10 e
February 16, 2005
t^LACKAM A Sprint
Women’s squad upsets Lane Cq
Frank Jordan
The Clackamas Print
It was a very down and a
very up week for the Clackamas
women’s hoop team as they upset
the No. 1-ranked Lane CC Lady
Titans on Saturday, three days
after playing a horrific game
in losing to Chemeketa CC in
Salem.
Lane came into the game
as the only unbeaten team in
the NWAACC, but the Cougars
showed why they are the defend
ing NWAACC champions in a
99-93 victory that solidified the
Cougars’ playoff seeding.
“It was far and away the best
game of the year for our team,”
said Head Coach Jim Martineau.
“They are the best team in the
NWAACC this year, but the road
to the title still goes through
Oregon City and our girls really
took it to them. It was a great
win.”
The Cougars started off slow,
getting down by 14 early in
the first half. But Clackamas
kept chipping away at the lead,
eventually getting the Lane
lead down to 10 by halftime.
Clackamas used outstanding
pressure defense to keep cutting
into the deficit and eventually
took the lead for good with about
nine minutes to go in the game.
The Cougars held off a late rally
by the Titans and held on for the
six-point win.
Freshman LaToya Hill from
Grant HS in Portland continued
her outstanding play by pouring
in 29 of her career-high 33 points
in the second half to boost the
Cougars to victory. Hill made
11-25 shots from the field en
route to her career high. Rochelle
Reeves backed up Hill with 19
points of her own, while Kellie
Morey added 1.1 points and eight
rebounds. Vanessa Schmitz had
10 points and seven boards and
L’Trece Prewitt added seven
rebounds to the effort.
Lane was led by the 20 points
from Ashley Sequeira, while
Cora McVey added 19 points.
Lane fell into a first place tie
with Umpqua CC with the loss,
while the Cougars improved to
8-3 in the Southern Division and
20-6 overall. The Cougars are a
solid third place in the division,
needing only one more win to
clinch a third seed in the upcom
ing NWAACC tournament.
Last Wednesday, Clackamas
played one of their worst games
of the year in losing to fifth
place Chemeketa 50-46.
“To tell you the truth, our
heads were simply not in the
game,” said Martineau. “We
shot very poorly and had very
poor effort for long stretches
during the game. We definitely
did not come prepared to play,
and it cost us.”
Hill led the Cougars with 23
points and had five steals, while
Prewitt had a solid overall game
with 11 points, eight rebounds
and seven steals. Schmitz con
tributed with a game-high 13
rebounds from her post position.
Sara Brooks led the victorious
Chiefs with 17 points and nine
rebounds, while Sarah Davis
chipped in 11 points. Lauren
Parrish and Kristin Gunderson
each had 11 rebounds to help the
Chiefs’ effort off the glass.
Tonight, the Lady Cougars
play their final home game of the
regular season, hosting the Mt.
Hood CC Lady Saints in a 5:30
p.m. tip-off in the Randall Hall
gym. Saturday, Clackamas will
travel to Roseburg to take on the
co-division leaders, the Umpqua
CC Timberwomen, in a game
with a 4 p.m. tip-off.
Despite losing two games last week,
Clackamas stays in playoff hunt
Michael McCormack
Sports Co-Editor
The Cougar men hit a little
bump on the road to the play
offs last week, losing two games
and putting more pressure than
ever on the young and depleted
squad.
Last Wednesday, the men
headed south to play Chemeketa
CC, who sits alone atop the
NWAACC standings with an 11 -0
league record. The Cougars were
in the game through its entirety
and took a lead into halftime by a
score of 37-33, but the Storm was
too strong in the second half and
won the game 71-67.
In the final minute of the con
test the Cougars had a couple of
chances to take the lead or tie.
The Storm had a one-point lead
following a missed free throw
by Chemeketa, but was able to
get the offensive board and get
back to the foul line. After mak
ing two free throws, the score
was 70-67 and Clackamas missed
their three-point attempt to tie the
game. Freshman Brian Freeman
led all scorers with 22 points and
pulled down 12 boards for the
Cougars.
Saturday, the Cougars came
home to play against the lowly
Lane CC Titans. Earlier this sea
son the Cougars beat the Titans in
Eugene 84-72. The Titans came
into the game Saturday with a
dismal 1-9 record and seemed to~
be an easy win for the Cougars,
but that was not the case.
“It was one of those nights
you have to live with ... we
didn’t play with our hearts,” Head
Coach Clif Wegner said.
From the get-go the tempo was
set by Lane; with tight defense
and not allowing the Cougars to
run fast breaks, the Titans were
able to play within the confines
of their own game.
“They forced their tempo onto
us, not us forcing our tempo on
them,” sophomore Wes Jensen
said.
Both teams started the game
shooting lights out, shooting a
combined 62 percent from three-
point land. Through the first 15
minutes of the game it was a
see-saw battle, with neither team
leading by more than five.
In the final minutes of the first
half Lane started to pull away
from Clackamas, forcing turn
overs and hitting that outside shot
they had resorted to. At halftime
the score was 46-38 in favor of
the Titans.
The second half was con
trolled by Lane with great time
management and shot selection.
The Titans had cooled off from
the outside, but played sound
defense and held Clackamas to a
sub-par 20.5 field goal percent-
wage in the game’s final frame.
The Cougars out-rebounded
Lane in dominating fashion, pull
ing down 46 boards to the Titans’
28, but defense is where the
Cougars failed to come through.
“We have to play better
defense in order to win; nobody
stepped up to the challenge and
it opened our eyes to see that any
NWAACC game is a potential
loss,” Jensen said.
Despite being out-rebounded
by such a large margin, Lane was
able to find other ways to score.
The Cougars had 12 turnovers
throughout the contest and the
Titans were able to convert those
into 16 points. From three-point
distance the Cougars got out-
scored as well, 33-21. When all
was said and done, the Cougars
had lost their third straight game
75-65 and left looking for aid.
After last week’s games the
Cougars got word that sopho
more guard Maycol Rivera was
lost for the season with a tom
ACL. With Josh Spirlin already
on the injured list with a bum
wrist, the Cougars are desperate
to find support in their depleted
lineup.
“Everyone else needs to step
up and find a way for them to
play better,” Wegner said.
With three games remaining on
the season, the Cougars sit alone
in third place in the division,
two games up on Southwestern
Oregon CC.
Clackamas plays host to Mt.
Hood CC tonight. Mt. Hood is
second in the division with a 10-
1 record and 21-2 overall. Game
time is 7:30 p.m. in the Randall
Hall gym. Saturday, Clackamas
travels to Roseburg to take on the
Umpqua CC Timbermen, with a
6 p.m. tip-off scheduled.
Jeff Sorensen Clackamas Print
Sophomore sharp shooter Wes Jensen lines up for a technical foul shot as fellow Cougars
Jake Kettles (25), Matt Sanders (22), Martin Axnick (21) and Cody Bass (30) look on.
The Cougars’ leading scorer LaToya Hill (3) rises above
defender to get a clean look at a three-point attempt