Ken Roberts
For The New Era
Sweet Home lost a pair of games last week, first at home, losing a tight one to Newport, 43-40, followed by their second loss at undefeated Central, 53-37.
While both the games brought respectability, coach John Barnes said the players are not satisfied with just playing close anymore.
“They care a lot about what is going on,” said Barnes, noting the consistent improvement each week. “We need to start having the games where we put it all together.”
The Huskies, who were outscored by Newport 213-81 in last year’s three-game series, played Newport essentially even until late in the fourth quarter. Sweet Home, after being doubled up by Central earlier this year, led the Cubs by six early in the second quarter. Barnes said he isn’t sure what it will take to get his team, which regularly has three or four freshmen and sophomores on the floor in games, over the hump to victories. He said he feels the girls, after initially being intimidated, are now up to the challenge.
“It’s hard to put a finger on any one thing,” said Barnes. “It might just come down to a pressure thing.”
The Huskies, now 1-4 in league, squared off against Philomath on Tuesday. Then, in a busy week, will travel to Taft on Wednesday and Newport on Friday.
Newport 43, Sweet Home 40
In a game that went back and forth throughout the contest, the Cubs managed to put together a stronger fourth quarter, led by Laura Luther’s 11 points and 24 for the night.
The Huskies controlled the Cubs’ primary player, Sam Moore, holding her to just 8 points.
Jenny Hamn put together her best performance of the year with 22 points and 11 rebounds, with 13 of those points in the first half to give Sweet Home a 23-21 lead at the midway point.
A balanced attack kept the Huskies in the lead at the end of the first quarter, with Cortnie Cuilla’s field goal giving them their largest margin at four. But Luther took over for the Cubs, often from the foul line, in the fourth quarter. Newport went 5-8 from the free throw line in the final period compared to the Huskies’ 1-7. Hamn had seven points in the quarter.
“We were proud of ourselves for playing so well,” said Hamn. “But when you lose by that little, it’s just hard to take.”
Rylee Cole had four steals while Paige Niemi and Devyn Makin supported Hamn on the boards with six and five rebounds respectively.
Sweet Home 12 11 8 9 – 40
Newport 13 8 8 14 – 43
Sweet Home: Hamn 22, Cuilla 5, Riggs 5, Cole 4, Niemi 4
Newport: Luther 24, Moore 8, Craycraft 5, Clark 2, Hogan 2, Johnson 2
Central 53, Sweet Home 37
The Huskies surprised everyone, maybe even themselves, by jumping on the Panthers in the first quarter to take the lead 12-9. Hamn once again led the initial effort with six points in the first quarter as the Huskies were extremely patient within their offense.
“We’ve been doing a good job in the first quarter setting the tone,” said Barnes.
After Cole nailed a three pointer to start the second quarter, Central began to show why it is undefeated in league. With a penetrating offense, the Panthers took advantage of the Huskies’ help defense, consistently finding the open player, in many cases Central’s post player Kayla Cuellar, who scored 13 for the night.
While the Huskies continued to score thanks to four 3 point plays, the Panthers were unstoppable, racking up 23 points to take a 32-25 halftime lead. In the third quarter, Central’s defense dominated the Huskies, holding them to just two points and the game was no longer in doubt. Now Barnes and the Huskies will go to work on taking care of the weakside after the opposition’s penetration into the heart of their defense.
Megan Rubidoux led Husky scorers with 11, including three beyond the arc, followed by 10 for Hamn, who corralled six rebounds with Niemi adding five more.
Sweet Home 12 13 2 10 – 37
Central 9 23 13 8 – 53
Sweet Home: Rubidoux 11, Hamn 10, , Cole 5, Whitfield 5, Makin 2, Niemi 1, Cuilla 1, Yost 1, Justham 1
Central: Cuellar 13, McLean 10, Mason 8, Waddell 5, Waterman 5, Hedrick 3, Rardin 3, Riddell 2, Pflaum 2, Robison 2