NOVEMBER 26, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A23
Celts looking for new players to step up
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Coming off of one of their most suc-
cessful seasons in recent memory, the
McNary girls' basketball program heads
into the 2021-22 campaign with a lot of
hope, despite having a fair amount of
roster turnover.
“I am feeling great about this group
of kids. It’s fun to have a fresh group
that hasn’t played a lot together. They
are meshing together really well. I look
forward to seeing how we compete,”
McNary head coach Elizabeth Doran
said.
The Celtics went 12-3 last year during
the COVID-shortened spring season, but
lost five seniors to graduation, including
star point guard Leah Doutt, who aver-
aged 18.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists,
and 3.1 steals per game and was named
the Salem Sports and Breakfast Club's
Athlete of the Year for girls basketball.
While Doutt was the primary ball-han-
dler last year, Doran believes that she
has multiple players that will be able to
fill that role this season.
“We can be more of a committee
handing the ball. I don’t think it's just
going to fall on one person because we
have multiple people with pretty good
handles,” Doran said.
Two returners that are expected to
get the bulk of the playing time in the
McNary backcourt are junior KJ Custer
and sophomore Avery Buss. Custer is the
Celtics lone all-league returner from last
season (honorable mention) and Buss
received significant playing time in the
spring as a freshman.
“Both of them are really hard work-
ers in practice. They didn’t have a lot
of experience coming into last year, but
when they got a chance in the game, they
really showed me that they deserved to
be out there,” Doran said.
Sophomore Ava Rubio and junior
Aubri Cabral, a transfer from Wilsonville,
are also expected to get minutes in the
Celtics backcourt.
The most experienced player on the
McNary roster is Kylie Nepstad, a three-
year varsity player who will likely be the
M C N AR Y
HOOPS
After earning honorable mention all-league recognition in the spring, KJ Custer is expected to be one of the top returners for the McNary
girls' basketball team.
FILE PHOTO, Keizertimes
Celtics top three-point shooter. Along
with being a consistent scorer, Doran
says the senior shooting guard has
stepped up in the leadership department.
“She has really shown some vocal
leadership in these first couple weeks
of practice. She has always been a great
shooter, but she has kind of realized that
this is her team because she has played
the most significant minutes for us,”
Doran said.
In the front court, juniors Lillian Besa
and Hailey Schwinhof look to fill the
shoes of Bekah Grimmer — the Celtics
second-leading scorer last season — and
will be McNary's top two defenders in
the post.
“They can both hold their own on the
inside. We are small but we have kids
that are tough and can defend and box
out,” Doran said.
Although they lack size, the McNary
program is known for playing tenacious
defense and giving their opponent
multiple different looks on that end of
the floor — the Celtics held their oppo-
nents to under 40 points in 11 of their 15
games last season. Doran is hoping that
McNary's athleticism on the perimeter
will help them play aggressive on-ball
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defense to create turnovers.
“Part of playing McNary basketball is
coming out and taking pride in how we
play on the defensive end,” Doran said.
“We have the personnel to run more and
play more full-court defense. We want
our offense to feed off our defense.”
Although they lack the depth and
firepower from last season, the Celtics
are looking to be in the top half of the
Mountain Valley Conference standings
at the end of the regular season, with the
goal of qualifying for the playoffs come
February.
“We can compete with the top half of
the league. I definitely think we are capa-
ble of it,” Doran said.
McNary hosts Central Catholic in
their season opener on Thursday, Dec. 2
at 7 p.m.
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