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| Newberg
rallies in fourth to knock off Clackamas, 47-46 |
The girls basketball team outscores Clackamas 17-11 in the final quarter
to pick up the win |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic Sports Editor
Email Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
|
 Junior Maria Acosta hit a jumper, knocked the ball out of bounds off a
Clackamas player and hit 1-of-2 free throws in the final minute as the Newberg High School
girls basketball team pulled off a comeback win Friday, 47-46.
With the game tied at 44-44, Acosta sunk a jumper from the corner to put the
Tigers ahead. On the next Clackamas possession, Acosta hustled after a loose ball and
knocked it off of Teddi Cranford to give the Tigers (8-4 overall, 4-0 Pac-9 Conference)
the ball with 31 seconds remaining. Acosta sank 1-of-2 free throws with 19 seconds to go
to push the Tigers up 47-44. Clackamas had one last shot at tying the game with a
3-pointer on its final possession, but instead scored a layin as time expired.
“I think Maria’s shot was key because it gave us the lead but I
think her defensive play was almost as critical because at that point we’d at least
get a scoring opportunity and you’d know it was going to fall eventually,” said
Newberg coach Marianne Funderhide. “But I think (Acosta’s) defensive play was a
big part of everything the whole night. She was all over the place.”
Newberg had an early lead at 6-5 in the first quarter but Clackamas, from the
Three Rivers League, took over from there. The Cavaliers held a 13-9 advantage after the
first quarter, a 28-24 halftime lead and a 35-30 advantage at the end of the third
quarter.
At the time, a seemingly common jump ball was called with 1 second left after
Newberg senior Ashley Hafner made the first of a 1-and-1 situation but missed the second.
Clackamas was awarded the possession which gave the Tigers the ball to start the fourth
quarter.
The Tigers used the momentum as junior post Vanessa Schmitz hit a shot
followed by Hafner’s 16-foot jumper. The buckets brought the Tigers within 35-34 but
Clackamas didn’t fold. Cavalier Anna Beseda scored a three-point play and hit a
jumper with 6:12 remaining to push Clackamas up, 40-34.
But Newberg went on a 10-4 run, capped by a free throw by Hafner with 2:12 left to put the
Tigers up 44-42.
“I think, coming into the fourth quarter down by five, I really felt we
were playing the best we could,” Funderhide said. “I was not happy we were down
by five, but I also felt like we were OK. We just needed to get some offense.”
Schmitz came up big in the fourth quarter for the Tigers. All nine of her points came in
the final quarter.
“She really picked it up,” Funderhide said. “She became very
assertive in the fourth quarter. I think she was getting the looks (before), but in the
fourth quarter she was being a lot more aggressive and she had a great move and she was
able to finish and put the ball in the hole. I think she just got into a really nice
rhythm.”
The Tigers also ran into a bit of foul trouble during the contest. Junior
post Holly Winter picked up her fourth foul with 5:35 remaining in the third quarter. She
came out of the game and didn’t return because the quintet of Acosta, Schmitz, Alli
Jensen, Hafner and Joede Leavitt were the ones Funderhide said was the best group to keep
the pressure on Clackamas. Funderhide normally substitutes players in regularly but
decided to go with the same five the entire final quarter.
“One thing we wanted to do was to keep the pressure on them and we
changed to our full court press and the group we had in at the end is the best group to
run that full court press and that’s why we went with it,” she said. “We
were scoring, there was dead ball situations and that’s the time for them to get
their breaks and I felt like we used our timeouts wisely to give them other rests.”
Funderhide said the win was big, especially because of the fact that the
Three Rivers League is so deep with talent.
“Considering you’ve got Oregon City and Lakeridge and some ranked
teams in that league, it’s a very competitive league,” Funderhide said.
“I’ve been really happy with the scheduling of our season. We have played
against a lot of ranked teams, which I think, in the long run, has helped us in (Pac-9
League play).”
Jensen led the Tigers with 14 points, while Hafner contributed 10 points,
seven rebounds and seven steals. Acosta added nine points and seven steals, while Schmitz
added seven rebounds to her nine points.
The win followed the Tigers’ participation in an eight-team tournament
at South Eugene earlier in the week. Newberg went 1-2 at the tournament, falling to South
Eugene 55-47, beating Centennial 54-42, and losing to Springfield, 54-44.
“Tonight was a pretty big game in my opinion because I really feel like
tonight was the first game back from break after not having practices,” Funderhide
said. “We had five days off and then came back and did a walk-through practice and
you’re just really rusty because of that long of a break.”
Funderhide said the Tigers have played an array of teams in preseason action,
something she feels will help the squad down the road.
“That was good for us because we went down there and played teams from
the south,” she said. “We’ve played some Metro teams, we’ve played
some Three Rivers teams, we’ve played some PIL teams and so I think we’ve just
gotten a really good mixture and so we’ve seen a lot of different things.”
The Tigers haven’t been able to escape injury, though. Junior Meghan
Leonard suffered a severely sprained left ankle. The guard is a key piece in the
team’s system and won’t be able to return for at least a few weeks, Funderhide
said.
“Meghan Leonard is a pretty integral part of what we do because of her
speed, her quickness, her style of play,” she said. “Now we have to make
adjustments in other areas to compensate for that.”
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From Jan. 8,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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