Outlaws take down Junction City on hardwood

The Outlaws earned a 43-33 victory over Junction City on Tuesday, January 18, but three days later lost 54-38 at Cottage Grove.

Sisters battled Junction City in a tough contest on Tuesday. At the end of the first quarter the Outlaws trailed the Tigers 11-8. Coach Rand Runco made some adjustments, and the Outlaws applied more pressure to Junction City. Jordan Hodges and Zech Mickel played tough pressure defense, and Sisters was able to make a run and take an 18-14 lead at the half.

Sisters outscored Junction City 15-8 in the third and extended their lead to 33-23. Sisters held on and secured the win.

John Erickson led Sisters with 18 points, and Chase Goff added 11. Erickson and Eli Harrison led the team in rebounds, and Jalen Miller had an excellent game at the point guard position and dished out seven assists on the night.

Runco said that Bryan Bozwell was key coming into the game off the bench and played great defense.

"It was a tough but good game," stated Runco. "Junction City is a very difficult team to play against because they slow the game way down offensively so that each possession is very important. They hold the ball on offense until someone makes a defensive error and then they capitalize and play very physical defense. I was pleased with our defense and effort, and we were able to hold on as they mounted a fourth-quarter run. I would have liked to have continued to extend the lead, but we had some untimely turnovers."

Three days later the Outlaws suffered a loss at Cottage Grove.

Runco told The Nugget that it was tough game that was much closer than the score indicates. Sisters held a one-point lead at 10-9 at the end of the first quarter, and at the half it was still a close contest but the Lions forged ahead to take a two-point lead, 20-18.

The Outlaws were outscored 34-20 in the second half.

Sisters is 1-2 in league and 9-6 overall.

The Outlaws were to play at Elmira on Tuesday, January 25, and then on Friday will host the Hawks of La Pine. Game time is set for 5:45 p.m.