Outlaws fall to league foes on court

Sisters dropped their game at home against Woodburn 45-56 at home in Sisters on Friday, January 17, and a day later lost 28-41 at Cascade in a game that was rescheduled due to inclement weather earlier in the week.

The Outlaws played a great first quarter against the Bulldogs on Friday night, and kept the score close. Sisters closed out the scoring with a hard drive to the hole by Nate Weber for two and a banked shot at the buzzer by Sam Nicklous to give the Outlaws a 15-10 lead.

In the second period, with two minutes left in the half, Weber and Nicklous hit back-to-back three-point shots to pull the Outlaws to within one point of the Bulldogs, 24-25. At the half, Woodburn was up by four 25-29.

Weber opened the third period with a three-ball to close the gap to two, but the Outlaws just couldn’t catch up. The Bulldogs hit a couple of three-pointers and pushed the Outlaws around on the glass to get extra shots, and at the end of the third, the Outlaws trailed 34-43.

The Outlaws were unable to catch the Bulldogs in the final period and lost by 11.

Nicklous led the Outlaws with 14, Weber recorded 13, and Connor Linn tallied 12.

Jensen said, “Connor played solid and had three clutch threes, and Sam and Nate did a good job handling the pressure. We played solid, but were physically outmatched on the rebounding.”

Sisters was outscored 23-9 in the first half in their game against the Cougars on Saturday. They came back with a much better second half and won the second half 19-18, but had dug themselves into such a hole in the first half they couldn’t recover.

The Outlaws had trouble shooting the ball and went two-for-nine from behind the arc and six-for-14 from the free-throw line. They also gave up 18 offensive rebounds in the contest.

Jensen made note of Hayden Sharp, who he said played well and battled hard with the big posts from Cascade.

“I feel we got the right shots; they just didn’t fall, and it’s hard when you lose the rebounding battle that badly,” said Jensen.

Sisters was to play at Philomath on Tuesday, January 21. They will play at home against Stayton on Friday.