Woodburn Independent Online

St. Paul girls fall short in upset bid

No. 4 Country Christain hangs on for three-point win

• Published: 1/28/2010 1:33:12 PM
• Last Updated: 1/31/2010 10:10:04 PM

SP loses
St. Paul's Natalie Stone (right) wrestles for a loose ball with Country Christian's Ashley Axmaker during the Lady Bucks' 38-35 loss on Monday. Stone led St. Paul with 14 points. (Photo by Diana Cox)

By B. Scott Anderson
Special to the Woodburn Independent

MOLALLA — The Bucks were oh-so-close Monday. All the way to the end.
 
The St. Paul High School girls basketball team battled back and forth against No. 4-ranked Country Christian for the entire game before falling 38-35 in a key Casco League game.
 
With 0.4 seconds remaining, the Bucks had a one final attempt to send the game into overtime with a 3-pointer. The ball went to sophomore Jensen Smith who got an open look on the right wing. The ball sailed through the air, only to find iron and allowed the Cougars to escape with a win against the unranked Bucks.
 
“We drew up a play and we ran it perfectly,” said St. Paul coach Jerry Grant. “We just wanted to have her go up and step back off a double screen and she was wide open. When you have a 30-second timeout and you’re trying to figure out what to run, we figured Jensen’s our best shot so we set something up for her. She got the look we wanted. It came out of her hand good, it looked good all the way, it had good rotation on it, but it just wasn’t meant to be.”
 
Despite the loss, it was perhaps St. Paul’s best performance of the season. In the first half, St. Paul (9-5 overall, 6-3 Casco League) led by as many as seven points and limited high-scoring Country Christian (14-5, 9-0) forward Heather Cunningham to three points.
 
Up 23-18 at halftime, the Bucks saw the Cougars score six straight points to take a brief lead. St. Paul’s offense went scoreless for more than five minutes of the quarter, but the Bucks settled for a 27-26 lead to start the final quarter after freshman Natalie Stone found sophomore Sara Davidson for an inside basket with 1:04 remaining in the third.
 
The two teams traded leads back and forth in the fourth quarter before Cunningham got untracked and scored six points in the quarter. Her basket with 2:20 to play gave the Cougars a 36-33 lead and the Cougars followed it up with a bucket by Hannah McFarland with 1:09 to play to give the Cougars a 38-33 lead. Later, St. Paul’s Dani Riggleman scored an inside basket with five seconds to play before the Bucks forced a jump ball, earning possession just before Jensen’s final shot at the buzzer.
 
“I’m just so proud of the way they battled,” Grant said. “They didn’t quit or give up. It would have been easy to when they made that run. I thought about calling a timeout, but I really wanted them to get back in it and I think they did a really good job of that.”
Stone scored 14 points to pace the Bucks. Tessa Brentano had seven points and Davidson added five points and six rebounds. Roree Lewis added four points and three assists and Smith finished with three points, four steals and six rebounds.
 
The Bucks returned to action Friday at home against Willamette Valley Christian (1-10, 1-7), but results were unavailable at press time.
 
St. Paul will play a Saturday 4 p.m. non-league game against Damascus Christian. Next week, the Bucks will return to Casco League and start a crucial three-game stretch that will help clear up the league standings.
 
After a home game against Falls City on Feb. 2, the Bucks travel to Perrydale (13-4, 5-3) on Feb. 5 and then follow it up with a critical game at Jewell (12-5, 8-1) on Feb. 9.
A win Monday against the Cougars would have been a huge boost to St. Paul’s chances in scoring a league title. Now St. Paul will have to come up with wins down the stretch of the schedule to earn a postseason berth.
 
“So now we’re just going to have to go on the road and take care of business at both of those places, which I think we’re capable of doing, especially if we keep playing like we have been,” Grant said.

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