Story Photos
 LCC's Cassie Koering gets smothered by Everett defenders, from left, Ashley Larsen, Kelsey Olson, and Megan Thomas on the way to the basket as her teammate Holly Weston comes to help. Greg Ebersole / The Daily News
|
Cold-shooting Lady Devils fall to Everett
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 3:50 PM PST
By Rick McCorkle
Printable version
E-mail this articleLower Columbia College women’s basketball coach Chad Meadors believes his Lady Devils hit rock-bottom in Sunday’s 61-51 setback to Linn-Benton in the Chemeketa Holiday Tournament.
“We’ve played a lot of good teams close and have lost confidence,” he said. “Now we’re playing average teams and struggling. We’ve had some effort issues in recent games, and tonight we didn’t have that.”
But while the Lady Devils didn’t lack in effort during Tuesday’s nonleague game with Everett at Truman Myklebust Gym, they did struggle at both ends of the floor.
Everett (1-8) hit a blistering 64 percent of its second-half shots as the Trojans snapped an eight-game losing skid with a 67-62 victory over LCC.
The Lady Devils (2-7) have now lost five consecutive games.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well and missed a lot of layups because we were trying to do everything too fast,” Meadors said. “We had too many turnovers and mistakes because of it. If we had calmed down, we would’ve been in a lot better shape.”
Meadors wasn’t happy with the loss, but he showed enthusiasm for the Lady Devils’ confidence.
“We’ve been going the wrong way confidence-wise the last few games, and we hit the bottom against Linn-Benton,” he said. “We’ve started our way back up despite not playing that well.”
LCC led 31-26 at the break, and built a 43-35 advantage five minutes into the second half when the Trojans came alive. Everett went on a 16-4 run over the next five minutes to grab a 51-47 lead with 10:40 left.
Consecutive baskets from Holly Weston, Jade Haas and Allison Horazdovsky pushed the Devils ahead 53-51 with 9:15 left, but it would be their last lead.
Horazdovsky came off the bench to lead all scorers with 18 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. Haas added 12 points, six rebounds and three steals, and Weston chipped in 12 points, five rebounds and four steals.
Everett netted 11 unanswered points over the next five minutes for a 62-53 advantage with 4:20 left as the Lady Devils were reeling. During the span, the hosts missed six shots — including four air balls — and coughed up the ball eight times.
“Everett hit a lot of lot of 17- to 18-footers, along with a lot of close-in shots,” Meadors said. “They hadn’t won any games because they didn’t make their shots, but tonight they hit those shots.”
LCC cut its deficit to 66-62 on a jumper from Weston with 1:20 left, and gave up a pair of backcourt fouls over the next 47 seconds in an attempt to get the ball back.
The Trojans turned over the ball moments later at halfcourt, but LCC botched two inbounds plays as another 16 seconds ticked off the clock.
When the Devils finally managed to keep the ball in play, a cross-court pass to Sadie Salte in the paint resulted in a turnover with 17 seconds left.
Everett’s Morgan Thomas added an insurance free throw a second later, and LCC countered with three missed shots before the final horn.
LCC made 14-of-40 shots in the first half (35 percent), and went 14-of-35 (40 percent) in the last 20 minutes. The Lady Devils outrebounded Everett 45-36, but also had 23 turnovers.
Salte finished with nine points and seven rebounds, and Marla Olstedt dished seven assists.
“We’ve made strides and now we have somewhere to go from,” Meadors added. “Our younger kids had lost confidence and the older kids didn’t know how to lead. I like the improved effort from the team.”
The Lady Devils entertain Olympic this afternoon at 2.
Trojans 67, Lady Devils 62
EVERETT (67) — Brooke Russell 15, Ashley Larsen 14, Morgan Thomas 11, Karissa Tri 7, Kaeleb Ellis 4, Keena Hopkins 10, Kelsey Olson 4, Stacey Jackman 2, Maddie Molenda 0, Chelsea Johnson 0.
LOWER COLUMBIA (62) — Jade Haas 12, Holly Weston 12, Sadie Salte 9, Marla Olstedt 5, Heidi Jackson 2, Allison Horazdovsky 18, Brittany Welch 2, Kasey Craft 2, Cassie Koering 0.
Halftime: LCC 31, EvCC 26.
Past Month's Most Commented Stories