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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 2013)
P R IN T : Sports Wednesday, Feb. 27,2013 Women win big Andrew Millbrooke Sports Editor The Clackamas women’s bas ketball team won its final two regular season games by a com bined 80 points last week as they clinched their third Southern Region championship in the past four seasons. The Cougars (23-4, 13-1) have won 18 of 19 games and are a confident group head ing into the NWAACC tourna ment in Kennewick, Wash, this weekend. “We fopnd our rhythm in the last two pre-season games and everyone started to click on the same page,” said freshman wing Tori Wilkinson. “That’s when we knew we were going to be good. We’ve gotten better and better and we just want to go to NWAACC’s and win it all.” The Cougars regularly play nine players and all have been big contributors on the season. Six different players have led the team in scoring at least once on the season. “Anyone can step up,” said Wilkinson. “You’re never going to know who it is. I don’t know how you prepare to beat a team that can do that.” Co-head coach Jim Martineau loves having so many options on the offensive end. “I think it’s key,” said Martineau. “We’ve gone up there years in the past with one or two main scorers and if they struggle in a game, w e’re in big trouble. So, it’s a nice thing to go up knowing that if someone has an off night, there are three or four other kids that can get you 12 to 15 points. Psychologically, I think it’s big for the group. They know they can trust their team mates and they don’t have to play perfect for us to go up there and do well.” The Cougars had some injury issues early in the season, but once everyone got healthy they were almost impossible to beat. A big key was when freshman point guard Lacy Effenberger returned from a tom ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). “Once we got Lacy back from tearing her ACL, we realized that everyone can play on the same page,” said Wilkinson. “We can do what we want to do and play how we want to play. I think our depth has helped us tremendously.” ' It was no surprise that the Cougars swept most o f the top honors when All-Region awards were handed out on Sunday. Co-head coaches Martineau and Kayla Steen were named Southern Region Coaches of the Year. Clackamas’ leading scorer, sophomore Jenny Johnson, was named MVP. Fellow sophomore Ashleigh Anderson joined her on the All-Region first team. Effenberger earned second team honors and won the fresh man MVP award. Wilkinson and sophomore Megan Feldman both were named to the Honorable Mention team. The Cougars open up the NWAACC tournam ent on Saturday against Spokane CC (15-11, 8-6) at 8 p.m. Spokane is the number four seed from the East Region. «JJ» J Southern Region A.— rc|s K Jenny i i l l Johnson lll Sophomore M S B ! Tualatin H.S. Region MVP ^ » —B So Oregon C i. . lst-Team All-Region Brock Lutes Sophomore Newberg H.S. ls t-T e a m A l l -R e g io n swept Portland CC. Both teams head to Kennewick, Wash, fo r the NWAACC Tournament this weekend. Season Stats « M en’s basketball w ins again Andrew Millbrooke Sports Editor “Who woulda thunk it?” The first fine of Clackamas men’s bas ketball head coach Clif Wegner’s email said it all. A month ago, the Cougar men’s basketball team had lost seven of eight games, including five o f six in league, to sit in last place in the Southern Region standings. The season was in the toilet, about to be flushed into stinky oblivion. What a difference a month makes. The Cougars didn’t quit. They came together as a team, found the lineups that worked, and rolled off seven wins in the final eight league games to quali fy for the NWAACC tournament for the 14th consecutive season. “We’re clicking now,” said freshman point guard Michone Hopkins. “We’re getting stops on defense and our shots are fall ing. Everyone’s going good right now.” Sophomore guard Kirby Hawkins has been a huge spark off the bench for the Cougars, leading them in scoring in three of the past five games. “I feel like we can beat anyone from the start,” said Hawkins. a < <20 o ¡Z « V LO ' JE 2 co s CM X3 “We just kind of had a rocky road at the beginning. Our lineup was kind of messed up, along with our chemistry as a new team.” It wasn’t easy either. The Cougars won five straight elimi nation games to end the sea son, culminating in a thrilling one-point overtime victory over Umpqua CC in Roseburg on Saturday. Clackamas fell behind 13-2 as a fired up Riverhawks team was ready to end its season. The Cougars didn’t buckle though, as they settled down and slowly got back into the game to take a 39-33 halftime lead. They held the lead for most o f the sec ond half, before pulling out the 82-81 overtime victory behind the scoring of Brock Lutes and clutch free throws by Jordan Mosby-Barber. Both Lutes and Mosby-Barber posted double-doubles, while Hawkins came off the bench to score 20 points. Lutes finished with a game-high 24 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Barber added 19 points and game-high 12 rebounds. Clackamas 91, Portland CC 81 ■ On sophomore night in the final home game of the season, the Cougars rallied in the second half behind a sensational scor WEDNESDAY-2 /2 7 • NBA: Denver at ■ Portland, 7:30 p.m. CSNW/ESPN/KEX • Randall Fitness Center: 8:30-10 a.m. and 1-8 p.m. downstairs in Randall Hall ing performance from Hawkins to pull away from the Panthers in another must win game and keep their postseason hopes alive. Hawkins poured in 32 points, making five of six 3-pointers and 13 o f 15 field goals overall. “I can’t even explain how big of a win that is,” said Hawkins. “On sophomore night too, it feels good. We just started clicking lately. As long as we play how we were playing today we can beat anybody.” The men were well represent ed during the Southern Region awards on Sunday. Sophomore wing Brock Lutes earned first team honors, while fellow sopho more Kirby Hawkins was named to the second team All-Region. Freshman point guard Michone Hopkins was second in the fresh man Player of the Year voting, earning All-Freshman team and honorable mention All-Region honors. Sophomore Jake Dewitt was named to the All-Defensive team. Sophomore post Jordan Mosby-Barber was named as an alternate for the sophomore All- Star game. Clackamas (16-12, 8-6) opens up the NWAACC tournament in Kennewick, Wash, against Yakima Valley CC (20-8, 10-4) at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 2. THURSDAY-2/28 FRIDAY-3/1 • Intramural Volleyball: Noon-1 CCC Softball: p.m. in Randall Gym • Randall Fitness Center: 12-8 p.m. downstairs in Randall Hall at Delta Park vs. Concordia 5 p.m. vs. Bellevue 7 p.m. SATURDAY-3/2 • Cougar Basketball: at NWAACC Championships Men - 4 p.m. Women - 8 p.m. • CCC Softball: vs. NW Christian at Delta Park, 10 a.m. f i l i l i Points: ............... Rebounds: 5.9 ...Get ALA-PIM ^^84155 . www.ALA-PIM.COM S U N D A Y-3/3 ♦ CCC Baseball: Clark at CCC, Noon • Cougar Basketball: at NWAACC Championships in Kennewick, Wash. Runs through Tuesday, March 5 H 'r t m A Y - 3 /r • NBA: Charlotte at Portland, 7 p.m. CSNW, KEX • Randall Fitness Center: 8:30-10 a.m. and 1-6 p.m. - downstairs in Randall Hall TUESDAY-3/5 • Intramural Basketball: Noon-1 p.m. in Randall Gym • Randall Fitness Center: Noon-8 p.m. downstairs in Randall Hall
