Girls basketball finishes fifth at Holiday Tournament

The Lady Outlaws finished fifth out of eight teams that were in attendance at the annual Sisters Holiday Tournament, held Wednesday through Friday, December 28-30. Banks took first-place honors, Mazama was runner-up and Henley finished third.

Sisters started their tournament play with a nice 44-36 victory over Crook County (CC) on Thursday. Coach Alan Von Stein told The Nugget that it was the Outlaws' best performance to date.

It was a close first quarter, and at the end of the period the Cowgirls held a 17-14 lead. Neither team could get the ball to fall in the second quarter. The Outlaws only put up four points and the Cowgirls only managed to score one point. At the half the score was even at 18-18.

The Outlaws outscored CC 26-18 in the second half and recorded the win.

Rylee Weber led the Outlaws with a double-double, 14 points and 12 rebounds. Weber also tallied four steals and had two blocks in the contest.

"Rylee played under control," said Von Stein. "She hustled on rebounds and took good quality shots."

Freshman point guard Olivia Hougham also played a very good game for Sisters. Hougham did a nice job of breaking the Cowgirls' press, and she shot well from the free-throw line. Olivia finished the game with 13 points and three steals.

Von Stein said, "Olivia was a good commander-and-chief. She played a good offensive and defensive game."

Alexa Stewart scored 10 points, which included two three-point shots. Gracie Sundstrom scored four points and Amanda Smith added three. Smith was strong on the glass, and finished with 12 rebounds.

The following day, the Outlaws fell hard in their 51-17 loss to Banks. Weber scored seven points in the game, and Stewart, Smith, Hernandez, and Rhenna Salisbury each added two.

"Banks is a very well-executed, well-balanced team, and we struggled to keep pace with them on the floor," said Von Stein.

Sisters finished up their tournament play with a 59-26 loss to Henley on Friday. With the loss, the Outlaws finished fifth, and the Hornets took third.

The Outlaws went down 15-4 in the first quarter. They played better in the second quarter and put up 13 points, but the Hornets scored 18 and at the half held a 33-17 advantage. Sisters was outscored 26-9 in the second half.

Smith led Sisters with 11 points, eight rebounds and one block. Von Stein told The Nugget that Smith played a better game against the Hornets, took the ball to the hoop, and played strong inside.

Weber recorded six points, six rebounds, and two assists. Hougham scored five points, all from the stripe. Olivia also had three rebounds and a steal.

The Outlaws got quality shots, but just couldn't get the ball to fall. They were seven-for-24 in the first half, and only two-for-20 in the second half.

"The tournament gave us a lot of good experience against well-coached and mature teams," said Von Stein. "The girls are starting to have things fall together, but they need all the pieces to fall together at the same time."

The girls JV squad played at the Summit Tournament, and won two of their three games, for a third-place finish.

Sisters was to play at home against Redmond on Tuesday, January 3. The Outlaws will play at home against Burns on Friday, three days later. They are currently 4-4 overall.