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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 11, 1998)
6 9 Wednesday, March 11,1998 Tournament: Players happy despite losses ■Continued from page 1 said Head Coach Karen Twain. “We were okay but in the second half we started playing a way that we really hadn’t played all sea son which was a fear of losing. Here we had just lost the night before and I think that the girls were scared at the end rather than playing as the aggressor. We made some crucial mistakes at the very end of the game that I don’t thi n k we would have made if we had been more focused.” With seven seconds remaining, Sophomore Lauren Mohan and South Puget Sound’s Linnaea Jablonski collided while going for the ball. Mohan was called for the foul, sending the Clippers to the line with a chance to take the lead. The next series of events was a bit controversial. After the two players collided, Jablonski claimed that she had gotten hurt on the play and that she was unable to shoot her free throws. In such a case, that player is substituted out for one of her teammates on the bench. South Puget Sound Head Coach Bill Mendelson then entered in Nicole Sharp, a reserve guard, to shoot the two shots. Immedi ately after Sharp made the first basket, Jablonski quickly moved to the scorer’s table, apparently feeling better, to enter into the game for Sharp; After Coach Mendelson realized how the situation looked, he quickly had Jablonski return to the bench and Sharp connected on her final free throw. With only seven seconds left, Coach Twain called a timeout to discuss the team’s strategy but as time expired, Michelle McKinney’s desperation shot bounced off the backboard and fell out The loss shocked the Cougars and the rest of the tournament’s teams to see Clackamas, a perennial title contender being elimi nated even before the final day of games were to be played. “Wenatchee is a really good team,” said Twain. “There’s really no shame in losing to a team like that I think the top three teams here were us, Wenatchee and Skagit Valley. After losing that first one, even though it was disappointing was alright because it came to a good team. “Our goal all year has been to win the championship,” added Twain. “After losing that first game, you know that you’re not going to win it It’s pretty difficult to get pumped up for that sec ond game so I think we went into the game against South Puget Sound a little deflated.” “I’m pretty disappointed,” said Bean. “I don’t feel that we got as far as we should have. But I still feel that the whole team stuck together, had good attitudes and just had fun. I’m not too upset about it because we had a great year.” “Our performance in the tournament was disappointing,” noted Twain, “but that doesn’t take away from our season. I’m trying to focus on the three great months that we had prior to this week. These girls did some pretty amazing things. This is a team that faced some losses early on with Melissa Hollenbeck [knee injury] and Krystal Nakamoto [grade ineligibility] but they really pulled together and got some great leadership from our sophomores. A Rachel Hudson, a freshman post player, improved greatly throughout her first season as a Cougar, according to her teammates. Wednesday, March ’] 171998 number of freshmen stepped up as well. “There were some kids that came to play at this school that we didn’t know what to expect. We knew that our sophomores would do great but the freshmen we didn’t know about. The last time that we had seen them was in high school, some of them we’d never seen at all so really we didn’t know what to expect from some of them. A lot of them stepped up and played very well. We just did voting oil the team for most valuable, most inspirational and most improved player and everybody on the team got a vote in some category. I think that talks about how well- rounded this team really was.” Against South Puget Sound, Robbie Nix scored 30 points and pulled down 14rebounds in the loss. Michelle McKinney also added 14; points and 11 rebounds while Lauren Mohan collected 10 points and seven assists. All three of these players will participate in Sunday’s all-star game held at Chemeketa inSalem. ‘We only have three kids on the team,” said Twain. “But that’s pretty typical because you can’t really have more than three. I think all of these sophomores could have easily made the team.” Southern Division companion, the Mt Hood Saints, continued their Cinderella-like tun for a championship, making it to the title game, Saturday night. The Saints, fourth place finishers in the Southern Division standings, defeated both Clackamas and Umpqua in regional playoff action to earn the #1 seed from the South last week. They opened the tournament with wins Sophomore Robbie Nix scored 10 points in the team's 83-66 loss over the East’s #2 seed, Spokane, and the to the Knights and 30 the following night in the Cougars' 79-77 Western Division champion Lower Colum loss to the Clippers. bia Red Devils? On Saturday, the upstart Saints took on women’s basketball powerhouse Skagit Valley College. The Car Division has shown through recent years, this new format could dinals entered into the game with a perfect 31-0 record on the year greatly change the outcome. and were prepared to lay to rest any doubts of their worth. Skagit “If you look at the top four teams from the Valley, the Northern Division’s champion, was the tournament’s South this year,” said newly-appointed Head Story and favorite to win the title but was believed by many teams not to be Coach Jim Martineau, “ML Hood was the photos by as strong as other schools because of the North being a tradition fourth place team in our region and they fin John ally weakerregion. ished second in the tournament If we had Thorbum The game featured the top two point guards in the northwest played better, we probably would have won a with Mt Hood’s Kellie Hedlund and Skagit Valley’s Sabrina few games, Chemeketa would have won a few and Umpqua might Moses. Both Hedlund and Moses guarded each other throughout have won the whole thing. I hope that they change it to 16 teams. the contest putting on a display of dribbling and passing. It would benefit the South greatly.” The Saints fought long and hard but came up short in the 81-63 Next year’s tournament is at Lane Community College ih.Eu- loss. The Skagit Valley victory was the fourth NWAACC champi gene. onship for the school in Mt. Vernon, WA in the last 10 years. While many of the teams had already returned home before Saturday’s final, Clackamas stayed to cheer on their friends from Mt Hood. Before the game, Clackamas players borrowed the Saints’ team shooting shirts to wear during the game to support the school in nearby Gresham. After the game, many of the Cougars consoled the Saints oh their loss and congratulated them on their unbelievable winning streak ‘Tm really happy for Mt Hood right now,” said Mohan. “They just played awesome. It’s weird how things end up because they were fourth in our division and now they made it all the way to the championship game.” After the team’s final game on Friday, Coach Twain announced her resignation from the head coaching position. Twain has been the acting vice principal at Tualatin High School since the start of the 1997-98 school year and is still seeing pro motions come her way. With the acceleration of her career in school administration, she has little time for coaching. Her assistant, Jim Martineau, takes oyer the head coaching position next year.” While many of the Clackamas players were disappointed with their losses, some are anxious to get back at it next season. ‘It’s frustrating finishing like this,” said Freshman Nicole Hayden. “I want to start another season right now.” Freshman Noelle Johnson shares her friend’s sentiments but also knows what her body is telling her. ‘Tm pretty disappointed and I can’t wait till next season but I’m kind of tired from basketball,” noted Johnson. “Give me about eight months and then I’ll be ready to go again.” The NWAACC is currently discussing the idea of changing the tournament’s format from an eight-team format [currently used] to a sixteen-team tournament. With the strength that the Southern Freshman Melinda Freeman, a starter throughout the season, returns next year to lead the Cougars.
