Keizertimes., February 19, 2016, Page A11, Image 11

FEBRUARY 19, 2016, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Garrett Jensen is the new head coach of the McNary High
School girls tennis program.
New coach hired
for girls tennis
KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald
Above left: McNary’s Madi Hingston keeps the ball out of reach of a Grizzly defender. Above right: Reina Strand looks for an open-
ing to take a shot.
Lady Celts disarm Titans, scare off Grizzlies
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary High School
girls varsity basketball re-
bounded from a tumultuous
fi rst half with McMinnville
High School Friday, Feb. 12, to
take a 59-28 win.
McNary’s troubles started
early in the game and snow-
balled quickly. The Celts were
charged with 14 fouls in the
fi rst half, including three
apiece for starting posts Kae-
lie Flores, Sydney Hunter and
Reina Strand.
Derick Handley, McNary
head coach, said the fouls were
a problem, but only a symptom
of a larger issue.
“We were pretty lazy on
our defensive traps with our
girls standing up too tall and
trying to trap with their hands
rather than their feet. McMin-
nville was able to split our traps
and get easy lay-ups out of
them,” he said.
With Flores, Hunter and
Strand on the bench until the
second half, McNary’s younger,
shorter line-up took the fl oor.
“We don’t usually have to
do without size and depth, so
that was an adjustment we had
to make on the fl y. The guard
heavy line-up was able to keep
us ahead before halftime,”
Handley said.
The Celts left the court for
the locker room ahead 33-22.
“I think we handled it well.
The bench really stepped up
and that was key to winning
the game,” said Celt Jaylene
Montano.
In the second half, the
smaller Celtic line-up went to
a full court man-to-man of-
fense. Hunter and senior Madi
Hingston pinned down some
of the larger scoring threats,
but found themselves under
heavy pressure making the
switch to offense.
“They were showing us a
few different looks that we
hadn’t seen this year, including
a triangle-and-two with a face-
guarding of Sydney and Madi,”
Handley said. “It’s a huge com-
pliment to both of them, but
it forced our players who don’t
usually lead us in scoring to
step up and become scorers for
us. I thought that Jaylene, Paige
(Downer), and Kailey (Doutt)
all did a phenomenal job of
stepping up and becoming a
threat on offense for us.”
The Keizer girls held the
Grizzlies to six points in the
second half to take the win.
“It was really great to have
Sydney and other people step
up and fi ll our positions. They
really continued as though we
weren’t even missing,” said
Strand.
In a contest with West Sa-
lem High School three days
earlier, Feb. 9, the Lady Celts
put together one of their best
complete-game efforts in the
season thus far, Handley said.
“Compared to the fi rst
time, we executed stronger, we
ran all of our plays right, we
ran the court and had good
defense without fouling very
much,” Strand said.
In the teams’ fi rst contest in
January, McNary posted a 53-
42 win. This time around, the
Celtics pasted the Titans 62-40.
“We put in a more aggres-
sive game plan than the fi rst
time we played them, really
trying to put pressure on their
guards to try to run their of-
fense in the middle of a bunch
of chaos,” Handley said. “I
think our ability to dictate the
speed of the game gave us a
huge advantage this time.”
West managed to keep the
game close through the fi rst
half, but McNary was up 12
points at halftime. In the sec-
ond half, the Celtics were able
to wear the Titan team down
and create the winning mar-
gin.
“The crowd was also pretty
scary, but we stayed strong to
get the win,” Montano said.
With only two games re-
maining, against Sprague and
McKay high schools, Mon-
tano and Strand said the Celtic
team had opportunites to im-
prove.
“We have thrown in some
new plays sand new defenses
and we can continue to work
on and tweak those,” Strand
said.
“Consistency of effort,”
added Montano. “Tougher
games are coming and we
need to be mentally ready for
that in the playoffs.”
By ERIC A. HOWALD
Of the Keizertimes
Garrett Jensen, McNary
High School’s new girls tennis
coach, is constantly reminded
that tennis is a lifelong sport.
And he couldn’t be happier
about it.
“I play mostly doubles
and there are times when my
partner is someone in his 70s.
I want to be that person when
I get to be their age,” Jensen
said with a laugh.
Jensen replaces Derick
Handley who served as in-
terim coach in 2015 follow-
ing the departure of longtime
coach Mark Kohley.
While the tennis season
won’t start for about two
more weeks, more than 20
Lady Celts are already signed
up.
“That’s encouraging be-
cause we’ll have most of a ju-
nior varsity team, too, if they
all stick with it,” Jensen said.
Jensen is new to McNary,
but his roots in the sport and
coaching are deep. A Wis-
consin native, he took up the
racket at the age of eight and
went on to letter in the sport
three times in high school as a
doubles player. In college, he
became an assistant coach to
his former high school coach
crossword
and helped a high school
team make it to the team state
tournament.
He moved to Oregon
about fi ve years ago and
served as the head coach to a
Tillamook High School team
last year while completing an
Americorps project on the
Oregon coast.
“It was nice to get a feel
for the way district and state
tournaments are held out
here,” Jensen said.
In Wisconsin, teams are
comprised of four singles and
three doubles with team and
individual state competitions.
In Oregon, each school puts
four singles and four doubles
teams on the court.
“I see coaching as an op-
portunity to pay it forward.
My high school coaches were
valuable in my life in high
school,” he said.
As far as plans for the team
and practices go, Jensen said
he puts a heavy emphasis on
conditioning.
“If you make it to a third
set, the players are usually
evenly skilled and that con-
ditioning is going to come
into play. We’re going to work
harder in practice than any
other team that we face,” he
said.