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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (March 18, 2016)
PAGE B2, KEIZERTIMES, MARCH 18, 2016 Defying odds: By ERIC A. HOWALD Of the Keizertimes All season long, the Mc- Nary High School girls varsity basketball team had occasion to let their emotions get the better of them. When South Salem High School denied them the chance to capture a Greater Valley Conference title, they didn’t break. When Jesuit High School ousted them from con- tention for a state title in the fi rst round of the state tour- nament last week, they didn’t even bend. “This group has bounced back,” said Derick Handley, McNary head coach. “We lost to Jesuit and it would have easy to mail it in, instead they turned around and beat the No. 1 team in the coach’s poll (Oregon City High School) entering the tournament by nine points.” The 55-46 win over Or- egon City pitted the Celts against the second-ranked team in the state, South Med- ford High School, in a game for fourth place Saturday, March 12, at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center. The game went not only the distance, but an extra four minutes of overtime that saw McNary win 57-52. It was only then that the tears of joy began to fl ow. “For us seniors, going out like this it’s such a great ac- complishment, because there is no other team we’d rather do it with. We got here together and we made it all the way to the end,” said Lady Celt Madi Hingston. It was a pitch perfect end- ing to a season in which the team had already made school history with the most wins for a girls basketball team. MHS ended the year at 23-6. “It’s kind of mind-blowing and surreal once it’s all over to pick up that trophy. Now it’s ended on a good note and we’re happy,” added junior Sydney Hunter. McNary’s victory was never a sure thing in the match with South Medford. The teams knotted the score three times in the fi rst frame alone before a two-pointer by Kaelie Flores put the Celtics ahead before the buzzer. In the second quarter, South Medford began making a strong offensive push and led by as many as fi ve points be- fore a trey by Hingston and a bucket by senior Reina Strand tied the game again, 27-27, going to halftime. “Once we got to halftime, we fi nally started settling down and that’s when I think the game began to change. We kept our composure no mat- ter what,” said Kailey Doutt, a sophomore and the Greater Valley Conference’s Defender of the Year. In the fi rst half of the third quarter, the Celts snapped a 7-0 run by the Panthers with a trip to the foul line by Strand, then Hingston hit another three-pointer to retake the lead 35-34. South Medford took it back on the next pos- session, but a trey by Flores and two-pointer by Hingston put the score at 40-38, Mc- Nary leading, as the fourth quarter began. The Panthers tied the game and took the lead again at the beginning of the fourth peri- od. They carried it until there was 3:19 left in the game. Then, Hingston hit a trey and a two- pointer to overtake South 49- 47. With 16 seconds left in the game, Hingston made a trip to the foul line and sunk both shots making the score 52-49, but South Medford took the ball back down the court and hit a three-point shot to tie the game with seven seconds left. The Celtics were able to make it back down the court Lady Celts take 4th in state tourney KEIZERTIMES/Eric A. Howald ABOVE: the Lady Celts exit the court after winning a game against South Medford High School in overtime to take fourth in the OSAA 6A state tournament. RIGHT: The team with their trophy. and get off a shot and two re- bound attempts, but none of them fell. All fi ve of the points in the four-minute overtime were made at the foul line by Hunt- er, Flores and Hingston. “We knew they were lack- ing depth, so part of the game plan was we wanted to wear them out. I didn’t want to give up a three with seven seconds left to go to overtime to wear them out, but we knew that their energy would be an is- sue,” said Handley. The loss to Jesuit in the fi rst game of the tournament served as a wake-up call for how McNary approached the next two games of the tourna- ment. “We knew it was going to be a struggle for us, but it showed us that we were go- ing to have to come out even harder the next day and that’s what we did,” said senior Kae- lie Flores. In the fi rst round of the consolation games with Or- egon City, McNary got blitzed in the opening minutes and was trailing 12-0 by 3:41 in the fi rst frame. The Celts re- grouped and cut the lead to fi ve by the fi rst buzzer and had a 14-4 run that spanned the fi rst two periods. McNary never let Pioneers get that far ahead again. In the third period, after 23 minutes of Oregon City leading the game, Hingston hit a trey to tie the game at 37-37 and then another on McNary’s next possession to take a 40-38 lead the Keizer team would never relinquish en route to the 55- 46 win. McNary wreaked enough havoc on offense in the fourth quarter to cause three of Ore- gon City’s starters to foul out of the game. “It’s great to prove people wrong. We were the underdog coming into this and we were expected to come in and lose two games and go home,” said Strand. “Instead we came in, hung around and we showed them what McNary is made of.” Nobody covers Keizer like Keizertimes When life gives you lemonade, it’s a great day! . Create a recipe | Design a stand Attract investors Do it alone or with friends Register today at salemkeizer.lemonadeday.org Lemonade Day is the national Their profi ts are split between event that teaches kids how a their education, a charity of their business works by operating choice and mad money! a lemonade stand. With help from parents and sponsors, kids create their own recipe, build a stand and sell lem- onade. Along the way kids learn how to spend, save and share. Sunday, May 1 News that is important to you is important to us. Find news that affects your neighborhood each week. $ 18 for ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION* Call 503-390-1051 to start your subscription a Project of Salem-Keizer Education Foundation salemkeizer.lemonadeday.org * $18 rate is good for Marion County subscribers only. Subscribers receive the Keizertimes in the mailboxes every Friday. Special offer good through April 22, 2016 only.
