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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2001)
Sports TI he CI ac I îamâs P rint Women drop to third place ________ 7 WEÚNEsdAy, FEÓRUARy 21, 2001 Confessions of an addict RYAN BRINKLEY Sports Columnist CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRPHER Left to Right: Numbers 15 Danielle Tilton, 4 Kayla Steen, 25 Jennifer Lane, 20 Jennie Kooch, 23 Briana Anderson, 54 Amanda Lee, 14 Kathryn Kettles, 33 Mercedes Juarez, 32 Erica Hobart, 24 Lawly Redner, and 11 Kim McBride. JASON LINGEL Sports Editor The Cougar Women’s Basketball team dropped to third place in league after two tough losses last week. Wednesday’s game brought the number one ranked Chemekata Storm to the Randall Gym. A win here by the Cougars would have put them in a first place tie with the Storm. The Cougars went into the game with a 2-1 record against the Storm for the year. Unfortunately, the Cougars lost 89-71. According to Head Coach Jim Martineau, it was their worst game of the year. “It was a very tough loss for us,” said guard Kayla Steen. “We just didn’t come out with the en ergy that we needed to.” Steen led the team with 20 points and 7 assists. Steen leads the North West Athletic Association of Community Colleges in assists per game and is ranked eighth in scoring. Mercedes Juarez, who is ranked fifth in scoring, third in three-point percentage, and third in ffee-throw percentage, scored 16. Saturday’s game in Coos Bay against the Southwestern Oregon Lakers faired better, but not by much. The Cougars came out with what Martineau said was a strong defense. A mixture of poor shoot ing and missed free throws hurt the Cougars down the stretch in a very close game, as they lost 65-61. “It was hard to come off that big loss and then lose again,” said Juarez. “But it just makes us want to work harder.” Juarez led the team in scoring with 21 points. Kathryn Kettles scored 15 and Steen 15. The two losses drop the Cou gars to third place in the Southern Region. With two games left in the season, Martineau expects to stay in third place. “In a league like this unfortu nately, as tough as it is, you go from playing for first to third,” said Martineau. “Third is not a bad position in league.” Tonight’s game takes the Cou gars to Portland Community Col lege to face the Panthers. The Cou gars blew away the Panthers in their last meeting. Saturday brings the Cougars back home to face the Linn-Benton Road Runners. The Road Runners have also fell prey to the attack of the Cougars. The upcoming NWAACC Cham pionship Tournament will be held March 8-10 in Mt. Vernon, Wash. “If we play like everyone on the team kpows that we can, then we have a good chance of taking the tournament,” said Steen. Cougar men prepare for championships DARREL HOBSON Staff Writer With only two games remaining in the regular season, the Cougars are already preparing for the NWAACC tournament in March However, the players and the coaching staff cannot afford to look past any opponent be cause Clackamas can still win the league title and a first place seed. Lane Community College lost on Saturday and Clackamas beat Chemeketaand Southwestern commu nity colleges last week and now, both Lane and Clackamas are tied for first place in the league. Last Wednesday, Cougars won a big game against Chemeketa. In the first half, the Cougars played great defense but had trouble on offense resulting in a 34-33 score at halftime. Then Clackamas came out in the sec ond half and played some of the best basketball all season. IfESPN showed a highlight from this game, you would have seen Mark Campbell on the fast break in traffic passing the ball off the backboard to Nate Block for the dunk. Campbell finished with nine points, 12 assists and five steals. Block had 12 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Chris Lohrey added 15 points and six rebounds. Matt Tabisz came off the bench and scored 14 points and had three rebounds. Tom Lenox had 12 points and Michael Kuebler racked up 17 points. When it was all over, the Cougars NWAACC Championship. forced Chemeketa to 25 turnovers and “We are working on our defenses, played with a lot of intensity and en- rebounding and our focus. Over the eigy to win the game 90-76. break, we will have practices to pre On Saturday, the men’s team had to pare and we will use the time to rest make the journey to Coos Bay to face too.” Southwestern. The Cougars made the Clackamas will have to play Port long trip worth it by winning 85-59. land Community College and Linn- The bench played very well with Benton Community College this week JeredGritters before wrapping up the scoring 11 season. Neither of these points, five games can be considered of six free "We are of the easy wins because Linn- throws, five Benton has defeated in rebounds some of the best teams and three NWAACC" in the league and the steals. Cougars will have to play Cliff Wegner Lawson Portland on the road. Head Coach Struve