Woodburn Independent Online

Offensive woes stymie Lady Bucks

St. Paul falls short of state playoffs

• Published: 2/19/2010 4:08:28 PM

By B. Scott Anderson
For the Independent

PERRYDALE — The St. Paul High School girls basketball team shot 18 percent from the field Wednesday and suffered a 34-21 first-round Casco League district tournament loss at Perrydale.
 
The loss ended the season for the Bucks, who had one senior on the roster and finished with an overall 14-9 record in coach Jerry Grant’s first season with the Lady Bucks.
 
“I know the kids were disappointed with the loss, but I told them after the game that I was so proud of them for coming as far as we did with such a young team,” Grant said. “I know a lot of people wrote us off this year, but I think our kids did a great job of proving them wrong. The best thing is that we bring all but one of them back next year.”
 
Neither team scored for the first four minutes of the game, before Perrydale scored two quick buckets by breaking the St. Paul defensive press. The score was 4-0 until the closing seconds of the opening quarter when Perrydale post Hailey Woods hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Pirates a 7-0 lead to start the second quarter.
 
“Woods’ shot really hurt us as we were feeling pretty good about holding them to four points,” Grant said.
 
St. Paul’s offense became untracked in the second quarter, but Perrydale was able to extend its lead to 19-7 at halftime. The Pirates limited the Bucks to four points in the third quarter, but Perrydale’s lead was too much to overcome. Even worse for the Bucks was that senior point guard Roree Lewis suffered a thumb injury in the third quarter and was never able to return to the game.
 
“Not having (Lewis) on the court hurt us because she provides much-needed leadership and a tough defensive presence,” Grant said. “In spite of (Lewis’) injury, the kids really battled in the second half. Even though Perrydale was much bigger and more physical than us, everyone played hard all the way to the final buzzer. I was pleased with the effort because when we played them earlier, we had some issues with not playing hard. That was not the case this time. It really was a matter of shooting 18 percent for the game. When we can’t score, we can’t press and everything has a tendency to fall apart.”
 
Tessa Brentano led the Bucks with nine points. Natalie Stone added seven points and Jensen Smith scored three. Sara Davidson added two points for the Bucks.
 
The loss also signaled the end of the first year of coaching at St. Paul for Grant, a man who has more than 30 years of experience in coaching basketball.
 
“This really has been one of my most fun and enjoyable seasons as a coach,” he said. “The kids worked hard and bought in to being the type of team I envisioned. They did everything I asked them to do. I know it can only get better from here. The future is very bright.”
 
Notes: Lewis was a first-team Casco League selection for the Bucks this season. Smith was a second-team pick. Stone and Brentano were both honorable mention selections.

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