PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 14, 2020
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McNary gets convincing win over Summit
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary guard Leah Doutt drives past her defender in the Celtics 54-37 victory over Summit on Friday, Feb. 7. Doutt had a game-
high of 20 points in the win.
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
After the McNary girls
hoops team lost to Summit
by the double-digits in their
last matchup, the Celtics
were able to exact their re-
venge against the Storm on
Friday, Feb. 7.
Leah Doutt led the way
with 20 points and fi ve assists
and Kennedy Buss chipped
in with 11 points on 3-of-
5 shooting from behind the
arc as McNary picked up
their third win in league play
with a 54-37 victory over
Summit.
“We came out with a re-
ally high intensity and we
stuck with that for all four
quarters. It started on de-
fense and then it led into our
offense and I think that gave
us a ton of momentum to
keep it going,” Doutt said.
A jumper from Buss and
a 3-pointer from Doutt had
the Celtics up 9-5 midway
through the fi rst quarter. But
Summit ended the period on
a 6-0 run to go on top 11-9.
The Summit lead extend-
ed late into the second quar-
ter as McNary trailed 17-14
at the 1:18 mark. However,
all the momentum swung in
McNary’s favor before the
half.
After a pair of free throws
by Bekah Grimmer to cut
the lead to one, Doutt got
to the rim on the next Mc-
Nary possession for a layup,
which allowed the Celtics to
re-take the lead.
Summit committed back-
to-back turnovers on their
fi nal two possessions of the
half, which led to a triple
from Doutt and a buzz-
er-beating runner by Kylie
Nepstad, which completed a
9-0 run for McNary and put
them up 23-17.
The Storm trimmed the
defi cit to four at 27-23 with
just over three minutes re-
maining in the third quarter.
But once again, the Celt-
ics would go on a run that
wound up decimating Sum-
mit’s chances.
Kendyl Jennings swished
a mid-range jumper, which
was followed by a triple from
Doutt. Moments later, Doutt
picked up one of her three
steals, then hit Kenzie Proc-
tor with a beautiful outlet
pass for a an easy lay-in.
“We always talk about
how the fi rst four minutes
of the third quarter are the
most important part of the
game, so we really wanted to
come out strong,” Doutt said.
A hoop from Grimmer
off an offensive rebound
gave the Celtics their fi rst
Please see MCNARY, Page A10
Celts comeback falls
short against Titans
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary boys hoops
team defeated West Salem in
a 64-63 thriller the last time
these two teams met up in
January.
Once again, the two
squads gave the fans an en-
tertaining battle in their
most recent matchup, only
this time, McNary ended up
on the short end.
The Celtics had a chance
to win twice in the fi nal sec-
onds, but both shots were off
the mark as McNary fell to
West Salem by a score of 68-
66 on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
Nate Meithof had 19
points to lead the Celtics and
Jando Gonzalez added 11
points in defeat.
McNary started Moun-
tain Valley Conference play
with a 5-0 record, but the
Celtics have lost three of
there last four to fall to 6-3
— they are tied for second
place in the standings with
Summit.
West Salem was without
their leading scorer Justin
Scoggin, who missed the
game due to injury. But
even without their top dog,
the Titans offense appeared
to be fi ring on all cylinders
through much of this con-
test.
After McNary shooting
guard Riley Flores knocked
down a triple in the corner,
the Titans went on a 10-4
run and were able to get easy
buckets both in their half-
court offense and in transi-
tion.
McNary head coach Ryan
Kirch was visibly displeased
with his team’s defensive ef-
fort for the majority of the
game.
“That was probably the
worst team defensive perfor-
mance I can think of in the
last six or seven years,” Kirch
said. “Right now, defensively,
we’re just horrendous in ev-
ery aspect. From our close-
outs, to our communication,
to keeping people in front of
us. We just have to get better
there and commit to that.”
“When the game start-
ed, we weren’t focused. We
weren’t engaged. It’s a very
Please see CELTS, Page A10
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Jando Gonzalez puts up a shot in traffi c in McNary’s 68-66 loss to West Salem on Tuesday, Feb.
11. Gonzalez was in double-fi gures with 11 points.
KEIZERTIMES/Lyndon A. Zaitz
North Johnson, the new president of the Northwest League, speaks at the Salem-Keizer
Volcanoes Winter banquet on Friday, Jan. 31.
Johnson introduced
as new NWL President
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
North Johnson has been
involved with Minor League
Baseball (MiLB) for more
than 42 years and has been a
general
manager
for multiple orga-
nizations over the
course of his career.
But this year,
Johnson will be
tasking on a new
challenge.
Back in December, John-
son,who is from Georgia,
was named the new presi-
dent of the Northwest League
(NWL), taking over for Mike
Ellis, who has been the league
president since 2013.
Last year, Johnson was the
chief operating offi cer for the
Florida Fire Frogs and from
2010-18, he served as the gen-
eral manager for the Gwinnett
Stripers.
In his more than 30 years
as a general manager, Johnson
has been named the MiLB
Executive of the Year three
times (1988, 1995, 2000).
Even though he has nev-
er been a league president,
he is excited for
the challenge that
awaits him.
“It’s better than
I imagined. My ex-
citement level and
my energy level is
up 100 percent. I
feel like I’ve drawn the win-
ning lottery ticket,” Johnson
said.
One of the main challeng-
es Johnson will face in his
fi rst year as league president
is attempting to protect the
respective futures of the Sa-
lem-Keizer Volcanoes and the
Tri-City Dust Devils of the
NWL.
As a part of their plan to
overhaul the current minor
league system, Major League
Baseball (MLB) has created a
proposal to cut ties with ap-
proximately 25 percent of
their lower level minor league
teams, including the Volcanoes
and the Dust Devils.
“It’s very frustrating for ev-
eryone involved with Minor
League Baseball. It wasn’t han-
dled how it should have been
handled,” Johnson said.
Through this proposal, the
goal of the MLB is to reor-
ganize the current system to
make the minor leagues more
effi cient and improve on con-
ditions and facilities.
If there were any improve-
ments that needed to be made
at certain minor league parks,
Johnson claims that minor
league organizations weren’t
notifi ed prior to the MLB re-
leasing their proposal in No-
vember.
“We were given this list of
Please see PRES., Page A11