Fight to the playoffs
BY COLE SOWDERS
photos by Jonathan Villagomez
STAFF WRITER
With the postseason approaching quickly
there is little margin for error. That margin
is even slimmer for Clackamas Community
quarter. Buckley shot a perfect 4 -4 from
the field and scored 13 of her 32 points.
Clackamas closed the first quarter with a
After finishing the first round of league
30-16 lead and the route was on.
Freshman guard Ambreece Gaskins
play with a record of 4 -4 , the Cougars
found themselves in fifth place behind
helped CCC tremendously off the bench,
scoring 19 o f the Cougars’ 29 bench points
Chemeketa, who they lost to in double
and contributing three steals and a block.
Gaskins hopes the team can be more
consistent as the season moves forward.
“ Some games we show up and others we
College’s women’s basketball team.
overtime on Jan. 19 101-95- Only the top
four teams in each conference advance
to the NWAC tournament, meaning the
Cougars have ground to make up if they
want to play in March.
The Cougars started the second round
of league play off right with a beatdown
of Portland Community College 95-65.
Sophomore guard CJ Buckley led the way
for Clackamas with 32 points on 10-14
shooting from the field and a perfect 8-8
from the free throw line. Buckley also
added six steals and seven rebounds.
Buckely has steppedinto a larger role“*"'
this season accordingto Head Coach Jim
Martineau.
I “ CJ has been fantastic all yedr long. I
don’t .”
Freshman guard Paige Downer
contributed 19 points oh 7-11 shooting,
adding two steals and four assists.
Although Clackamas has had success on
offense this season, averaging 79-6 points
per game, Downer looks to improve as a
team defensively.
“ Everyone knows we are a good offensive
scoring team, so we needed to pick up the
défensive end because that is where we *
struggle,” Downer said, “We don’t rotate
quick enough or rebound that well and
have enjoyed watching her develop from
that’s hurt us a little.”;
Clackamas has often been outrebounded
her role last year into how she is playing
this season,”- Martineau said. “ Obviously it
b y their opponents and the Feb. 2 contest
was no exception as PCC outrebounded the
is very important that she plays well each
game for us and she has responded w ell.”
Cougars 50-39, but the offensive explosion
made rebounds moot. Clackamas scored
Saturday’s win improves Clackamas’
42 of their 95 points on the fastbreak and
oytscored PCC in three of the four quarters.
The Cougars look to continue the hot
league record tb 5-4 and their overall
record to 9 -9 . After dropping a game to
M t. Hood Community College on Jan. 30,
Martineau was adamant that his squad
needed to go 6 -2 through the second half
of the league schedule to have a chance of
making the NWAC tournament.
“ Four and four is tough because [we’rej
shooting as they travel to C00S Bay to
take on Southwestern Oregon Community
College (7-13, 2-7) on Saturday, Feb. 10 at
2 p.m . This will be the third m eetingthis
season between CCC and SWOCC with both
Paige Downer, pictured above, contributed 19 points to CCC's game
against Portland Community College.
teams winning one game so far.
probably a game out [of the playoffs]
right now,” Martineau said on Jan. 30.
“ Chemeketa has three loss and M t. Hood
has three so [we’rej a. game behind with
losses to both those teams so [we] have to
go 6 -2 probably the last stretch. If we can
get on a little roll and get going and find a
little mojo that we just haven’t had the last
couple gam es.” .
Clackamas may have started rolling in
the direction Martineau was looking for
Saturday. The team collectively shot 33-65
from the field and 11-27 from beyond the
arc compared to the team’s Jan. 30 loss
Jvhere they shot 30 percent from the floor
and just 8 percent from the 3-point line.
Clackamas dominated PCC from the
opening tip and quickly jumped out to a
12-2 lead with 7:24 remaining in the first
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F e b ru a ry 6, 201 9