Central Oregonian

Cowgirls take third at Burns

CCHS drops heartbreaker to Ontario, rebounds to route Grant Union

LON AUSTIN/CENTRAL OREGONIAN

Emily Benton goes up for two of her eight points against Ontario on Friday.

Lon Austin

December 10, 2012

The Cowgirls finally have a win.

After suffering a heartbreaking loss to Ontario Friday afternoon in the first round of the Burns Invitational, the team rebounded to whip Grant Union on Saturday.

“I think we came together as a team,” Crook County head coach Dave Johnson said following the tournament. “We have been struggling offensively and I felt like we started playing more as a team. The Grant Union game went really well.”

The Cowgirls probably should have earned their first win on Friday. The team battled back from an early deficit in their game with the Ontario Tigers to take the lead late in the game.

However, Crook County missed a pair of free throws while leading by one point with 11.9 seconds left in the contest. Ontario raced down the court with the ball scoring on a last second layup to take a 48-47 victory.

Saturday, the Cowgirls made sure that they wouldn’t give up a lead again. The team took control early in the contest and continued to put the pressure on as they ran away with a 53-27 victory over the Prospectors.

Crook County took a 2-0 lead to start their contest with Ontario. After taking the early lead, the Cowgirls struggled with turnovers coughing the ball up 10 times in the quarter.

Still, Crook County trailed just 10-9 at the end of the period. The Cowgirls did a better job of taking care of the ball in the second quarter and ran out to a 27-20 halftime lead.

Ontario turned the pressure up in the third quarter leading to more Crook County turnovers. The Tigers scored 21 points in the quarter as they took a 41-38 lead into the final stanza.

The Tigers built their lead to five points before the Cowgirls fought back. When Emily Benton grabbed an offensive rebound and scored with 1:42 remaining in the game, the Cowgirls trailed just 45-46. Benton scored again with 40 seconds remaining to give the Cowgirls a 47-46 lead.

However, the Cowgirls were unable to hold the lead as Ontario’s Jessica Lang made an uncontested layup at the buzzer.

Lang led all scorers in the contest with 15 points. Jessie Maley-Loper led the Cowgirls with 11 points while Kimmer Severance finished with 10, and Benton added eight.

Severance led the Cowgirls in rebounds with 14 and added seven steals. However, the team was unable to overcome 29 turnovers in the contest.

Saturday was a different story.

Crook County rolled out to a 9-3 lead in the first quarter and led 28-10 at the half.

“We cut our turnovers down and increased our defensive pressure,” Johnson said. “We caused a lot of turnovers and were able to convert them for easy baskets.”

The Cowgirls continued to extend their lead in the third quarter rolling out to a 43-18 lead by the end of the period. Even with their bench playing exclusively in the final period the Cowgirls were still able to outscore the Prospectors 10-9 in the final period closing out the blowout victory.

Severance led Crook County in scoring with 17 in the contest while Maley-Loper added 12 and Kelsie Smith finished with 10.

“We were able to spread the offense around a little bit,” Johnson said. “A lot of kids contributed over the weekend. It was definitely a step forward for us as a team.”

With the win, the Cowgirls are now 1-3 on the season. They are back in action on Thursday, Dec. 14, when they go on the road to take on Junction City at 6:30 p.m. in the three-day Junction City Cottage Grove Invitational Tournament.

“Junction City will be a test for us,” Johnson said.

Friday, Dec. 7

at Burns

Crook County (47) — Jessie Maley-Loper 11, Severance 10, Benton 8, Smith 7, Malott 5, Apperson 2, Lindburg 2, Bannon 2, Wood, Estes, Martin. Totals 15 15-27 47.

Ontario (48) — Jessica Lang 15, Salutregui 11, Bond 9, Helnick 7, Wettstein 4, Yaha 2, Anderson, Kiniskey, Bauer. Totals 18 11-21 48.

Crook County 9 18 11 9 — 47

Ontario 10 10 21 7 — 48

Three-point goals — Crook County: Maley-Loper, Malott; Ontario: Helnick.

Saturday, Dec. 8

at Burns

Crook County (53) — Kimmer Severance 17, Maley-Loper 12, Smith 10, Martin 3, Apperson 3, Malott 3, Wood 2, Bannon 2, Lindburg 1, Benton, Byram, Estes. Totals 17 15-26 53.

Grant Union (27) — Taylor Smith 9, Mosley 6, McConnell 4, Donahue 3, Sharpe 3, Wright 2, Thompson, Stearns, Houser. Totals 6 14-27 27.

Crook County 9 19 15 10 — 53

Grant Union 3 7 8 9 — 27

Three-point goals — Crook County: Maley-Loper, Apperson; Grant Union: Smith.