PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, DECEMBER 27, 2019
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Celts pick up fi rst win against Madison
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary guard Grace Carr looks to fi nd an open teammate after picking up her dribble. Carr had seven points in the Celtics 43-30
win over Madison on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The return of Leah Doutt
did not disappoint for the
McNary girls basketball team.
Doutt, who missed the
fi rst four games of the sea-
son due to injury, made her
season debut on Tuesday, Dec.
17 and had 13 points to go
along with four steals, three
assists and two blocks in the
Celtics 43-30 victory over
Portland’s Madison for their
fi rst win of the season.
Kennedy Buss also add-
ed nine points and eight re-
bounds in the win.
“Once Leah came back
on the court, it was like ev-
eryone played a lot more re-
laxed,” McNary head coach
Elizabeth Doran said. “This
junior class has been play-
ing together for so long, it’s
a little weird when Leah isn’t
out there with them. Things
were clicking once everyone
returned to their usual roles.”
After falling behind early,
the Celtics scored 14 of the
next 17 points, taking a 14-7
lead into the halfway mark of
the second period.
Madison’s
Ava
Arias
knocked down a 3-pointer
— which was Madison’s fi rst
hoop in a 10-minute stretch
— to cut McNary’s lead to
four. But the Celtics got con-
secutive hoops from Kenne-
dy Buss and Kylie Nepstad to
stretch their lead to eight.
McNary maintained their
eight-point lead for the re-
mainder of the quarter as
they went into the half with a
24-16 advantage.
But in the third quarter,
the Celtics broke the game
open.
Buss scored seven points in
the fi rst three minutes of the
period, helping McNary go
on an 11-0 run to start the
second half.
“We had talked at half-
time about the importance
of coming out in the third
quarter and setting the tone
for the rest of the game. They
did a really good job of that,”
Doran said.
One
of
the
big
points-of-emphasis for the
Celtics during this early sea-
son stretch has been to im-
prove on the glass. McNary
had 36 rebounds on the night
— which was a season high
— and also got 11 offensive
boards.
Rebekah Grimmer led the
Celtics with 11 rebounds.
“(Grimmer) is doing a
great job for us on the boards.
She is doing what she needs
to do down low,” Doran said.
“We need to get her more
touches on offense so that
will be something we will fo-
cus on in the future.”
McNary will be compet-
ing in the PIL Holiday Clas-
sic from Dec. 27 to Dec. 29.
They will return home to
take on North Medford on
Friday, Jan. 3 at 5 p.m.
West Salem defeats
McNary in the pool
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Nate Meithof beats his defender off the dribble. The junior guard had a career-high 31 points
on the night, but it wasn’t enough as the Celtics fell to Mountainside 60-58 on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
Meithof’s monster night
spoiled by Mountainside
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
For the majority of the
contest, the McNary boys
basketball looked unfazed by
fi fth-ranked Mountainside of
Beaverton.
The Celtics even held a
10-point lead with less than
fi ve minutes remaining in the
contest.
But down the stretch, the
inexperience of this McNary
team reared its ugly head.
Despite
an
incredible
31-point performance from
Nate Meithof, the Celtics
couldn’t overcome commit-
ting 28 turnovers over the
course of the contest as Moun-
tainside ended the game on a
16-4 run to defeat McNary
60-58 on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
Even though they missed
out on pulling off the upset,
McNary head coach Ryan
Kirch seemed pleasantly sur-
prised by how his team hung
with one of the top teams in
the state.
“They made a couple more
plays than us. Obviously we’re
disappointed, but boy oh boy, I
was proud of the effort,” Kirch
said. “The one thing that we
have found from the fi rst few
weeks of the season is that this
team is going to be competi-
tive from the tip. They are in-
experienced, they are young,
but we can get better from
this. The end result doesn’t
change about how I feel about
our performance.”
The Mountainside defense
initially had no answer for
Meithof. The 6-foot-4 guard
started off the opening peri-
od with a baseline 3-pointer,
which was soon followed by
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary swim team
wasn’t at full strength, and it
showed on the scoreboard on
Thursday, Dec. 19 as the Celt-
ic girls fell to West Salem 115-
54 while the boys team was
just edged out by the Titans,
losing by a score of 87-83.
“We weren’t at full strength
and still managed to compete
and get some good times. I
really thought that our boys
were going to be able to sneak
out the win, but we were just
short,” McNary head coach
Casey Lewin said.
In his fi rst varsity dual meet,
McNary freshman Zach Kilby
was the Celtics top perform-
er. Kilby was victorious in the
50-yard freestyle with a time
of 24.56 seconds. He also won
the 100-free with a time of
56.20 — fi nishing more than
four seconds ahead of the next
closest fi nisher.
Additionally, Kilby helped
the 200-medley relay team
and the 200-free relay team
pick up wins on the night.
“Zach will be a huge ad-
dition to the boys team. He
is young and has a lot of raw
talent. I’m excited to see how
he develops throughout the
season,” Lewin said. “I thought
that boys 200 medley and free
relays stepped up and swam
great.”
Kyle Hooper got his fi rst
individual victory of the sea-
son by crushing the competi-
tion in the 200-free (2:02.43).
Brennan Whalen took home
a win in the 100-breaststroke
(1:13.63) to round out the
event wins for the Celtic boys.
The McNary girls were
missing one of their top swim-
mers in Bella Beard, which
greatly affected their overall
competitiveness in this dual.
The Celtics weren’t able to
get a single relay win, which
is usually one of the strengths
of the team.
Alyssa Garvey and Eloisa
Moreno were the only ones
who won races for the Mc-
Nary girls. Garvey just edged
out teammate Paris Boyd to
win the 50-free (27.11) while
Moreno won the 100-butter-
fl y (1:11.58).
McNary’s next meet will
take place on Thursday, Jan. 9
against Sprague at 7 p.m.
an old-fashioned three-point
play.
His confi dence only grew
from there as Meithof would
then bury a step-back triple, as
well as a pull up trey on back-
to-back possessions.
“I don’t know what to say.
I was just feeling it,” Meithof
said.
Meithof would end the
quarter with 15 points, help-
ing his team gain a 19-11 ad-
vantage.
Mountainside cut the lead
to two at 29-27 by halftime.
But Meithof helped the Celt-
ics offense get going again in
the third quarter.
Despite an 8-0 run by
Mountainside to start the sec-
ond half, Meithof, as well as
point guard Jando Gonzalez,
Please see CELTS Page A10
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary’s Tyshin Nguyen swims the butterfl y leg of the 200-yard individual medley.