Lebanon 53
Sweet Home 36
An aggressive Lebanon press in the second quarter gave the team the lift it needed to defeat, 53-36, the Sweet Home girls basketball team Friday night at home.
The teams traded buckets in the first quarter. Lebanon pressed the Huskies into making the majority of their 16 turnovers in the second quarter to mark a 22-4 run and a 33-14 lead at halftime.
“The girls looked real good except for the second quarter,” Coach Mark Tyler said. Lebanon came out in a trap, the first for the Huskies this season, and the girls panicked. In that situation, a timeout wouldn’t even get the panic out.
The girls, who have prepared and anticipated meeting many traps this season, played through the trap, Coach Tyler said, but not before “we spotted them a bunch of points.”
When the team hit the locker room at halftime, the girls knew what they were supposed to do but were not doing against the Lebanon trap, Coach Tyler said. During that quarter, Coach Tyler estimates that the Huskies made up to 11 of their 16 turnovers.
They went back onto the floor in the third quarter, and Coach Tyler thinks the Huskies had a maximum of only six turnovers on the second half although Lebanon never let up on the press.
The Huskies adjusted and trailed only 8-7 on the third quarter and 12-10 on the fourth quarter.
Coach Tyler hopes the team will stay prepared to meet different presses. He expects to see quite a bit of it this season, at the least from notorious trappers Cascade, Molalla and Stayton.
“Teams that have some speed are going to make you handle the ball,” Coach Tyler said.
The girls shot 25 percent on the game. Lebanon shot 37 percent, but Coach Tyler believes the layups off of the second-quarter press helped push their percentage up.
At the foul line, the girls shot 18-37 while Lebanon shot 17-31.
The girls went to the foul line in that game quite a bit more than they did on average last year, Coach Tyler said. That points to more aggressiveness on their part. They’re initiating an aggressive offense opening the opportunity for contact and getting calls their way. The Huskies grabbed quite a few boards, 36, also showing they were going after the ball.
“I thought we played really well for the first game,” Coach Tyler said. “I thought three-quarters of the game were something we could build on the rest of the year. I’m really optimistic that we’ve got a lot to work with. Statistically, if you take the second quarter out of there, we played a good ball game.”
Jessica Brocard led the team with 10 points and nine rebounds. Angela Fentiman scored six points and added eight rebounds. Kara Watkins scored six points with five rebounds. Nikki Brennan scored five points with nine rebounds. Teresa Lewis scored five points. Mahria Zook scored two, and Elizabeth Aman scored one.
The junior varsity lost 53-35, trailing 27-17 at halftime. Crystal Allen, with 16 points, and Cindy Jones, with nine points, led scoring.
The freshmen lost 49-27 and trailed 27-6 at halftime. Mallory Carlson scored 12 points to lead the team. Rachel Gaskey added eight points.
Calendar: The girls play Thursday against Creswell at home. Games start at 6 p.m.