B
S PORTS
Section B
New Year
brings in
league-play
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Warriors overcome slow start, poor shooting
By Zach Silva
After a December packed
with non-league basketball
games, the calendar turns to
2018 and brings with it the start
of league-play. The teams at the
1A level will begin their league
journeys on Friday.
“It doesn’t matter if we lose
every preseason game as long
as we win when league starts,
that’s what matters,” said fi rst
year North Douglas boys’ bas-
ketball coach Tyler Vancil ear-
lier this season. “That’s what
we’re trying to get better for to
be at the top of our game when
league starts because those are
the games that matter.”
In the Skyline League, Van-
cil’s Warriors (7-4) will be try-
ing to get back to the playoffs
this season after fi nishing fourth
in state last season. The team to
beat in league this season is Pa-
cifi c who are currently ranked
second in the state.
On the girls side, North
Douglas (10-1), Elkton (8-2)
and Days Creek (7-2) will be
three teams looking to take the
league title. All three teams are
currently ranked in the top 12 of
the 1A rankings.
Elks earn
hard-fought
victory
Elkton's boys'
basketball team fi nds
a way to get third
win in a row
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
It wasn’t always pretty, but
for the Elkton boys basketball
team, their sloppy play was
good enough for a 49-38 victory
over winless Crow on Thurs-
day at the McKenzie 1A Hoops
Classic. After dropping their
fi rst six games of the season,
the Elks have now won three in
a row.
“We kind of slugged our way
through it but that’s what we’re
going to have to do,” said Elk-
ton head coach Gary Trout.
Facing a Crow team that had
six players suited up, the Elks
struggled early to fi nd the bot-
tom of the net. As the team went
down early, Trout yelled to his
team to focus on their defense
because that, he explained, is
how they were going to get back
into the game.
Elkton then closed the fi rst
half on a hard-earned 9-0 run
that stemmed from turnovers
and shots at the rim.
“That’s our defense and that’s
how we’re going to have to
score. You saw us, early on we
missed a bunch of shots and you
know, that’s typical for when
you had a break like that,” said
Trout referencing the team’s
time off for Christmas. “We had
to get some easy looks in our
fast break looks and that’s why
we can puts spurts on.”
In the second half the Elks
leaned on leading scorer Brad
Doudna who fi nished the game
with 19 points. Austin Luzier
added 12 points for the team.
The lead ballooned to 10
points in the fourth quarter but
a Cougar 8-2 run in the closing
minutes of the fourth cut the
lead to four points. After a made
free throw and Luzier made a
three pointer, the Elks earned a
victory.
“I don’t know how many of-
fensive rebounds they had but
they had a bunch in the second
half. And you know, that’s just
fundamental execution that
we’re struggling with right
now,” said Trout.
North Douglas' (from left) Abby Whipple, Rilie-Jo Olds, Natalie Draeger and Payton Black watch teammate Nicki Derrick shoot a technical free throw.
North Douglas' girls' basketball
team defeats Lowell
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
It was a fi rst half to forget for the North Douglas
girls’ basketball team. Heading to the locker room tied
at 16 to a Lowell (5-6) team that they beat by 25 earlier
this year, the Warriors (10-1) regrouped and were able
to claim a 40-27 home victory Thursday night.
“Thank goodness we got to halftime so we could ac-
tually get some things on the board and talk us off the
ledge and calm us down and look at some things,” said
North Douglas head coach Jeff Davis.
After starting the game up 7-0 and looking as if it
was going to be yet another rout for the Warriors, it was
the Devils that responded. Behind a press break that
that continually confounded the Warriors, the Devils
put together a 9-2 run to tie the game. Tied at the break,
North Douglas was looking for answers.
“We made some adjustments… and we had a great
third quarter,” said Davis.
“And then, the honest truth is, our defense got better
and so they didn’t score and so we saw no press.”
In the third quarter, it was North Douglas imposing
their will. Playing with an intensity that was not there
in the fi rst half, the Warriors created steals and fast
break opportunities as they outscored Lowell 16-2.
It was a team effort for North Douglas as seven play-
ers scored throughout the game. The team was led by
Nicki Derrick with 11 points and Rilie-Jo Olds with
nine. Abby Whipple had eight steals and seven re-
bounds.
“I think… it says we know how to win. And losing,
and I don’t want to sound smug, but it’s kind of for-
eign to us,” said Davis about his team that has not lost
over fi ve games in a season since dropping to 1A in the
2013-14 season.
