B
S PORTS
Section B
Coaching
Spotlight: Nick
Finley
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Let the games begin; winter sports underway
An interview with
Cottage Grove's new
boys basketball coach
By Zach Silva
Cottage Grove Sentinel:
What is the key to developing a
program?
Nick Finley: I think culture
is important. I think culture of
your program is very important.
And I think it leads to success
in many ways whether it is on
or off the court. Kids that are
good, solid kids. Kids that you
can take them to the mall on an
away trip and you’re not wor-
ried about them stealing stuff or
running around cussing. Good
kids. Culture is huge. When I
was up in Ninilchik, I built a
basketball culture there that was
fun to be a part of and that’s
what I’m hoping to do here.
CGS: What makes a good
player to you?
NF: When you are evaluat-
ing kids, everybody looks at dif-
ferent things. One coach may be
looking at some, they might be
really impressed with someone
who can score a lot. Where the
other coach might look at some-
thing like rebounds or how he
hustles or if he takes charges, if
he hits the fl oor, things like that.
So every coach is different.
The fi rst thing is, it’s just like
when you meet someone, their
attitude. You know, when you
meet somebody and they look
you in the face and you have
good, I don’t know, connection
with them. It’s the same thing in
basketball, as in any sport, you
know, the way a kid carries him-
self is huge for me.
I mean they need to be confi -
dent not cocky. You don’t want
that at all. A kid that is going
to push himself, but, I’m doing
some of our practice schedules
right now, some of the things we
start off with is the classic sui-
cide, you know free throw line
back, half court back, you know
everybody runs those. I want
to see how hard kids will push
themselves. Because I know a
lot of these kids are athletes and
they can probably just jog and
make the time but I want to see
how hard they can push them-
selves. And so I look at that and
then being coachable.
So when I tell a kid some-
thing and say maybe we’re just
scrimmaging or something and
I say hey, you know look for
this option and he goes out and
looks for that option, okay, this
kid gets it. He sees or he under-
stands what he needs to do and
that’s, a kid understanding their
roles is important.
CGS: What’s the difference
between high school basketball
in Alaska and Oregon?
NF: The thing about Alas-
kan basketball, there’s nothing
else to do up there. It’s cold
in the winter and people want
to be inside so basketball is
huge. The gym, I don’t think
there were any gyms that we
went and played at that weren’t
packed. It didn’t matter if there
were 400 people in the village
or you know, you’re playing in
Anchorage, the gym is going to
be packed.
And it’s fun. It was a fun at-
mosphere. You can look at the
level, we played at the lowest
level up there, it didn’t matter.
It was competitive no matter
what. And it was exciting and
people from all over came out to
watch it because, I don’t know,
I don’t know why but because
basketball is the thing to do in
Alaska. And I think like I said
those two ingredients: it’s cold
and people want to be inside,
that’s huge. But yeah, we will
see. After the season we can re-
visit that question. How I feel,
what the difference is. I haven’t
been back here in awhile.
To learn more about Finley and
the team, check out this week's
winter sports preview insert
PHOTOS BY CG SENTINEL/ZACH SILVA
From left: Elkton's Aspyn Luzier, North Douglas' Koldan Frieze, Elkton's Brad Doudna and North Douglas' Abby Whipple all playing in games during the fi rst week of the season. To read more
about these teams and all the teams in the area look for the winter sports preview insert in today's paper.
Second-half lull
dooms Lowell
North Douglas girls basketball team
outscores Lowell 22-2 in second half
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
With 37 seconds left in the fourth quarter, two made
free throws from Lowell marked their fi rst points of
the entire half. What had been a four-point game in the
fi nal minute of the second quarter had ballooned into
a 42-17 North Douglas runaway victory on the road.
“We were, in the old John Wooden-ism we were in
a hurry rather than just being quick. And the kids, give
them credit, they really ratcheted up on defense. They
believe that they can stop people defensively and ob-
viously they did,” said North Douglas head coach Jeff
Davis. “And this is a good Lowell team. And this is
a tough home team to play on so that’s a hard-earned
victory right there.”
