Lady Outlaws struggle on the hardwood

The girls basketball squad, which has only one senior player this year, continues to struggle as they face much more experienced teams. Sisters lost both their games last week: a 45-22 loss to Redmond on Wednesday, January 3, followed by a 57-33 road loss to Burns.

In Wednesday's action, height was a factor for the Outlaws. Redmond's Ada Kitchin, who stands at 6 feet 1 inch, scored 21 points in the game. Sisters' tallest player, Gracie Sundstrom, is just 5 feet 9 inches.

The Outlaws played a fairly consistent first half, did a nice job on defense, and outscored Redmond by one point in the second quarter. As teams entered the half, the Panthers held a 13-7 advantage. The Outlaws didn't handle the press well in the second half, and the Panthers extended their lead and recorded the win.

Rylee Weber led the Outlaws with 10 points, and Alexa Stewart added five. Sundstrom grabbed seven boards for the team, and Sydney Head added five.

"The girls are great kids, very coachable, and they are getting better," said Coach Alan Von Stein. "They're just young and don't have enough court experience yet. They are working hard, and I'm happy to see that."

Two days later, the Outlaws dropped their game against 3A Burns. Sisters matched up well against the Highlanders height-wise, but had a very slow start, and committed numerous turnovers. At one point, they were down 13-1, and at the half trailed by 27.

Sisters did a much better job in the second half, and actually outscored Burns by three, but just couldn't recover from the first-half deficit.

Kaylee Huber led the Outlaws with 10 points, and was eight-for-nine from the free throw line. Head scored eight, and Weber added seven.

The young squad has been playing with low numbers due to both injury and illness, and hope to be back in full force within the next week or so.

"It was a good teaching game for us," said Von Stein. "Burns has a strong summer program and their girls are in the gym year-round. We had a conversation about that after the game, and the girls realize they need more court time to be competitive. We need to finish league strong, and then put in some time in the summer.

The Outlaws were to play against Madras (ranked No. 4) on Tuesday, January 9. They will kick off league with a game against the Lions at Cottage Grove three days later.

Editor's note: The Outlaws player in last week's photo was identified incorrectly in the photo caption. The player was Kaylee Huber.