B
S PORTS
Section B
Elkton holds
off North
Douglas
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Lions remain perfect in league play
Elks prevail in top
team showdown
By Zach Silva
Hannah Maxwell was tired
of losing to North Douglas.
“I’ve been playing North
Douglas my entire life –
since fi fth grade – and we’ve
only beat them once and that
was my freshman year. And
we haven’t beat them since
then so we really wanted to
beat them and we thought
this was the year. And it
was,” she said.
Maxwell, who fi nished
with a game-high 18 points,
led Elkton (15-3, 6-1) past
fi fth ranked North Douglas
(15-4, 5-2) 33-30 at home on
Friday night in a battle be-
tween two teams at the top of
the standings in the 1A Sky-
line league.
As
her
teammates
rushed the fl oor and cele-
brated, Maxwell began to
tear up as Elkton, the con-
stant little-brother to their
cross-county rival sized up
and won a physical game.
“I got bit. I have teeth
marks on my arm,” said
Maxwell.
It was not always a pretty
game. The young teams each
start three sophomores and
combined for 57 turnovers
(Elkton 30 and North Doug-
las 27) in a contest that had
one lead change and was al-
ways within fi ve points.
“That was like, two young
teams, a lot of defense and
not a lot of offense. And a
lot of turnovers,” said Elkton
head coach Rob Parker.
As an Allison Swearengin
three started the game for the
Elks, the offense started to
work but North Douglas was
never far away. In the sec-
ond quarter that saw only six
points scored (Elkton four,
North Douglas two) it was
clear that it was going to be
a game that was carried by
defense.
“We didn’t get a lot of
points off of turnovers. So
we just, we’ve been working
all week on being patient in
our half-court offense. We
knew that if the score was
low that we had a real good
shot at them,” said Parker.
“We wanted to get the ball
inside to Hannah because
we felt like they couldn’t –
if they were playing man to
man she’s going to be tough
to cover.”
Throughout the season,
both teams have rolled
through non-conference op-
ponents and conference op-
ponents alike as they have
been able to turn turnovers
into instant offense. Last
week the Warriors had 49
points off of turnovers in one
game.
But in the second half the
Elks dropped out of their
press and into a 2-3 zone that
forced the Warriors to beat
them off the dribble. North
Douglas did themselves no
favors as they missed their
fi rst 14 free throws of the
game stretching into the third
quarter.
“We had not shot them
well early this season but
we had gotten better. Last
two games we were 70 and
63 (percent). But it’s not
the same crowd energy, not
the same crowd noise, not
the same importance in the
game,” said North Douglas
head coach Jeff Davis.
In the fi nal minutes of the
third quarter the offense be-
gan to come alive for both
teams. Payton Black and
Abby Whipple hit back-to-
ELKS continued on B3
PHOTO BY MIRANDA MCCASLINE
Cottage Grove's Ema Gardner surveys the Sutherlin defense on Friday night at home.
Lions get a pair of wins against the
No. 5 ranked team and the four-time
defending state champs
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
It was a birthday wish come true for Cottage Grove
point guard Tara Child.
“This is the best way [to celebrate],” said Child. “I
was like team, we got to get a win; it’s my birthday.”
The Lions (7-7, 3-0) did just that as they defeated
fi fth ranked Junction City (12-4, 2-1) 43-33 at home on
Tuesday night to stay unbeaten in league play.
With the exception of Cottage Grove’s loss to Glad-
stone, all of the team’s losses to teams from Oregon
have come from squads that are currently ranked in the
top 11 at the 4A level. Determined not fall to the same
fate, the Lions came out victorious.
“I feel great and I know the girls do, too. Finally got
over the hump tonight. That’s the best defense we’ve
played all year and we were consistent from the tipoff
until the end I thought,” said head coach Kevin Yoss.
Coming into the game, the Tigers were averaging
a conference-high 52.5 points per game. But through
forced turnovers and the Lions leaning on their height
to win the rebound battle, Cottage Grove created issues
all game that Junction City was unable to overcome.
For the Lions, the team was able to take advantage
on the block throughout the entire game. Cottage Grove
boasts four players over 6'1" and the undersized Tigers
were no match. Leaning on 6'3" Reilly Kelty and 6'2"
Murphy, from the start, the Cottage Grove posts were
unstoppable and helped build a 22-13 lead at the half.
