Early struggles doom Lady Devils
Sunday, January 27, 2008 5:56 AM PST
By Rick McCorkle
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E-mail this articleIt was bound to catch up with them.
The Lower Columbia College Lady Devils had another lackluster first half and never recovered, losing 71-66 to the South Puget Sound Clippers in NWAACC Western Division women’s basketball at Truman Myklebust Gym on Saturday.
“The poor first half finally caught up with us,” LCC coach Chad Meadors said. “We played one complete game against Centralia and the first half tonight is what cost us.”
The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for LCC, which fell to 14-5, 7-1 in the division. The setback also kept South Puget Sound tied with LCC and Centralia atop the division standings at the halfway point in the season.
“They played outstanding and beat us,” Meadors said of the Clippers. “We had to scratch and claw all game to get it even. That’s what happens because of the poor start. We didn’t deserve to win.”
Injuries and player departures has depleted the SPS roster to six players, but the “Iron 6” didn’t back down from the Lady Devils. The Clippers rolled to a 21-5 lead in the first 11 minutes on a combination of hot shooting and solid defense.
“We needed to be mentally focused and prepared to start the game,” Meadors said. “We’re thinking we’re better than we are, and we could show up and beat a good South Puget Sound team.”
LCC missed 14 of its first 16 shots when Kasey Craft drained a 3-ball from the right corner with 8:42 left. LCC pecked away at its deficit, and trailed 28-27 following a Jessi Hanna jumper with 3:10 remaining, but would get no closer as it trailed 40-32 at halftime.
The Lady Devils made 41 percent of their first-half shots (12-of-29) and suffered through 37 percent free-throw shooting in the period. By contrast, SPS canned 61 percent of its shots (14-of-23) and missed only one of its 10 freebie attempts.
“A 20-5 hole is hard to dig out of,” Meadors said. “We had opportunities and didn’t take them. We left them in there for the entire game, which gave them the opportunity to play like they did.”
LCC played well enough to tie the game 62-62 with 3:30 left following back-to-back jumpers from Heidi Jackson. But four free throws in the next two minutes by the Clippers pushed the lead to 66-62 with 1:30 remaining.
Holly Weston hit a short jumper on the next possession to cut the deficit to 66-64, but the Clippers made three of their next four free-throw attempts.
SPS made a trip to the free-throw line when it appeared Jackson had taken a charge under the Clippers’ basket. But Jackson was whistled for a foul.
The call incensed Meadors, who launched into a verbal tirade and was whistled for a technical foul.
“I can whine and cry about the situation at the end, but we didn’t put ourselves in the situation to win the game to begin with,” Meadors said. “We can’t play that way for a half and have people bail us out. We didn’t get a call and things didn’t go our way.”
Weston led the Devils with 17 points. Katie Garcin added 11 points and Hanna had 10.
The Lady Devils are idle until Saturday when they host Green River.
Clippers 71, Lady Devils 66
SO. PUGET SOUND (71) — Megan Sanders 20, Kiara Honore 17, Dre’ Castaneda 10, Alicia Richardson 8, Whitney Titus 7, Whitney Moser 9.
LOWER COLUMBIA (66) — Holly Weston 17, Katie Garcin 11, Jessi Hanna 10, Heidi Jackson 6, Nadra Evans 6, Kelsey Forrest 6, Renee Evans 4, Kasey Craft 3, Megan Holmes 3, Kristina Craft 0, Kourtney Craft 0, Jordan Budd 0.
Halftime: SPS 40, LCC 32.
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