Knights’ pressure stymies I.V. girls
From our weekly issue dated February 11, 2009
Cougar Tammy Huntamer gave the Knights something to think about. (Photo by Michelle Binker, Illinois Valley News)
The Knights’ full-court and man-to-man defense forced several turnovers, and clutch shooting chained the Cougars during their meeting on Friday, Feb. 6 in Illinois Valley’s Ken Mann Memorial Gym in Cave Junction.
North Valley High School’s girls basketball team used Merlin’s magic to make sure everything went their way -- jumping out to a 17-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Amanda Hults’ dime to Miranda Clemon accounted for I.V.’s first points at the seven-minute mark. The Knights’ magic continued until Laurissa Tausaga and Kayla Johnson cast their own spell: Tausaga’s two outside jumpers and a 3-pointer, and Johnson’s 3-point play, accounted for the only Cougar points in the second quarter.
North Valley (6-12, 2-6) broke that spell and continued their wizardry to take a 31-12 lead at half time.
The first points of the third quarter came when Clemon took an inside pass from Tammy Huntamer and banked it in. The Knights continued where they left off, with excellent play at both ends.
Hults and Tausaga 3-pointers, followed by Tausaga’s 2-pointer, tried to bring the Cougars back. However it wasn’t enough as the Knights lead doubled the Cougars output 44-22 with two minutes left in the quarter. Huntamers’ lob pass to Beckah Kaberline and her bank shot ended the third quarter with NV at 45, I.V. with 24.
The Knights’ first possession of the fourth quarter was stolen when Huntamer stepped into the passing lane and dribbled past two defenders for a lay up. Huntamer then committed another theft, went through the lane for another 2, to make the score 45-28 in NV’s favor. Chelsea Bullock scored the final 2 Cougar points with under a minute, to end the game 59-30, North Valley on top.
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“I thought we shot well from outside the arc to hit 5 out of 11,” said Ryan Lathen, Cougar head coach. “But NV contested our shots from closer range.
“Fatigue got to us, we got a little lazy by not defending the back-door cuts and not rotating as well as we should have in our zone defense. We will definitely be working on those things in practice next week,” Lathen added.
Tausaga had 9 points and Johnson had five rebounds for the Cougars. Nicole Geons and Taylor Vandehay each had 11 points. Natalie Geons and Jacquie Nickolson added 8 points each for NV.
The Cougars are 0-16 overall and 0-8 in Skyline Conference play.
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On the Road
The Cougar boys basketball team won in Merlin 63-42, as the Hults brothers, Roger and Fred, combined for 35 points. They had 21 and 14 respectively. Nathan Heath contributed 14 points.
The Cougar boys are 8-8 overall and 3-5 in Skyline Conference play.
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