Kelty fi nished with 13 and Murphy 12 points.
“One thing we’ve had trouble with is our posts have
been falling away on short shots and we didn’t do that
in practice the last couple of days and tonight we fol-
PHOTO BY MIRANDA MCCASLINE
Matty Ladd hits a free throw against the Bulldogs.
lowed through with that again and shot better and got to
the line some,” said Yoss.
In the third quarter, the Lions took off.
Outscoring the Tigers 13-7 on the quarter, it was
Child again and again pressuring the Junction City
guards and coming away with fast break points getting
the Lion lead up to as many as 16 points. Child fi nished
the game with 11 points.
“I thought that Junction City was going to be one of
our hardest competitors and looks like we did okay for
that,” said Child.
In the fourth quarter, the Tigers began avoiding the
Lions inside and started shooting more jumpers. Hai-
ley Bruhn off the bench found success as she was able
to pull-up time and time again but it was too little, too
late and the Lions walked away with a victory. Bruhn
fi nished with a team-high 10 points.
What was more important for the Lions is not that
they won but that they won in a fashion that can be rep-
licated for the rest of the year.
“I don’t think anything changed. I thought we did a
really good job of knowing when we had a good match-
up tonight and trying to get it to them and I thought we
did a fantastic job of that tonight,” said Yoss.
The Lions continued their success on Friday at home
as they beat the once immovable Sutherlin Bulldogs 53-
22. The Bulldogs (7-10) have won the last four state
championships but have now lost two of their last three
games against the Lions.
On Friday the Lions were led by Kelty who fi nished
with 18 points, eight rebounds and six steals. Ten differ-
ent Lions scored during the game.
Cottage Grove bounces back after loss
Lions answer loss with a week full
of wins
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
PHOTO BY IRENE NICHOLS-FERGUSON
Jesse Ellingworth cuts through the lane for an easy score against the
Tigers.
After beating Junction City as a player while at
Creswell, Tuesday was Nick Finley’s fi rst crack at
the Tigers as a head coach.
“That’s a good win for us. I grew up in Junction
City so I knew (Junction City head coach Craig)
Rothenberger pretty well. And that’s who we beat
in ’04 in the state championship so it was good, that
was a good win for us. It was exciting,” said Finley
who is in his fi rst year coaching the Lions.
After dropping the fi rst game of league play last
Friday to Sisters, the Lions righted the ship this
week with a pair of wins against Junction City and
Sutherlin.
On Tuesday at home, it was Lions and Tigers.
In a game that neither team was able to pull-away
with, the Lions were led by a steady stream of buck-
ets from Trenton Grover and Jesse Ellingworth.
In the fi rst quarter, the 5'10" Ellingworth was able
to get in the lane and work his way to the rim for
a pair of perfectly executed step-through lay ups.
Grover ended the quarter for the Lions by hitting a
Athlete of
the Week
pair of threes. Grover fi nished the game with a team
high 21 points for the Lions and went six-of-twelve
from three-point range.
But not to be outdone, the Tigers hit three
three-pointers on the quarter.
“We changed things up and came out and zoned
them and they just shot the lights out. So we went to
man to man and our defense looked pretty good; at
times,” said Finley.
With the defensive pressure intensifi ed in the sec-
ond quarter, Cottage Grove was able to spark a 10-0
run to take a momentary seven-point lead.
“[We] did a really good job of hounding the ball
and that’s what we have to do. I mean, what we want
to do is get out and pressure them,” said Finley. “It
would be like a quarterback in football sitting back
there with all the time in the world, they can fi nd
guys open. But if you’ve got pressure, they can’t.”
Despite neither team scoring in the fi nal 3:20 of
the second quarter, the Tigers had rallied back and
trailed just one heading into the half. Spurred on by
a pair of Colton Ditlefsen threes in the third quarter,
the Tigers had a four-point advantage heading into
the fi nal quarter of play.
And then the Lions turned it on. In the fi nal period
of play, Cottage Grove outscored the visiting team
21-10.
What helped turn the tide was a pair of steals from
LIONS continued on B3
This week's athlete of
the week is Elkton's
Austin Luzier who
scored 21 points
for the Elks in a
win against North
Douglas on Friday.
PHOTOS BY BECKY GERRARD
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
zsilva@cgsentinel.com