“We fi ght that tooth and nail and so there’s determi-
nation there. I thought we brought more energy. I think
a lot of times you have to respond when things aren’t
going your way, you tend to be a little slow, sluggish.
And I think we ratcheted up some energy.”
North Douglas' lead got up to as many as 16 in
the fourth quarter before Lowell cut their defi cit to
nine. Only three Lowell players scored led by Daisy
Schnee’s 10 points. Schnee also picked up a technical
foul and had 23 of the team’s 41 turnovers.
While the Warriors were able to grind out a win,
shooting continued to be an issue.
“Our shooting, my God,” said Davis.
North Douglas (15-of-45) had 25 more attempts
from the fi eld than the Devils (10-of-20) throughout
the game.
PHOTO BY BECKY GERRARD
PHOTO BY BECKY GERRARD
North Douglas' Sofi a Alcantar drives past a Lowell defender.
Elks go cold in game, stay hot on the season
Elkton's girls' basketball team hangs
on to defeat Crow
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Top: Elkton's Samantha McCall sets up the offense
for the Elks.
Bottom: Elkton's Hannah Maxwell limps on her hurt
ankle in the second half.
Athletes of
the Week
Surviving an injury and some post-holiday rust, the Elk-
ton girls’ basketball team survived a scoreless fourth quar-
ter and beat Crow 38-30 in the fi rst round of the McKenzie
1A Hoops Classic last Thursday morning.
“This is why we schedule this thing because the fi rst
[game] after break is always like this, I don’t know why,”
said Elkton head coach Rob Parker.
After a low scoring 8-6 fi rst quarter that put the Elks
(8-2) ahead of the Cougars (7-2), Elkton’s senior leader
Hannah Maxwell looked to take over early in the second
quarter. Maxwell got a lay-up to go but landed on a Crow
player’s foot, twisted her ankle and immediately fell to
the ground.
“It’ll heal, it’ll be fi ne,” Maxwell said after the game.
With their leading scorer out, the rest of the team was
able to pick up the pieces. The Elks depended on a bal-
anced attack from Alexis Halstead, Aspyn Luzier and Alli-
son Swearingen who respectively scored 12, 10 and eight
points.
Elkton’s offense continued to fl ourish and the team built
a 17-point lead late in the third quarter.
After shouting instructions to her team from the bench
and acting as their biggest fan, the injured Maxwell hob-
bled her way back into the game at the end of the third
quarter.
“I’m really anxious sitting on the bench and seeing, like
I want to help my team as much as I can. I was like, Parker
This week's athletes of
the week are the members
of Cottage Grove boys’
basketball team. The team
travelled to Alaska this week
where they were victorious on
the court and got to explore
all that Kodiak, Alaska has to
offer.
just put me in, I can give the girls a break, just a little bit
of a rest. I’ll do my best,” she said. “And honestly, the best
thing, at least I’ve found over the years, the best thing for
a sprained ankle is to get back on it.”
Struggling to get up and down the court, Maxwell was
taken back out of the game three minutes into the fourth
quarter.
“She wanted to come back out because she couldn’t
jump. It was hurting,” said Parker.
As Maxwell was hurting, fatigue was setting in with the
rest of the team. Parker noted that before the team took
fi ve days off for Christmas break, he ran them through
a conditioning drill. The team did the conditioning drill
again on their fi rst day back and were back at the same
level they were at, at the start of the year.
“In fi ve days we lost that much. I mean, we were strug-
gling,” said Parker.
As Crow struggled to shoot, the Cougars were getting
seemingly every offensive rebound and Elkton’s once
large lead was down to 10 in the fi nal minutes of the fourth
quarter. Elkton looked to run out the clock but Crow was
able to keep attacking and after Whitney Anderson added
in a lay-up, it was an eight point game with 36 seconds to
play.
Anderson led all scorers with 20 points.
In the fi nal 30 seconds, the Cougars claimed two more
offensive rebounds but could not get a shot to go and the
Elks, who did not score in the fourth quarter, walked away
with a win.
“Just standing around. Again, probably tired. I think not
having Hannah in there [hurt us]. The only one that was
really going after them was Alexis. So just a lot of stand-
ing,” said Parker.
PHOTO
C/O
NICK
FINLEY
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
zsilva@cgsentinel.com