Ifthemen’steam Men's BaskettxJ added five wins both games and points, five Lane loses one of its re rebounds maining games, then and four as Clackamas will win die league title and sists. Lenox was two of three from the a first place seed in the NWAACC three-point line and has moved up to Championship. first place in the league for three-point I asked Cliff Wegner if he was opti shooting percentage after last week mistic about his teams’ chances in the end. Campbell almost had another triple tournament. double with 14 points, nine rebounds “We are one ofthe best teams in the and nine assists. Block played great NWAACC. We have Tacoma (the team with 12 points and 12 rebounds. that is ranked #1 in conference) to play Kuebler was four for seven from three- and we are capable of beating them,” point range and scored 24 points in he replied. the win. He also added that they were very Teams have about 10 days to pre close to being undefeated all season pare before the tournament starts after because the three games they lost were the end of the season. Head Coach only by a few points. CliffWegnersayshisteam knows what The Cougars next home game is they have to do to be successful in the Saturday, Feb. 24, at 8 p.m. one best teams the I’ve finally gotten past the denial and I’m ready to admit to myself that I have a problem. “Um, ahem. My name is Ryan...and I’m a sports-aholic.” I thought that there might be something wrong when I would stay awake well past midnight to watch America’s Cup yacht races broadcast live from New Zealand. Also, when I recently found myself riveted to a documentary about racehorse Secretariat, I wondered if there was some thing else that I should be doing. But alas, I can’t tear myself away. I’m just glad that I don’t have “all the ESPN networks,” otherwise I might never leave the house. The thing that’s mosttroubling however is that we’re headed towards spring, a very busy time in the sports year. And with summer around the comer, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to fight off my addiction. After all, it’s almost time to check the daily reports from baseball spring training. Also, college and pro basketball are inching closer to the most compelling point of their seasons - the playoffs. And then there’s golf. Will Tiger make history again? Will a clear challenger to his mastery emerge? I know I’ll be watching. And golf is especially harmful to the sports addict because the tournaments last FOURDAYS! Then there’s auto racing. I know, I know, some people don’t consider it a sport and question whether drivers are really athletes. But come on, is there anything better than sitting on the couch for three hours and hearing grown men say things like “wreckin’” and “runnin’ good?” Don’t get me started about tennis. Tennis was instrumental in my development as a sports junkie. I can remember those days of summer vacation when I was in grade school watching hours of tennis television coverage. Wimbledon marked the beginning of summer and the US Open signaled the sad end. Perhaps the most exciting thing coming up is the NHL playoffs. The regular season doesn’t really mean a thing, but the playoffs are intense. What better spectacle is there than the fans in Phoenix banging against the boards cheering for the Coyotes. Or what about Detroit, where fans toss dead sea creatures on the ice after victories? Who doesn’t want to see that? I can’t tell you how hard it is to resist the sports world. I look to get my fix early in the morning. The Internet pushers like ESPN.com and CNNsi.com are always available when I need to score. They’ve got everything I need to start my day: stats, interviews, analysis, you name it. Whatever you want, they give to you. That’s how they hook you. Sports talk radio helps me through the day too. When I’m driving or whenever I can’t be online, the news updates from talk radio serve as a quick fix. Maybe I need to go to some rehab facility or something; somewhere where I won’t be able to get my fix. Does such a place exist? What would one do if there was no sports programming? Is there a place where there are no televised games, no score tickers, no athletes talking about their “A game.” What would we addicts do? How would we survive without sports media? Would we go crazy? Would the withdrawals be insufferable? With no Sportscenter, Jim Rome, or ESPN.com’s sort-able stats tables, would we spontaneously combust? Perhaps we would resort to actually playing sports instead of just watching them! THE HORROR!!! Cross Country Nationals Clackamas student and runner Paul Keyes placed 30th Saturday at the cross country national cham pionships. Read about him next week. Cougar Soccer The Cougar soccer team needs players. Practices are held Tues days and Thursdays at 1 p.m. on the soccer field. There will be a game Saturday. Be at the soccer field at 1 p.m. if you want to play. Practice is not mandatory. Contact Stefan Myers in the ASG office at x2544. Saturday Men 8 p.m.
