Clackamas Print
Sports 7
Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007
ougs continue to climb
Mike Guldlce
Sports Editor
Jeff Sorensen Clackamas Print
¡j man Brian Freeman swats a shot by former Cougar player Garold
jwe during Wednesday’s game vs. Chemeketa. Freeman anchored the
ifense, recording four blocked shots and altering countless others.
The NWAACC's second-ranked Clackamas men’s basket
ball team continues to dominate in league play and doesn’t show
any signs of letting up.
Last Wednesday, the Cougars defeated Chemeketa by a final
score of89-70.
Head Coach Clif Wegner was pleased with the team’s effort
and intensity right out the gates.
“We got off to a real good start,” he said. ‘David Cemin
came out smokin.”
Cemin finished with 25 points, while Nick Eldridge con
tributed 27. Prominent post presence Brian Freeman had
another huge night on the boards as he collected a game-high
19. Freeman leads the NWAACC in every major rebounding
category.
The team also had a big night on the defensive end, holding
the Storm to an abysmal 33 percent shooting.
“Chemeketa and [Mt] Hood are always big games for us; it
was a good win,” Wegner said.
Saturday, the Cougs dominated Linn-Benton, completely
imposing their will on their opponent as they were victorious by
nearly 30 points.
‘ ‘We got the tempo up and tired them out in the second half;
we beat them in a running game,” Wegner said.
Clackamas also completely controlled the boards, as their
offensive rebound total of 23 equaled the amount of total
rebounds that Linn Benton collected. Brian Freeman led the
way yet again, recording another double-double with 15 points
and 14 rebounds (nine being on the offensive end). Nick
Eldridge led the team in points with 17, but the real story was
the balanced scoring, as everyone on the roster contributed with
at least a basket
The Cougars play host to PCC tonight. Tip-off is set for 7:30
p.m. Even though PCC has straggled thus far this season, Coach
Wegner knows any league game can present challenges.
After tonight’s home game, the Cougs enter a tough stretch
that includes road games at Umpqua on the 3rd and Mt Hood
on the 7th.
“The team has done a good job adjusting and adapting so far
this season; we just take it one game at a time,” Wegner said
'.ougor women battle opponents, inconsistency
Frank
Jordan
Ik Clackamas Print
The Clackamas women’s basket-
II team played one solid game
i one mediocre game in a 1-1
iek, defeating Chemeketa CC
Wednesday and losing to Linn-
nton CC on Saturday; both games
tome.
“We played really hard and really
II against Chemeketa and really
ink it up against LBCC,” said Head
ach Jim Martineau. “We have been
Sty inconsistent lately, and we have
illy got to step up our intensity in
¡second half of the league season
have a shot at the (NWAACC)
iniament.”
Wednesday, the Cougars got 18
inis and seven rebounds from
chel Copeland to pace CCC to the
46 victory over Chemeketa. Sarah
idley and Kellyn Cooper each
pped in 10 points, while Cooper
¿bed a team-high 13 rebounds.
The Cougars shot 37 percent from
[field and held the Lady Chiefs
22 percent shooting in the win.
igan Johnson led Chemeketa with
points, while Brittany Wilson
110 points and a game-high 22
ounds for the Lady Chiefs.
Saturday, Clackamas ran into a
n-Benton squad that jumped out
a 17-2 lead to start the game, and
tough foe Cougars rallied in the
second half to cut the deficit to five
points on two different occasions, the
Roadrunners held on for a 65-57 road
victory.
“We came out totally unfocused,
with no energy whatsoever, and Linn-
Benton ran us out of our own gym,”
said Martineau. “They (LBCC) played
much harder at both ends of the court,
and we did not match that intensity.
We shot poorly and defended just as
bad. It may have been the worst we
played all season.”
Copeland again led the Cougars
with 14 points, while guard Kelsey
New had 13 points. Cooper had 11
points and nine rebounds, while
Vanessa Schmitz had 10 points, seven
rebounds and four blocked shots.
Clackamas shot 30 percent from
the floor for the game and were out
rebounded 61-39. Linn-Benton got
15 points from Chelsea Hartman,
and 13 points and 15 rebounds from
Whitney Bryant in the victory.
Clackamas sits alone in second
place in the Southern Division stand
ings at 4-2, two games behind Lane
CC. The Cougars take on Portland
CC tonight in the Randall Hall gym
with tip-off at 5:30 p.m., and then
travel to Roseburg on Saturday to
play the Umpqua CC Timberwomen.
