Keizertimes., June 11, 2021, Page 22, Image 22

PAGE A22, KEIZERTIMES, JUNE 11, 2021
Grimmer leads McNary to victory over McKay
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
With leading scorer Leah Doutt having
an off night, Bekah Grimmer was there to
pick up the slack for the McNary girls bas-
ketball team.
The senior led the way for the Celtics
with a game-high of 19 points as McNary
defeated McKay by a score of 51-36 on
Wednesday, June 2.
“Bekah did a really good job of posting
up down low and was also hitting some
outside shots for us as well. (McKay) really
didn't have an answer for her,” McNary
head coach Elizabeth Doran said.
Despite surrendering 28 points to
McKay star Skye Miller, McNary held
their opponent under the 40-point thresh-
old for the fourth time this season.
“(Miller) is a great player. She is good
in literally every position. We have to
focus our defense on her because she can
make it from a lot of diff erent places,”
Grimmer said.
Despite not having a win on the sea-
son, McKay proved to be a pesky oppo-
nent in the early going. After Doutt scored
the fi rst hoop of the game, the Royal Scots
went on a 7-2 run to grab the lead.
McKay held the advantage for the
majority of the opening period, but a
three-point play by Grimmer late in the
quarter tied the game at 9-9.
At the start of the second period, the
Celtics began to pull away after turning
up the defensive intensity.
“We have to play at the same level of
defensive intensity, no matter who our
opponent is,” Doran said. “We have to
control what we can control, and we can
always control our eff ort and intensity.”
“Once we got in the huddle we started
talking about how much intensity we
needed to have,” Grimmer added.
The defensive eff ort led to more
off ensive opportunities for McNary, as
Grimmer scored six of the Celtics next
eight points to give her team the 17-11
advantage.
“We just realized that they didn't have
a strong post defender, so I just went hard
on the inside and Leah was always able
McNary post Bekah Grimmer drives to the hoop in transition. Grimmer led the Celtics with 19 points in their 51-36 win over McKay.
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
to get me the ball on the inside. She is an
amazing passer who can see everything
on the court,” Grimmer said.
McKay cut the defi cit to three at 19-16,
but McNary rallied to end the half on a
6-0 run, capped off by a short jumper by
Anne-Leigh Besa at the horn to put the
Celtics on top 25-16 at the break.
Grimmer continued her dominance in
the second half, hitting her fi rst two shots
of the third quarter to put the Celtics on
top by double-digits. Back-to-back layups
by Kylie Nepstad and KJ Custer increased
the advantage to 33-18 and forced McKay
coach Jim White to burn a timeout.
But the Royal Scots still couldn't slow
down Grimmer, who scored twice in the
post on consecutive trips, then knocked
down a jumper from the outside to give
McNary their largest lead of the game at
39-18.
“I knew that I needed to step up,”
Grimmer said.
McNary hosts Crescent Valley at 6:30
p.m. on Friday, June 11.
“We just need to keep our focus on the
defense end and have our off ense con-
tinue to feed off of that,” Doran said.
Annie-Leigh Besa beats a McKay defender to the baseline.
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
Worship DIRECTORY
These Salem-Keizer houses of worship invite you to visit. Call to list your church in our Worship Directory: 503-390-1051
www.KeizerChristian.org
YOUR CHURCH'S
LISTING HERE.
Call Bill at 503.390.1051