Sports sportsed@dackamas.edu The Clackamas P rin t? Wednesday, Feb. 22, 20,12 Clackamas falls from contention for southern championship By John William Howard Sports Jiditor Dazed, the group silently gathered their things, moving a few paces behind the bench to quietly dress and repack their bags. A few murmured words were said, and families quietly and cautiously approached, wary of the players they had come to see. After a quick post game talk,, head coach Jim Martineau disappeared, leaving the gym before most o f his team, who, for the most part, mean­ dered to talk to friends before bolting to their cars and heading home. The Clackamas women had just lost to Lane-in a tightly contested battle, fighting start to finish for a piece of the southStfi region crown. Clackamas fell 65-58, marking the first time that they had dropped a region game at home all season, and the first home loss since mid December. The home team repeatedly missed chances, shooting just over 50 percent from the free throw line, 16 percent' from' three point range and 28 percent from the field. Freshman guard Jenny Johnson was one o f the first to leave the disheartened group after having led Clackamas with 15 points in the loss. “It’s frustrating; because we work so hard in the whole game and'We have theenergy, but when it comes down to it. "we.couldn’t make shots and that' just sucks,” said Johnson, who was 0-2 from three point range but hit-all of her team high seven free throw attempts. “You put in all that' hard work and you don’t get the result you w an t” In the first half, the hard work wasdnostly pay­ ing off. Down eight at 1.4-6 after just five minutes of play, Clackamas went on a 13-5>rjin>to tie the game at 19 before taking the lead on a field goal from 6-1 freshman7 Megan Feldman. From then 8n, neither team would take a lead larger than three, with the teams swapping the-advantage five times in the final eight minutes. . The first half definitely wasn’t an offensive showdown, as the., Cougars were just 11-36 from -the field and put up just 31 points. Sophomore MaKesha Bizon led the home team with eight .points in the first- hilf, which found Clackamas trailing by ofie going in to halftim e.' - Typically, when Clackamas has a bad offensive half, they come out for the final 20 minutes and turn it around completely. This time, however, that was not at all the case. The second half began as close as the first half ended. Johnson tied the game with a three point play at -34, and kept things close a few moments later with a field goal to keep Clackamas within one at 39-38. Those would be the last points that Clackamas would score for almost four minutes, as they watched Lane go on an LI-2 run to take a ten point lead at 50-40. Even then, the home team didn’t lie down. They went on a l4-5, run o f their own to make it a game again, and despite shooting so poorly, Clackamas still had a chanfce to win the game. Down ofie after two Johnson free throws with just under five min­ utes remaining, the Cougars got a defensive stop and a steal,' but' couldn’t convert, missing a pair of free throws and three field goals while Lane pushed their lead, back to seven. . W ith just two minutes left on the clock, the game was all but over for Clackamas. They didn’t nit a single field goal down the stretch, made two. costly turnovers and normally composed wing Ashleigh Anderson missed a pair of free throws in the final minute before Clackamas finally laid down and surrendered. Perhaps the most frustrating part of the loss is that it was close' in spite o f the Cougars’ dismal shooting percentage. “We’re missingall o f our shots and we only-lost by seven points,” said Johnson. “T hat mean’s we’re with them and if we shoot well, we win by 10.” ■ The loss drops Clackamas to a second place tie Tn tfffi southern region with Chemeketa. W ith only two games remaining, it is unlikely that Clackamas will be able to climb past Lane for the region cham­ pionship and Will have to fight to win the second seed in the south for the upcoming NWAACC championships? : Preshrnqn. guardAshleiH a.Ande.r?°n.dri'ves<.tO:t:he.b.elskeKiiS. therse'c-\ o n d h a l f against Lane. N orm ally a stellar shooter, Anderson-w as fru stra ted by the defense a n d scored only 1 0 points, going 3 - 1 7 fr o m the fi e l d a n d 3 - 9 fr o m th efree throw line. . Men’s Basketball - o ©