Saturday’s game begins at 4 p.m.
on the Umpqua CC campus. The
Cougars’ next home game is Feb. 10,
when Clackamas plays Southwestern
Oregon CC.
Jeff Sorensen Clackamas Print
Defensive presence Vanessa Schmitz fronts the opposition
in the post. Schmitz blocked four shots in a recent game.
Wrestlers assured winning season, prep for final dual
im
Krause
^Clackamas Print
île Cougars ended a long road
•to Coos Bay Jan. 26 with a
fin a rematch to Southwestern
ton CC, losing the Oregon
P. but sharing foe Region 18
tfmeet title with foe Lakers,
fehman redshirt John Bates
S) defeated SWOCC’s Clay
Wunder 3-2 by decision. Shane
Rhoden (133) won by major deci
sion over Matt Gardner 11-3.
Sam Schmitz (149) defeated
Aaron Kipperberg 21-6 by major
decision. Schmitz is a redshirt
freshman from Newberg and
ranked fourth in foe NJCAA
coaches’ poll. This year, Schmitz
is 24-6 with two wins over top-
ranked Coby Jones from North
Idaho College.
Jan. 25, foe Cougars took on
Highline CC in Des Moines,
Wash.,
and
defeated
the
Thunderbirds 32-18.
Sophomore Alex Bubb (165),
who is ranked fourth by the
NJCAA, went up against Riley
Cornett to defeat him by major
decision 10-0.
The previous weekend, foe
Cougars hosted foe Clackamas
Open with eight wrestlers com
peting.
Brian Jacob (125) placed third
in his division over Simon Fraser
University’s Raj Verdi 7-5 in a
decision.
This is foe first year since 2001
that foe Clackamas Wrestling
Team has had a winning sea
son, currently holding a record
of 7-4.
The Cougars wrestle their final
dual Feb. 3 at Pacific University.
Mike Guidice
Sports Editor
The Good:
The Super Bowl is this
Sunday! Who would have
thought that such an inconsistent
offense, led by foe anemic Rex
Grossman, could actually reach
foe pinnacle of NFL games?
Luckily for foe Bears, they
have Mr. Everything Brian
Urlacher to anchor their swarm
ing defense and return man
Devin Hester to make huge plays
for their (very) special teams.
We all know about Indy’s
explosive offense, but it’s been
their defense that has really
turned heads during this post
season. Generally an abysmal
facet of their team, foe unit has
overachieved and at times com
pletely dominated foe opposi
tion’s offense.
Now, with all that being said,
my bold and fearless predic
tion? Indy 24, Chi-Town 17.
Here’s to hoping that my family
in Chicago doesn’t disown me
for my seemingly cold-blooded
prognostication.
In other news - last Saturday
night in Wazzou, Ore., forward
Marty Leunen, cool as foe other
side of foe pillow, calmly sank
two free throws with less than
a second remaining, which sent
the game into OT. The Ducks
would inevitably win foe game,
scoring foe first 10 points of foe
extra period and holding on for
foe win, despite Derrick Low’s
rapid barrage of three-pointers.
Next up is a batde for first
place in foe Pac-10 on Thursday:
Ducks vs. Bruins, part II at
Pauley Pavilion; brace your
selves.
The Bad:
The NHL recently held their
mid-season All-Star festivities
... who even knew foe season
had started?
Also, Arizona did nothing
to compliment foe feet that foe
Pac-10 is now being called foe
toughest conference in college
basketball, as they got slaugh
tered by foe UNC Tar Heels by
32 points. The 94-62 loss was
foe worst home defeat ever suf
fered under Lute Olson (yeah,
he’s still alive).
Other unfortunate hap
penings include Barry “bad
news” Bond’s return to foe San
Francisco Giants and Sammy
Sosa’s signing with foe Texas
, Rangers, apparently an attempt
fo resurrect his career. Being a
diehard Cubs fan, this pains me
to say, but I never want to see
Sammy’s patented homerun hop
or peace-pound again.
The Ugly:
Zach Randolph scored a
career-high 42 points vs. foe
Grizzlies on Saturday night;
unfortunately, it took him 40
shot attempts to get there. Talk
about efficiency, Zeebo!
Lastly, 2006 Kentucky Derby
winner Barbara finally bit the
dust. The horse was euthanized
on Monday morning after fight
ing an eight-month-long battle
with leg and hoof complications
due to an accident sustained at
the Preakness.
The great racehorse under
went almost two dozen surgeries
before it was concluded that foe
animal could no longer go on.
Hopefully Indianapolis han
dles adversity better this week
end, or a whole team of colts
will be following Barbara to the
glue factory.