PAGE A8, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 27, 2015
KEIZERTIMES.COM
First time
since 2009
GVC Champs
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Lady Celt Lauren Hudgins holds off a Sprague defender in the
game Friday, Feb. 20.
Girls fi nish GVC
in third place
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary High School
girls varsity basketball team
started its game against Sprague
High School with an unan-
swered 17-point run Friday,
Feb. 20.
Despite the feat, neither
players nor coaches were exact-
ly thrilled with the play in the
70-25 win.
“We handled them well by
going through the motions. It
wasn’t until the last quarter that
we got the energy up,” said Van-
essa Hayes, a McNary junior.
“We had a bit of a talk at half-
time that changed things.”
While the Lady Celts were
never in danger, Head Coach
Derick Handley wanted to see
the team putting more pressure
on the Olys.
“Our mindset has been too
much what the other team is
bringing to the game and not
on being us and making the
other team make adjustments,”
Handley said. “In the fi rst half,
we were relying on the other
team to miss their shots instead
of forcing them to miss their
shots.”
The lopsided score allowed
McNary to clear the bench
twice in the game. Sydney
Hunter led all scoring with
25 points; Hayes had 11; Madi
Hingston had six; Kaelie Flores
had 10; Jasmine Ernest and Kai-
ley Doutt put up four points
each; Paige Downer and Lauren
Hudgins had three apiece; and
Emma Jones and Kelsey Koenig
had two each.
Jones said defense in the sec-
ond half improved exponen-
tially.
“We were communicating
well and knew where the help
defense was when we needed
it,” she said.
The Lady Celts are third in
the Greater Valley Conference
as the season winds down and
will play their fi rst playoff game
Wednesday, March 4. Between
Sprague and McKay High
School, which the girls beat
61-15 Tuesday, Feb. 24, neither
opponent was much of a chal-
lenge.
It meant that the girls will
have to keep bringing their A-
game despite the lack of pres-
sure from recent opponents.
“We’re going to have to
work extra hard in practice.
We’ve worked really hard to get
to this point in the season and
we want to be prepared to take
it to the next level,” Jones said.
Handley said there is room
for improvement on both sides
of the court.
“If we allow teams to do
what they want to do on of-
fense, they will. But, when we
clamp down, we know what
we’re capable of,” he said. “On
offense, we’ve gotten selfi sh
at half-court. We’re trying to
make shots that aren’t great in-
stead of looking for open team-
mates with better looks.”
Kuch takes 5th in 100 free
McNary freshman Marissa Kuch took fi fth place in the 100
yard freestyle race at the state swimming fi nals Saturday, Feb. 21.
She was shy of fi rst place in the contest by less than two seconds.
She also took sixth place in the 200 yard freestyle with a time
of 1:54.67.
Kuch swam the lead-off leg of a 200 freestyle relay that in-
cluded Sara Eckert, Jewel Boyd and Josie Ellis. The girls fi nished
12th in the state with a time of 1:46.35. The same Lady Celt
team took 18th in the state in the 400 free relay in 3:54.07.
LAX funder Saturday
McNary High School la-
crosse players will be hosting
and serving breakfast at Ap-
plebee’s south of Keizer across
Salem Parkway Saturday, Feb.
28.
Visitors can stop by be-
tween 8 and 10 a.m. and get
a breakfast and juice for $10.
Proceeds will benefi t the team
and help the program reach its
goal of raising $15,000 toward
the McNary turf fi eld. To date,
the team has raised $3,000.
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Above: Tregg Peterson makes the fi rst cuts to a net as the
Celtics celebrated their co-GVC championship Tuesday, Feb.
24. Right: Devon Dunagan puts up a shot in the game with
Sprague High School Friday, Feb. 20.
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary High School
boys varsity basketball players
are league champs.
“It feels great. It’s taken
a while, but it’s awesome to
start as the last teams in the
state and end up here ranked
in the top 10,” said Celt senior
Devon Dunagan.
A 63-51 win over McKay
High School Tuesday, Feb. 24,
sealed up co-champion status
for McNary.
The one footnote to what
was a celebratory evening
was sharing the Greater Valley
Conference title with South
Salem High School. McNary
will enter the state playoffs
ranked 10th. The Saxons will
begin ranked No. 5 based on
the strength of their schedule.
“It feels like everything I
hoped it would, it’s been a long
time since we’ve had a league
title and here we are,” said
senior Tregg Peterson. “This is
where we wanted to be.”
To their credit, McKay
never gave up in the match
Tuesday. Outsized in every
way imaginable, the scrappy
Royal Scot team cut McNary’s
lead to single digits in the last
minute.
“When we put the seniors
back in at the end of the
fourth quarter, we were just
sort of goofi ng around instead
of locking down,” Peterson
said.
Knocking down shots from
the foul line and a pair of shots
in transitions put the game
away. Dunagan laid in the fi nal
bucket as the last buzzer of
league play sounded.
McNary is likely to host
its fi rst playoff game Tuesday,
March 3.
“From now on, every single
play, every single quarter
matters. Every single game we
need to come out in the fi rst
quarter a little better and then
fi nish strong,” Dunagan said.
“We’ve got to fi nish every
game, if we’re up 20, we have
to keep going and get up 30
points.We can’t slow down
in the middle of it,” Peterson
said.
“We’ve
played
all season
to hold
on to fi rst
place”
— Ryan Kirch
McNary head coach
Prior to the McKay game,
the Celtics squared off against
Sprague High School Friday,
Feb. 20. McNary won 63-51.
Throughout
the
fi rst
quarter, the teams traded the
lead. With about two minutes
left, a bucket from Cade Goff
knotted the game at 11-11, but
the Olys hit a three-pointer
to jump ahead on the next
possession.
Another basket by Goff and
a trey by VanCleave fi nally gave
the Celts a lead they wouldn’t
relinquish. Cole Thomas came
up with a big block at the
end of the fi rst period that
prevented another possible
three-pointer by Sprague. The
next period started 16-14.
GVC Champs
“We
played
okay
defensively. We had some
miscommunication on our
switches, and they scored 14
while we try to hold them to
eight in the fi rst period,” said
Kirch. “On the other hand, we
outscored them 10-2 in the
second quarter and got into
a rhythm as the game settled
down.”
With league play in the
rearview, McNary is now in
a one-and-done situation.
They’ll have until Tuesday to
prepare for the fi rst-round
state playoff game, but they
won’t likely know who their
opponent is until Friday, Feb.
27.
“From here on out,
competition is going to be
diffi cult, but we’ve played all
season to hold on to fi rst place.
Our kids have shown their
mental toughness in a long
season and now there’s just a
little bit left,” Kirch said.