Outlaws start season with win

The Outlaws boys basketball team roped in the Cowboys with a 48-38 win at Crook County in their first game of the season on Friday, December 4.

Crook County has good size on their squad, and also a very tough point guard (Bartles), who is one of the best scorers in Central Oregon. Sisters' defense played solid, their offense was unselfish, and they had fun on the court; all a great combination that led to the road win.

Sisters' defense played especially well. They grabbed rebounds, worked together, and contained the Cowboys' two best offensive players, Bartles and Kessie. The Outlaws stayed in their gaps, stopped penetration, and worked very hard.

Steen Johnson had a terrific game, and defended well against Bartles; and Keegan Greaney was rock-solid in his effort against Kessie.

Sisters held a slim lead at 10-9 at the close of the first quarter, were up by two at the half at 23-21, and in the third outscored CC by three. The Cowboys made a run in the final quarter, but the Outlaws were determined, played tough, made some nice stops and got the job done.

On offense, the Outlaws shared the ball, and points were evenly distributed between the post and perimeter players. Scott Waddell was Sisters' leading scorer with 14 points. Keegan Greaney went four-for-seven from the field, Steen Johnson tallied seven points, Hayes Moore had five, and Tyler Head added four.

Ben Saba and Jake Larson played good minutes off the bench and contributed on both ends of the court. Jake played great defense and Ben had a few key buckets. Moore showed his experience by plugging holes wherever he was needed.

"Hayes (Moore) did a great job defending a super-athlete, and then rotated to every tough player when we were in foul trouble," said Coach Rand Runco.

The Outlaws also got a nice spark of energy from their new addition, Connor Lake.

"We did not execute really well, but we were completely unselfish, so we got many easy looks," said Runco. "We would have liked to get a few more transition buckets. We missed several open shots that would have separated the score earlier.

"It was nice to get a game in, and we were pleased with the outcome," said Runco. "We are a completely new team, and it was really exciting to see the boys play against someone other than themselves."

Sisters was to play at Madras on Tuesday, December 8.