COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL February 18 , 2015
3B
Junction City denies Cottage Grove's bid for fi rst league win
Tigers ride hot-shooting third quarter to a 52-41 win
over the Lions
BY MATT HOLLANDER
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
Lion coach Donn Pollard when asked if
this defeat was any more disheartening
than the others.
Cottage Grove (4-17, 0-7 Sky-Em)
hen Cottage Grove held an 8-
7 lead after the fi rst quarter of trailed 22-15 at halftime. And while
Tuesday night’s Sky-Em League game they were by no means lighting up the
against Junction City, it looked like the scoreboard, the Lions found success
teams were about to stage a rerun of attacking the middle of the Tiger’s de-
last month’s meeting that came down fense. Chance Hopkins scored eight of
his 10 points in the fi rst half and drew
to the fi nal play.
As it turned out, Junction City was four shooting fouls.
Junction City (13-8, 5-2 Sky-Em)
just late to show up for the rematch.
The Tigers started 1-for-15 from the shifted to a 2-3 zone after halftime, but
fi eld but then hit 16 of their next 21 while the adjustment limited Hopkins’
shots to pull away for a 52-41 victory opportunities, it created driving lanes
over Cottage Grove — which lost its for Cottage Grove’s guards. Hunter
Gipson took advantage of those open-
10th game in a row.
“They’re all tough at this point,” said ings for six third-quarter points.
At the opposite end of the court,
however, Cottage Grove had no
answer for Junction City. Hayden
Tuesday, Feb. 10
Martinez and Josh Hutchinson
combined for 19 third-quarter
Junction City 52, Cottage Grove 41
points, as the Tigers extended
their lead to 43-29.
Cottage Grove 8
7 14 12 — 41
“We started taking the ball to
Junction City 7 15
21 9 — 52
the hoop instead of settling for
outside shots,” Martinez said his
Cottage Grove: Parent 11, Hopkins 10,
team’s offensive explosion.
Tucker 7, Gipson 6, Hagewood 4, Mur-
Pollard noted that Cottage
phy 2, Sentman 1
Grove only had eight turnovers
Junction City: Martinez 21, Hutchinson
in the game but gave up too many
11, Osburn 10, Prescott 4, Brown 2,
second-chance opportunities.
Gibson 2, Potter 2
W
“We really went to the old boards in
the second half. During the fi rst half we
were just standing there,” said Junction
City coach Craig Rothenberger, whose
team corralled 11 offensive rebounds.
The Lions began the fourth quarter
on a 9-2 run that included back-to-back
hoops by Jordan Hagewood. But it was
too little, too late for Cottage Grove.
The Tigers countered with lengthy
possessions that milked the clock and
wrapped up their fi fth league victory.
Meanwhile, Cottage Grove was left
still searching for its fi rst Sky-Em win.
Gipson said the Lions are trying to take
each game as they come but that the
losing streak has become a burden.
Entering the contest, the Lions’
strength of schedule was rated as the
fourth-toughest in the state. They had
lost to fi ve teams currently ranked top-
10 teams, including No. 1 North Bend.
Pollard said Junction City’s home-
court advantage contributed to the wid-
er margin of victory than in their 49-48
loss on Jan. 20, but he also expressed
his frustration with the offi ciating.
“I thought in the fi rst half we were
getting hit and it was not being called.
But that’s how it was called, and we
needed to adjust and play from there,”
he said.
Martinez led all scorers with 21
points. Kory Parent led the Lions with
11.
photo by Matt Hollander
Cottage Grove's Hunter Gipson scored six points during the third
quarter by driving into the middle of Junction City defense.
G IRLS B ASKETBALL
Continued for 1B
photo by Matt Hollander
Cottage Grove's Melissa Thielman scored 11 points in the win.
She was, however, surprised that they
continued to give her wide-open looks
after making two 3-pointers.
The Lions extended their lead to 21-
13 by halftime as Conner Borigo scored
nine of her game-high 25 points in the
second quarter.
The pace of the game noticeably
slowed down in the third quarter. How-
ever, while both teams patiently cycled
through their offenses for good shots,
Cottage Grove made more than Junction
City. Taylor Sayles scored fi ve points for
the Lions as they built a 12–point cush-
ion heading into the fi nal frame.
Tiger coach Liz Bolton said Cottage
Grove did a good job of dictating the
tempo after halftime. She said her team
prefers to get out in transition but that
was hard to do when the Lions were
making baskets.
At times this season, Cottage Grove
has struggled to close out games. But
Despite the loss to Sisters, the Lions
that was not a problem against Junction still have a fi rm grasp on the league’s
City. The Lions started the fourth quarter number-two seed. And with the rebound
on a 13-7 run en route to building a 20- victory over Junction City, Cottage Grove
point lead.
has not lost consecutive games since be-
Ashlee Neely, who was with Josie fore Christmas.
Mootz in Sunday’s car accident, scored
“I’d say tonight was one of our best
four points in the fi nal frame and Bori- games,” Thielman said.
go blocked three shots down the
stretch.
“Coming off last week’s one
Tuesday, Feb. 10
point loss, we really wanted a win
tonight,” Thielman said. “We beat
Cottage Grove 47, Junction City 32
Junction the last time we played
them, and that gave us confi dence
Cottage Grove 12 9 11 15 — 47
that we could do it again.”
Junction City
5
8
7
12 — 32
Clawson said that patience contin-
ues to be key for the Lions’ success
Cottage Grove: Borigo 25, Thielman 11,
on offense. She noted that Borigo
Sayles 5, Neely 4, Arnold 2
did a good job of passing out of dou-
Junction City: Thompson 9, Straube 7,
ble teams, and the two-man game at
Graton 4, Hansen 4, Mehlbrech 3, A. De-
the guard spot was once again effec-
vorak 2, Hanson 2, E. Devorak 1
tive — especially when Borigo got
involved as a screener.