The Clackamas print., January 24, 2018, Page 9, Image 9

coug / m s s l h h h t c^meHeTH
STORY BY JAC O B TH OM PSON
„
SPORTS "EDITOR
Clackamas Community College’s Women’s basketball
team improved to 14-3 overall, led by sophomore
guard Kennedy Nofziger and freshman guard Alia
Parsons with 16 points a piece. The cougars are
now 5-0 in league play with their 77~66.win over
Chemeketa Community College on Jan. 20.
W ith sophomore guard Brittany McCormick,
out with an ankle injury, the Cougars turned to
Nofziger to help keep the offense rolling. Starting
alongside sophomore guards Ricki Mock andNicole
Hermosillo-Wright, freshmian guard CJ Buckley,
and sophomore forward Kayce Mock, the Cougars
took a, 7-0 lead right out of the gate. But after the
hot start, it was all Chemeketa the first quarter,
outscoring Clackamas 22-15.
“ People watch us warm-up, and we’re never super
high emotionally,” said Head Coach Jim Martineau.
“ We’re not a rah-rah teanij and they kind of just
go out and do their jobs, and I really like it. It’s the
same when we get down, they don’t really panic,
they just battle back. ‘Okay we’re down seven,
let’ s get a couple stops.’ It’ s really nice to coach
this group,”
In the second quarter the Cougars dug in
defensively, and looked to Alia Parsons offensively.
Parsons hit a 3-pointer that cut the lead to four early
in the second quarter making a free throw just a few
seconds later to close the gap to three. Chemeketa
made ti lay-up to push the lead to five, but Buckley
answered with aj-pointer for the Cougars to again
close the gap to three. Clackamas shot 6-12 putting
up 17 points*, and held-Chemeketa to 10 points on
3-18 shooting (16.7 percent). The lockdown defense
allowed Clackamas to tie the game 32-32 going into
halftime.
“ Our defense does a great job,” said Hermosillo-
W right;? We make them feel uncomfortable, and
not allow them to do what they are u’sed.to doing. ”
The third quarter saw both Chem eketa and
Clackamas shoot extremely well,, with Clackamas
shooting 47.4 percent from the field and Chemeketa
shooting 50 percent from the field. The game was
back and forth throughout the third quarter, but
Clackamas took the lead 52-50 with 11 seconds left
on a Hermosillo-Wright layup. Nofziger andParsons
each had six points and helped the Cougars outscore
the Storm 20-18.
“ We keep working hard and we don’t give up,”
said Ricki Mock “ We just trust each other and have
a little faith in ourselves that no matter what we’re
going to push down and grind and try to get the win. ”
With 3:53 remaining in the game, Clackamas
trailed 60-61, but once again the Cougars dug in
on defense, and allowed the offense to change the
momentum of the game. With Buckley’s layup at
3:42, the Cougars went on a 12-0 run thatLput the
getme on ice. Parsons again lead the way with six
points, Clackamas outscored Chemeketa 25-16 in
the final frame, and captured their seventh straight
ClackainasPrint -_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ -
Alia Parsons attempts a layup against Chemeketa on Jan. 20. Parsons finished with 16 points.
victory.
“ We’ve been in a couple of these situations in the . rebounding is all
preseason,” said Martineau. “ We climbed back in about out-hustling
them. We had a chance to beat North Idaho before people,” said Mock. ™
overtime (85-82 loss in overtime), Umpqua we lost “ It’s knowing where
after cutting it to one (72-67 loss) so we haven’t to go, and where to
ever quit. Start of the fourth quarter we’re up two, be, so playing smart ■
so we’re still winning. You can’t go into games helps that a little b it.”;
expecting to win every game by 25.1 think their fine
The Cougars play at
with that. They know it’s, a grind, and defensively home on Jan.
we had td work a little b it.”
24 ve Clark
So far this season the Cougars have been averaging C o m m u n ity
76.5 points per game, but during Clackamas’ seven- College (1-15
game winning streak the Cougars have averaged overall, 1-4
81.4 points per game. The Cougars have the 12th -league), and
1
ranked scorer in the Northwest Athlefic Conference again at home
in Hermosillo-Wright who is averaging 17.3 ppg, vs Umpqua
along with the 40th ranked scorer in Kayce Mock Community College |
who is averaging 13.6 ppg.
(18-0, 5-0) on Jan. j
“ [Kayce Mock] has played great tor us in the
middle, and she can step out and shoot threes,” said
Martineau. “ Nicole Hermosillo-Wright didn’t
play last year, but is the leading scorer. Brittany
McCormick has done a great job leading us.
[Ricki Mock], a transfer kid, sat out last yea^r,
she doesn’t score a lot, but she’ s just so solid
for us. We’ve got several kids that have played
well, and we’ve got lots of help off the bench. It’s
a great group. ”
Nicole Hermosil­
Since the break the Cougars have also
lo-Wright brings
been working Parsons into the rotation moré.
the ball up for the
Parsons transferred to Clackamas after one year
Cougars’ offense.
at Grand Canyon University, and through nine
games with the Cougars has averaged 12.7 ppg.
Oh the defensive side of the court, Clackamas
has allowed 59.1 ppg, but during the streak
have only allowed 45.9 ppg. Kayce Mock has been
a huge asset for Clackamas on defense, with her
NWAC-leading with 14,4 rebounds per game, and 55
blocked shots, Kayce Mock hasbeen the defensive
stopper the undersized Cougars need.
theclackam asprint.net
S S L J a n u a ry