Outlaws hoopsters bitten hard by Huskies

The Sisters Outlaws lost a tough league game against the North Marion Huskies on Friday, January 14. The Huskies downed the Outlaws 77-72 in overtime.

The game was slow-paced due to players getting into foul trouble. The Outlaws shot a total of 41 free throws and North Marion went to the line 33 times.

"It was a horrid game to watch," Coach Rand Runco said .

Dusty Macauley was Sisters' leading scorer with 21 points. Chris Kraft scored a game-high 25 points for the Huskies.

Heading into halftime the Outlaws were holding a comfortable 10-point lead. Sisters maintained control of the game throughout the third quarter. However, the Outlaws got rattled as the Huskies began to use a half court press defense.

North Marion jumped back into the game after Sisters missed some easy lay-ins and Kraft got hot from three-point range. Kraft recorded five three-point shots in the game.

Sisters grew tentative in its play and found itself trailing late in the fourth quarter. Kyle Kinney was a hero late in the game when he hit a three-pointer with 12 seconds left. Kinney's shot tied up the score and sent the game into overtime to give the Outlaws a second chance.

Sisters switched to a zone defense during overtime to protect certain players that were in foul trouble. Kraft was heating up, so Sisters started to focus its game plan onto him. Sisters shut down Kraft but its defense had some holes in it and the other Husky players took advantage.

Other North Marion players started to sink some three-pointers and the Outlaws couldn't catch up. It was a tough loss for the Outlaws who are now 0-2 in league play.

"We lost our composure," Runco said "We have a lot of work to do; now we are in a hole that is going to take a lot of time to get out of."

The Outlaws start digging when they play the Cascade Cougars on Friday, January 21. Sisters was to play the Central Panthers on Tuesday, January 18, to make up a game that was postponed due to heavy snowfall.