In the fi rst quarter the Warriors were getting open
shots but were simply missing. From layups at the rim
to short jumpers, North Douglas was leaving more on
the table despite taking an 11-3 lead at the end of the
Elks out-
matched
by
Reedsport
Elkton boys basketball team
can't get offense going,
loses home opener
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
The shots weren’t falling, the defense
was at times shaky but Elkton’s head
coach Gary Trout was pleased with his
team’s effort on Thursday night at home
when the Elk’s lost their season opener
to Reedsport 58-36.
“You know, we’re about where I
thought we were execution wise. And
skill wise. I like the effort. Everything
that I saw is correctable and the attitude
Athletes of
the Week
fi rst quarter.
In the second quarter it was the Devils who capital-
ized on the Warriors missed chances. After a Devils
steal and a fast break bucket that brought the game
within six, the Warriors showed a fl ash of what’s to
come in the second half as Nicki Derrick got the in-
bound and sped past the Lowell defense that had tem-
porarily dropped their guard and got an easy layup for
North Douglas to give her team a fi ve point advantage
at halftime.
“From what we talked about on the bench, we might
be able to be up 15, right here. And so, through a little
bit of calm I think those shots started to go. But really
it happened on the defensive end. I thought we frustrat-
ed them,” said Davis.
With a steady diet of defensive pressure and fast
break points, the Warriors became unstoppable. After
a defensive stop the Warriors feed the ball to Abby
Whipple who, with pinpoint precision, fi nds a team-
mate sprinting down court for an easy score.
“I think what Abby does is she knows who she's
passing to and she knows where she’s passing. She’s
not just throwing to the fi rst cardinal color,” said Da-
vis. Primarily through their transition offense Derrick,
Payton Black and Rilie-Jo Olds each fi nished the game
with 10 points.
After holding Lowell scoreless in the third quarter,
the Warriors were able to play their entire team in the
fourth quarter. North Douglas outscored Lowell 22-2
in the second half of play.
that the kids have is something that is
defi nitely coachable and we can build on
it. And I’m really pleased with that part
of it,” said Trout.
It was a slow start for both teams as
the Braves slogged their way to a 10-6
advantage at the end of the fi rst quarter.
Reedsport was trying to push the tempo
but the Elks were able to get back and
force them into bad shots that kept the
game close.
The Elks were able to hang around at
the start of the second quarter, and even
cut the lead to three, but Reedsport’s of-
fense began clicking and they extended
their lead to 11 before the half. The third
quarter was a continued outpouring of
buckets and by the start of the fourth
quarter, the Elks found themselves
down 21.
After three quarters of seeing their
offense stall, the Elks came alive in the
game’s fi nal stanza as Brad Doudna,
who fi nished second-team all-league
last year and averaged a double-double
in points and rebounds, inserted himself
into the offense and scored 10 of his 17
points in the quarter. Spencer Moore
North Douglas' Nicki Derrick drives past the Devils defense.
After defeating Siletz Valley 55-24 last Wednesday
and defeating Perrydale 41-39 on Saturday, the War-
riors improved to 3-0 on the season.
was the second leading scorer for the
Elks with seven points.
A 9-0 run brought the Elks within 14
points, but it was too little too late. The
Braves answered with a 13-5 run of their
own to seal the victory.
“I saw improvement in how we exe-
cuted the offense throughout the game.
This week’s athletes of
the week are the 102
runners and walkers
who participated in
the Jingle Rush 5K
this weekend. Cottage
Grove sophomore Jimmy
Talley was fi rst on the
men's side and Miriam
Udosenata was fi rst on
the women's side.
And that’s a big thing because we
weren’t even approaching it to start off,”
said Trout. “You saw us starting to get
some good looks and we were tentative
in how we were fi nishing them but you
started seeing us get some good looks
out of it and that’s just going to be a pro-
cess.”
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
zsilva@cgsentinel.com