Starting out slow, but hopeful
PHOTbS ANO STORY BY JACOB THOMPSON
SPORTS EDITOR @SPORTSEDTHOMPS
,
C la c k a m a s C o m m u n ity C o lle g e ’ s
w om en ’ s basketball team dropped tw o
out of three games in their season opening
Thanksgiving weekend tournament, losing
to S o u th w estern O regon C o m m u n ity
68-59 on Nov. 23 and 102-99 to Umpqua
Com m unity College on Nov. 25.
“ A ll in a ll I th in k it w a s a d ecen t
w e e k e n d , b u t I d o n ’ t lik e b e in g 1 -2
ob viou sly,” head coach Jim M artineau
said. “ The SWOCC loss is probably the
bad loss o f the w eekend ju st because w e
didn’t play very w ell.” .
< In the loss against SWOCC, the Cougars
sh o t 22.1 p ercen t from th e field and
despite tak in g 50 th re e-p o in te rs, only
made seven.
Sophom ore guard CJ Buckley led the
Cougars in scoring w ith 18, sfiooting 7-25
from the field.
Clackam as got th eir first w in o f the
season on Nov. 24, defeating Pierce College
10 3-77. The Cougars w e n t 3 5-77 from
the field and freshm an guard Am breece
Gaskins led the w ay for Clackam as w ith
-32 points. 24 of Gaskins 32'points were
scored beyond the three point arc.
“ It’ s nice to get in rhythm and th at’ s
w h at I th in k th at n igh t w a s ,” G askins
said on Nov. 25.
C la c k a m a s a n d U m p q u a b a ttle d ,
back and forth in the fin al gam e o f the
Th an k sgivin g tou rn am ent on Nov. 25.
After trailing 3-0, the Cougars didn’t trail
again until the third quarter when Umpqua
gained a 57-55 lead with 9:08 remaining in
the quarter. The Cougars and River Hawks
tradedbaskets before Clackamas was able
to pull away arid end the third quarter up
85-76.
In the fourth quarter, Clackamas decided
to stop rising their fu ll-cou rt press and
it’ s som ething Martineau regretted after
the game.
“ If I had it do over this game we probably
w ou ld ’ve stu ck w ith [the press] in the
second h alf,” Martineau said. “ I’m kind
o f kicking m yse lf th at w e got out of it.
W e got som e stops, it w as still a close
game, but I would’ve liked to see w h at it
w ould’ve looked like at the end if we kept
the press on .”
Despite the rough start to the season,
Martineau is optim istic about w hat this
team can accomplish.
“ I like [these players] and w e’re going to
get better, tod,” Martineau said. “ They’re
brand new. We only got four back of the 12
[players from last year]. Lots of new people
on the floor and w e’re running some new
stu ff too so it’ s going to be a little bit of
a learning curve early and w e ’re going to
take our thum ps this preseason. But by
thé tim e w e g e t into league, I think w e ’re
going to be fin e.”
The Cougars are going to look to press
on defense and run and shoot on offense
a cco rd in g to fr e s h m a n p o st L an dy
Williams.
“W e’re going to be pressing and keeping
and I and the group w hat we can do well
and w hat w e need to w ork on .”
The Cougars are on the road for three
stra ig h t days sta rtin g F riday as th e y
travel to Yakim a to take on Yakim a Valley
College. Saturday Clackam as travels to
Moses Lake to face Big Bend Com m unity
College and Sunday they travel to Spokane
to play Spokane Com m unity College.
a h igh -tem p o,” W illiams said. “ We love
th e en ergy and w e love gettin g up and
down the court. It’s going to be a thing
that everybody sees a lot.
Besides new players, Clackam as also
added a n ew a ssista n t coach th is o ff
season w ith the hiring of Kurt Guelsdorf.
G uelsdorf coached at Oregon City High
School for 15 years, com piling a record
of 451-123, w inning state.titles in 2004,
2009 and 2014 and ranking eighth on the
a ll-tim e w ins list in Oregon. Guelsdorf
is enjoying the transition to th e college
ranks.
“ It’s b een aw esom e, it’ s b een really
fun,” Guelsdorf said. “ [MartineauPsbeen
awesom e to w ork w ith and I couldn’t ask
for a better guy to come w ork w ith every
day. The kids have been great and now it’ s
just a matter of figuring out between him
life
Miranda Jensen brings the bail up in a
game against Umpqua Nov. 25.
Photos by Jonathan Villagomez
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----------------- November 2 8,2018