Ken Roberts
For The New Era
Sweet Home’s girls’ basketball team continued to make strides in a three-game week but still came up empty-handed, losing to Creswell, Yamhill-Carlton, and Estacada.
The junior varsity team also played in a Saturday tournament at Junction City, winning one game but losing to Stayton in the finals.
Coach John Barnes, who has shuttled players up and down from JV to varsity in order to maximize everyone’s playing time, said it was a productive week, especially at the defensive end. The Huskies are shifting in and out of man defense with an effective 2-3 zone and are working on applying more full-court pressure.
“That’s what non-league games are about,” said Barnes. “We want to get as many kids in this year as we can to hopefully get some productive minutes out of them in the future.”
Rebounding has been one problem for the Lady Huskies; making open shots is the other.
“Rebounding is an attitude,” stated Barnes. “We like to watch the shot instead of blocking out. But they are getting better at realizing the positive effect of blocking out.”
After two days of needed practice time, Sweet Home faces another busy schedule, with Sisters on the road Wednesday, undefeated Gladstone at home on Friday, and then another road game at Elmira.
Creswell 49, Sweet Home 28
Creswell opened strong and continued to gradually pull away more each quarter. Paige Niemi and Jenny Hamn, who also led the Huskies with eight points, put together some high numbers in the rebounding column. Rylee Cole added six points to the Sweet Home effort.
Sweet Home 8 8 5 7 – 28
Creswell 16 13 11 9 – 49
Sweet Home: Hamn 8, Cole 6, Cuilla 4, Makin 3, Niemi 2, Whitfield 2, Davis 2, Yost 1
Creswell: Tigue 16, Magathan 10, Gabrio 9, McClanahan 4, Brummett 3, Schmidt 3, McMahon 2, Geil 2
Yamhill-Carlton 45, SH 18
Yamhill shut out the Huskies 14-0 in the first quarter and held them scoreless until Brianna Yost sank a free throw with 3:17 to go in the second quarter. The Tigers used a 2-1 advantage in rebounds to gain more opportunities to score. After the slow start, the
Huskies kept the margin much closer. Devyn Makin and Niemi led Husky scorers with 5 while Niemi also led Sweet Home in rebounds and steals.
Sweet Home 0 5 7 6 – 18
Y-C 14 10 11 10 – 45
Sweet Home: Makin 5, Niemi 5, Hamn 3, Whitfield 2, Trewin 2, Yost 1
Y-C: Webb 12, Anderson 8, Findley 6, Bellwood 6, Larson 4, Fox 3, Adams 2, Harder 2, Jensen 2
Estacada 32, Sweet Home 21
Sweet Home put together a strong defensive effort , led by Devyn Makin’s four steals, to hold down the Rangers’ offense, but shooting woes and Estacada’s offensive rebounds once again affected the outcome of the contest.
Hamn was the most productive Husky with a double-double in scoring and rebounding with 11 points, seven at the free throw line, and 10 rebounds. Annie Whitfield tallied six points for Sweet Home, including five straight in the fourth quarter in which the Huskies outscored the Rangers 8-5.
Sweet Home 3 5 5 8 – 21
Estacada 10 9 8 5 – 32
Sweet Home: Hamn 11, Whitfield 6, Niemi 2, Cuilla 1, Rubidoux 1
Estacada: Swier 7, M.Feldman 6, Kammeyer 5, Arreger 5, Adamson 3, S.Alradhi 2,
J.Feldman 2, Williams 1, N.Alradhi 1