Outlaws battle injury and sickness

The boys basketball squad has been battling injury and sickness, and to date they have yet to play one game with all seven of their top players. That has made it difficult for them to play consistently well. They hope to have everyone back at full strength when league play begins next week.

Sisters dropped their game at Redmond against the Panthers on Wednesday, January 3, in a final score of 56-38, but bounced back two days later with a 38-28 win at Burns.

In Tuesday's action, the Outlaws missed Ty Horner, who injured his hand in Monday's practice. They were also short Noah Richards, who has missed the last six games due to a concussion. Isaiah Rush did play in the game, in spite of not feeling well.

The team played decent defense against the Panthers, but struggled on offense and only scored 12 points in the first half, which put them down 23-12 a the half.

Sisters made a small run at the start of the third quarter, but Redmond hit a couple of big shots from behind the arc, which stifled the Outlaws rally, and increased the Panther lead. The Outlaws played tough and scored 26 points in the second half, just one less than the Panthers, but it wasn't enough to make up for the low-scoring first half.

Jack Berg and Zach Anderson both scored 13 points. Ryan Waddell had four, and Taylor Scholl added three.

"Overall, we needed to play with more intensity in the first half to help us stay with Redmond, but we did play better in the second, so that was good to see," said Coach David Godfrey.

Sisters' stellar defense earned them the win in the low-scoring battle at Burns on Friday. The Outlaws held the Highlanders to seven points the first two quarters of play, and at the half held a 20-7 advantage.

The Outlaws scored 18 points in the second half, and Burns scored 21.

The Outlaws definitely had a much better game than their match-up with Redmond earlier in the week, especially defensively. Although Sisters didn't score many points, they did get lots of good shots at the basket.

Berg led Sisters with 16 points, Anderson scored 10, and Rush added five.

"All in all, it was a good game," said Godfrey. "We just need to keep improving."

Sisters was scheduled to face the White Buffaloes at Madras on Tuesday, January 9. The Outlaws will kick off league play at Cottage Grove on Friday, January 12. Their overall record is 7-6.