Lady Devils fall to Riverhawks
Monday, January 5, 2009 1:25 PM PST
By Rick McCorkle
Printable version
E-mail this articleAfter his troops bottomed out earlier this week in their loss to previously winnless Everett, Lower Columbia College coach Chad Meadors was hoping for the Lady Devils to begin their ascent from the depths in their final nonleague tune-up with top-ranked Umpqua.
LCC was a missed 3-pointer in the closing seconds from taking the Riverhawks into overtime as Umpqua escaped Truman Myklebust Gym with a 73-70 victory in a nonleague game on Saturday.
“We did a really good staying with a very good team,” Meadors said. “We had a good effort which is what I’m expecting all the time. Our next step is consistency. We’ve played like this twice before, and now we have to do it every game from now on out.”
LCC (3-7) trailed 69-62 in the final three minutes when Marla Olstedt and Allison Horazdovsky netted consecutive layups to cut the deficit to three with 1:45 left. Umpqua countered with a pair of free throws to stretch their lead to 71-66 moments later, but Olstedt drove between two Riverhawk defenders to the hoop to trim the Umpqua lead to 71-68 with 26.4 seconds left.
Seconds later, Umpqua missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and LCC’s Heidi Jackson countered with a layup that brought the Devils to 71-70 with 12 seconds remaining. Riverhawks’ wing Kristi Fallin was fouled on the inbounds pass and hit two free throws for a three-point lead with 8.3 seconds left, and Olstedt couldn’t knock down a trey from the top of the arc with three seconds left.
“I’m thrilled with our effort, and execution of our offense was hands-down the best its been all season,” Meadors said. “There’s a lot of teams we could’ve played and had a feel-good game before starting league, but this is the type of game that gets us better.”
LCC led 14-9 following a fastbreak layup from Haas with 13:30 left in the first half. But Umpqua, led by 5-foot guard Mykiea Russell, countered with a 16-6 run to take a 25-20 lead six minutes later.
Russell, a freshman guard from Washington High in Los Angeles, knifed through the Devils’ defense to hit three consecutive layups at the beginning of the run, and made a steal and feed to teammate Kristen Strawn for a bucket at the end of the stretch.
The Devils tied the game at 25-25 following a putback layup by Haas and a 3-ball from the top of the arc by Sadie Salte, and later went ahead 34-33 when Cassie Koering converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 2:12 left. Umpqua’s Miranda Holenstein knocked down a pair of free throws 36 seconds later for a 35-34 lead, but LCC countered with a Haas layup and a freebie from Holly Weston for a 37-35 lead at the break.
“We had a sustained effort and did an all-around great job,” Meadors said. “We didn’t block out as well as we needed to in order to pull out the win, but Umpqua is the best offensive rebounding team in the conference.”
Umpqua outrebounded LCC 51-41, which included pulling 25 offensive boards. LCC’s defense held the Riverhawks to 37 percent shooting (29-77) while forcing 16 turnovers. The Lady Devils made 42 percent of their shots (28-67), which included 46 percent shooting (13-28) in the final 20 minutes.
Four LCC players scored in double-figures. Salte came off the bench to hit 4-of-5 3-pointers en route to a team-high 16 points. Olstedt added 12 points, Horazdovsky tallied a double-double with 10 and 11 rebounds, and Jackson had 10 points and six rebounds. Haas chipped in nine points, five rebounds and five assists.
This was a great game to play before league,” Meadors added. “The teams in our division are good, but not as good as Umpqua. Our confidence is restored, and I would expect a good effort against Green River.”
The Lady Devils open their Western Division schedule with Green River at home on Wednesday.
Riverhawks 73, Lady Devils 70
UMPQUA (73) — Kristi Fallin 18, Mykiea Russell 9, Kristen Strawn 8, Miranda Holenstein 6, Cassandra Tiggett 5, Cassie Scheffelmaier 20, Kate Wilton 6, Gretchen Owens 1, Siutiti Takai 0.
LOWER COLUMBIA (70) — Marla Olstedt 12, Heidi Jackson 10, Allison Horazdovsky 10, Jade Haas 9, Holly Weston 5, Sadie Salte 16, Cassie Koering 5, Kasey Craft 3, Brittany Welch 0.
Halftime: LCC 37, UCC 35.
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