JANUARY 28, 2022, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A19
Defense prevails in McNary's victory over Bend
M C N AR Y
HOOPS
McNary's Brookelynn Jackson positions herself to grab a rebound.
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
It was sloppy at times, but the McNary
girls' basketball team was able to pull off
the upset.
The Celtics defense held Bend to a
season low in points en route to their first
Mountain Valley Conference (MVC) win,
upsetting the Lava Bears 37-26.
“We are starting to hit our stride. We
are playing together really well and it
was really nice to get the win,” McNary
head coach Elizabeth Doran said.
Ava Rubio led McNary with a game-
high of 12 points while Avery Buss added
11 points.
“It feels really good to get that first
league win,” Buss said.
McNary hasn't been accustomed to
getting off to fast starts this season, but
that was not the case against Bend.
The Lava Bears scored the first basket
of the game, but Rubio came back down
the court on the following possession to
tie the game up with a nifty floater.
Buss gave the Celtics their first lead
with a 3-pointer from the corner, which
was soon followed by a triple from Rubio.
After a steal and easy layup gave the
Celtics a 10-2 advantage with less than
three minutes remaining in the open-
ing quarter, Bend head coach Allison
Gardner called timeout in hopes of stop-
ping McNary's momentum.
“That was a new experience for us this
year. That was one of the first times we
have had a semi-substantial lead early
on,” Doran said.
Bend trimmed the deficit to 12-9
at the end of the first quarter. Despite
going stagnant on the offensive end after
their 10-0 run, the Celtics got back into
a rhythm midway through the second
quarter.
A layup from Buss ended McNary's
five minute drought without a field goal.
Moments later, Rubio converted an easy
basket after coming away with a steal to
push the Celtics lead to 17-9.
With less than a minute left in the
half, Buss nailed her second trey of the
evening to extend the Celtics advantage
to 23-13.
While the McNary offense struggled
to start the third period, their defense
continued to apply the pressure on Bend.
SPORTS
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
McNary's full court trap wreaked
havoc on the Lava Bears for the major-
ity of the game, and their 2-3 zone pre-
vented Bend from getting good looks in
the paint.
“We just wanted to get into our zone
as much as we could. That was what was
stopping their offense,” Buss said.
“We work on getting in passing lanes
a lot at practice, and we were able to do
that tonight,” Rubio added.
Bend turned the ball over 17 times on
the night and shot less than 26% from the
field.
“We extended our defense out in our
press, which allowed us to create steals
and turnovers. We got into passing lanes
really well,” Doran said.
After both teams traded baskets
late in the third quarter, a 3-pointer by
Brookelynn Jackson put the Celtics
up 30-17 at the end of the period. Bend
was never able to get the game back to
single-digits.
“I think this game will build our confi-
dence moving forward,” Doran said.
Avery Buss blows past a defender to score two of her 11 points for the Celtics.
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes