Sports & recreation
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Section B
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Crosshill Warriors go undefeated at McKenzie
Christian
races past
Elkton
Elkton boys
basketball goes 1-2
over weekend at
McKenzie
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
It was over as soon as it
started.
Saturday at the McKen-
zie 1A Hoops Classic it was
Crosshill Christian hitting
six threes in the opening
quarter of play and racing
out to a 29-5 lead against
Elkton as they went on to
win 72-38.
“We can’t play at that
pace. We can’t practice at
that pace. And difficulty
handling the basketball and
controlling our emotions a
little bit as far as being able
to handle the intensity of the
situation. So that was that,”
said Elkton head coach Gary
Trout.
The Eagles (9-2) swarmed
the Elks (3-8) as their defen-
sive press led to open looks
from around the court.
“We’ve got some good
shooters from outside and
today we’re knocking it
down. We were really doing
a good job at inside outside,”
said Crosshill Christian
head coach Brian Spaulding.
“We talked about pregame
of looking inside, getting our
guards to space and kicking
it back out. I thought we did
that tremendously in the
first quarter.”
Four Crosshill Christian
players finished in double
figures with Carter Knox,
who hit five threes in the
game, and Tyler Hess each
with 17 on the day. Bryce
Tirrill and Kyler Vanderhoof
had 15 and 10 points respec-
tively.
With some of Crosshill
Christian’s starters on the
bench and their press called
off, the Elks began to exe-
cute their half-court offense
in the second quarter as they
were outscored 12-10.
“He pulled some kids but
I was pleased with how we
responded. We didn’t fold,
we didn’t – we kept battling
and trying to do our stuff
and play within ourselves
and for the most part I was
pretty pleased with that,”
said Trout.
Austin Luzier led the Elks
in scoring with 15 points on
the game. Spencer Moore
scored seven points.
To start the McKenzie
Hoops Classic on Thursday,
Elkton defeated McKenzie
(1-8) 66-50. Mason Cox
had 20 points and 11 re-
bounds while Luzier added
10 points, eight assists and
seven rebounds. Moore had
14 points.
On Saturday the team lost
to Hosanna Christian (6-2)
77-44. Trystn Woody had 15
points while Jadyn Woody
had nine. Luzier added nine
assists and eight rebounds.
“We need to get better.
We knew that. We’re play-
ing tough teams, Crosshill
is a potential Baker team
and Hosanna is as well,”
said Trout. “So we’re playing
good teams and if we can
learn from that experience
and get ourselves better.
Because if we’re not playing
tough teams we’re not figur-
ing that out.”
Elkton will begin their
ELKTON
see B2
PHOTOS BY BECKY GERRARD
Left: In a physical game against McKenzie, North Douglas’ Nicki Derrick drives the floor. Right: North Douglas sophomore Natalie Thompson grabs a board and helps
the Warriors win the rebounding battle 42-15 on Saturday.
Hanging on for a win over
McKenzie, the North Douglas
girls go 3-0 at the 1A Hoops
Classic
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
While the North Douglas offense was
slow to come to life, the Warriors were
able to come up big in the final minute
of play on the way to a 31-28 victory over
McKenzie on Saturday on the final day of
the McKenzie 1A Hoops Classic.
While the Warriors (8-3) scored just
two points in the first quarter of the
game, offensive woes became a thing of
the past in the final minute of play when
Nicki Derrick hit a jumper from the el-
bow to tie the game. Sofia Alcantar then
hit a free throw to take back the lead and
Abby Whipple hit a pair from the line to
extend their lead over the Eagles (1-9) to
three in the final seconds of action.
“We have a history from last year to
this, a reputation of probably not being a
great shooting team. But I feel that there
is promise,” said North Douglas head
coach Jeff Davis. “It’s going to come, it’s
going to click.”
While the shots wouldn’t fall for the
Warriors, the team kept shooting as they
finished the night 11-50 from the field
and more than double McKenzie’s shot
attempts (the Eagles were an efficient
9-of-21 from the floor). Where North
Douglas controlled the game was in re-
bounding. The Warriors came away with
42 on the night – Natalie Thompson
nine, Rilie-Jo Olds seven, Riley Black and
Whipple six – while McKenzie had 15 as
a team.
Tied at the half 9-9, the game picked
up speed in the second half as the teams
began to find their offense. North Doug-
las was led by Black who finished with
11 points on the day. Whipple added six
points.
As the game remained close in the sec-
ond half, it grew more and more physical.
After seeing a bruise on one of his players
and seeing another player pushed in the
back with no foul awarded, Davis shared
his frustrations with the referees which
led to two swift technical fouls and his
ejection from the game.
“You know it seemed like, and we al-
ways defend our kids, that we were get-
ting hammered a lot at the basket. On
almost, in my opinion, about every shot,”
said Davis. “The one that got me most
where I raised my voice was right in
front of me and whichever official it was,
it doesn’t matter, I know, and two McK-
enzie girls who were just doing what they
were taught to do, adjust to the officiat-
ing, just beat the snot out of Abby.”
Davis added, “I just said, 'Man, some-
body is going to get hurt out here. I’m
tired of watching our kids get beat up.'
T. And I said something after that and
he’s just listening, he’s looking for some-
thing.”
The Eagles were awarded four free
throws and after making a pair, it was a
two-point game with 47.9 seconds left in
the third quarter.
Heading into the fourth quarter as-
sistant coach Craig Lannom, who had
received a warning from the officiating
crew earlier in the game after standing up
to yell in instructions to the team, helped
the team regroup. North Douglas held
the team until McKenzie pulled ahead
with a pair of made free throw with 1:27
left to play before the Warriors took back
the lead and the game.
“So again, finding the glass half-full
is that all that went on, shot terribly but
made free throws when we had to and got
some stops when we had to and found a
way to win. As that old saying goes, win-
ners find a way. Never underestimate the
heart of a champ. And these guys have
some pedigree,” said Davis. “We can
grind through one when we’re not shoot-
ing well or the officiating is marginal.”
Last Thursday at McKenzie, the War-
riors defeated Alsea (4-6) 40-33. Whip-
ple had 12 points, seven rebounds, five
steals and four assists as Thompson had
12 points and eight rebounds for the
Warriors.
On Friday the Warriors took down
WARRIORS
see B3
North Douglas’ Riley Black led the team
in scoring Saturday with 11 points.
Elks overpower Alsea for victory
Elkton girls basketball take care of
business against Wolverines and
finish 2-1 on weekend
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Elkton’s Kieryn Carnes drives the lane against Alsea.
Athlete of
the Week
After a first quarter scoring surge, the Elkton
girls basketball team was able to cruise to a 58-41
victory over Alsea on the final day of the McKen-
zie 1A Hoops Classic last Saturday. But while the
team’s lead hovered around 15 points for the final
three quarters, not everyone was at ease.
“I didn’t feel comfortable the whole game,” said
Elkton head coach Rob Parker.
The Elks (5-6) and Wolverines (4-6) traded
buckets in the opening minutes before an Elkton
timeout spurred the team to a 10-0 run to fin-
ish out the quarter. Throughout the first quarter,
sharp-shooter Aspyn Luzier hit three three-point-
ers to spark the team’s offense. Luzier finished with
This week’s athlete of the
week is Elkton’s Aspyn
Luzier. Over the three games
of the McKenzie 1A Hoops
Invitational Luzier hit 13
three-pointers including
seven made threes in a win
over McKenzie.
a game-high 17 points.
“It just opens up the middle more,” Parker said
of Luzier’s shooting touch. “We’ll run plays for her
and we have counters if they do pick her up. And
so it allows us to do other things, too.”
The rest of the game ebbed and flowed between
the Wolverines looking poised to make a rally
and Elkton coming up with a bucket to keep their
sizable lead. Alsea would break the Elkton press,
but miss the lay-up. Elkton’s defense would force a
turnover and then allow easy buckets.
“A quarter looked good but I think we just kind
of put it in cruise control after that we let them
back into it and then we pick it back up a little bit,”
said Parker.
Ultimately, the Elkton defense helped secure the
victory as the team came up with 14 steals. The
Wolverines finished the day with 30 turnovers.
Leading the way for the Elks, on both sides of
the ball, was Kieryn Carnes who finished with 14
ELKS see B2
Aspyn Luzier
PHOTO BY BECKY
GERRARD