PAGE A22, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 04, 2022
Celts fall short against West Salem
M C N AR Y
HOOPS
McNary guard Ava Rubio reads the defense in the Celtics game against West Salem on Wednesday, Jan. 26.
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary girls' basketball team
was able to keep pace with West Salem in
the early going, but in the end, the Titans
offense was too much for the Celtics to
handle.
Elizabeth Bennett had 19 points for
West Salem and Mady Diaz added 14
points on 4-for-5 shooting from beyond the
arc, allowing the Titans to defeat McNary
55-45 on Wednesday, Jan. 26.
“(Diaz) had a phenomenal game and
then Bennett killed us on the inside. She
was hard to guard. But I was proud of the
girls for sticking with it. We didn't give
up,” McNary head coach Elizabeth Doran
said.
Both teams went back-and-forth trad-
ing buckets in the early stages. KJ Custer
got loose for a pair of transition layups
in the first 90 seconds of the contest, and
Lillian Besa soon followed with a runner to
put the Celtics on top 6-5.
A scoop shot from Kylie Nepstad, who
led McNary with 19 points, and a put-back
bucket by Ava Rubio kept the McNary
offense rolling, but West Salem was able
to go on top 16-14 at the end of the first
quarter.
The Titans took advantage of mul-
tiple turnovers and cold shooting from
McNary to extend their lead to nine mid-
way through the second period. But back-
to-back 3-pointers from Nepstad kept the
Celtics in the game.
“She is having a tremendous senior
year. She is shooting the ball lights out for
us and playing great defense. She is just
playing all-around good basketball and
has really stepped up as a leader on this
team,” Doran said.
Despite the hot shooting from Nepstad,
West Salem continued to build on their
lead, going up by double-digits at the half.
But the senior sharpshooter started off the
second half with two straight triples to cut
the lead to six.
Nepstad finished the game shooting
4-for-6 from beyond the arc and is shoot-
ing over 42% from 3-point range so far this
season.
“I just appreciate my teammates driv-
ing and then kicking the ball out to me,”
Nepstad said.
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
But West Salem, who shot over 50%
from the field in this one, would not be
denied, building their lead to 15 early in
the final quarter.
“It was a lot of little things defensively.
We didn't do a very good job of picking up
their shooters, but it's hard when you have
four shooters on the perimeter that we
needed to get matched up on,” Doran said.
“We could have played better defense
and not let them get so many easy baskets,
but we played a little better at the end,”
Nepstad added.
Despite the large deficit, McNary
mounted a mini-comeback late in the
fourth quarter.
After consecutive hoops from Rubio
and Hailey Schwinof, Nepstad completed
a three-point play to trim the lead to
single-digits.
Moments later, Rubio came away with
a steal and found Custer for an easy layup
on the outlet pass to make the score 52-45
with 1:11 remaining.
West Salem made free throws down the
stretch and eventually ran out the clock,
but Doran was pleased with the effort from
her squad.
“I was proud of the fight that we
showed,” Doran said.
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