twain. “She the Chemeketa found people on lead to four. the floor that I “We wanted to attack them couldn’t believe. in the first five Photo by JohnThorburn She found Clair. She found minutes of the Clair Cox led an inspired people on the half, and we Cougar offense with 20 fast break. She did that,” said points against the Chiefs. made good deci Twain. “We cut the lead immediately. We sions on when to pull it out top. knew if we could just hang around She just found the open person a until the end, something good was lot.” The Cougars seemed to feed off going to happen.” Lauren Mohan guided the of the momentum and went on to Clackamas offense to within two take their first lead of the game points with 16 seconds left in in overtime. Michelle McKinney regulation and went to the free clinched the win for Clackamas, throw line shooting two shots. sinking two free throws in the Mohan’s first shot hit the rim and closing seconds to win 84-79. fell out, but her second shot found All five starters scored in the hole to cut the Chemeketa lead double figures. Clair Cox led the team with 20 points. “Clair’s an ice player,” said Twain. “She’s just totally clutch. You can tell a lot about girls who come to play when the chips are down. Clair’s that type of player. She played like that for us last year and she played that role for us this year. She has a laid-back atti tude towards life and a lot of people like to say ‘hmm’. But she showed up last night and she proved it.” On the defensive side of the ball, Lisa Sorenson shut down the hot-handed Johnston. “Lisa’s defense has been ques tioned at times,” said Twain. “And that’s too bad because she plays good defense. Lisa’s a scorer, that’s what she’s known for. She put individual stats aside and just went out there and played the best defense she could against Kelly. She forced her to take some bad shots at the end. That was definitely a key to the win.” Robbie Nix contained the Chiefs star player Wendy Olsen but eventually found herself in foul trouble. Shara Bormuth came off the bench to cover the 6’1” Olsen. “Shara probably played the best defense on Olsen out of all the posts,” said Twain. “No holds barred, she didn’t care. She just got in her face. She wasn’t worried about getting a foul or whatever, she just gets after it. To have her come off the bench and play like that was a big elevation for us.” Nix fouled out in overtime but, soon after, Olsen found herself out of the game as well. “I think they kind of fell apart after she fouled out,” said Twain. “It was like, ‘There goes our player,’ and then they made mistakes in the end. It was ex citing for us because we had worked so hard to try and get her fouled out. That gave us a little swing of momentum for sure, and we breathed a little easier. I think they got a lot more worried more than any thing.” The team as a whole, however, made the win possible. Photo by JohnThorburn A smothering Clackamas defense in the second half forced the Chiefs into poor shooting and led to the overtime win on Thursday. “Every single person made a contribution during the game,” said Twain. “Even those players that didn’t get into the game, they were so noisy, so into it, that it made everyone else on the court or off it into the game too.” The Cougars fell to the Umpqua Timberwomen on Satur day, 92-77, in a game that decided ceding into the tournament. “We’re in NWAACC now. Win or lose, no one can take that away from us. The girls are re ally excited. This group deserves it more than any team I’ve been around. I mean they’re just great people. They get along with each other and are just a real class act. Going to this tournament, you’re going to be facing the top eight teams in the Northwest, so it’s al ways competitive. There’s not a weak team up there. Nobody can just sit back and think it’s a breeze. This is anybody’s tour nament”, noted Twain. Coach Twain also commented of her first appearance in the NWAACC tournament last March. “Last year, it was my first time as the coach and I didn’t really know what to expect,” said Twain. “Now I know what to ex pect, and we’ll be more ready. We were also ranked number one last year so teams were looking to knock us off. This year we’re go ing in as a bit of an underdog and we’re ranked seventh. And we just beat the number two team in Chemeketa, so I won’t think teams will be aiming for us. But either way, we know what it takes.” Clackamas will open the tournament against host Skagit Valley in what will most likely be a packed gym of home-team supporters tomorrow night. Tip- off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wrestlers place in nationals .(S' ■ gi tential we knew he had,” said Martindale. Garrison also was awarded the title of “Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament.” A wrestler, usually one of the champions, is chosen by the coaches for the Brendon Neal honor. Sports Editor “This is the first time in at least The wrestling team placed five or six years a Clackamas seventh in the nationals. Three Cougars placed in the wrestler has received an ‘Out top ten at the tournament and standing Wrestler of the Tourna ment’,” said Lloyd Martindale. now are All-American. Tyler Bransford (128 pounds) “This tournament was a coach’s dream,” said Assistant placed seventh. Bransford lost in a close match that went down to Coach Lloyd Martindale. Glenn Garrison won the 142- not being able to make an escape pound division. Garrison had in the third round. The wrestler struggled some during the regu he finally lost to went on to place second in the tournament. lar season. “Tyler beat handily a guy who “Glenn had the tournament of his life. He wrestled to the po- he lost to in overtime twice in Glenn Garrison wins national championship tournaments [earlier this sea son],” said Lloyd Martindale. Damion Martindale was run ner up in the heavy weight class. Damion Martindale beat several wrestlers he had lost to before. “Damion pinned a guy in the semis that he lost to in overtime before," said Lloyd Martindale. Lonnie Eggert was injured in the medal round to a wrestler he had beaten previously and was unable to finish the tournament. Eggert was headbutted and had a tooth knocked loose. Eggert won his division in the Region 18 championships at Clackamas last month. Clackamas, as a team, placed seventh in the tournament. The Cougars were coming off a fifth place finish in the regionals.
