Lady Outlaws pack in three games

The Lady Outlaws had a full week of basketball that started with a 36-29 win at home over Elmira on Tuesday, December 7. A day later Sisters fell 56-36 at home to 5A Crook County. They wrapped up their week on Saturday with a contest at La Pine and walked away with a 51-21 win.

Sisters got off to a great start in their game against the Elmira Falcons on Tuesday as they converted steals from their full-court press and built a 19-6 lead to close out the first quarter. Ila Reid scored six points in the period and Payden Petterson hit a long ball from behind the arc and went three-for-four from the line. Emma Lutz and Ellie Mays each added a three-pointer that sparked the Outlaws’ offense.

Elmira packed in a 2-3 zone in the second period and slowed the game down. The Falcons chipped away at the Outlaws’ lead and cut it to seven points at the half with a score of 26-19.

It was a very low-scoring second half, with both teams scoring 10 points each. In the final quarter, five of the Outlaws seven points came at the free-throw line, highlighted by Emma Lutz sinking four of her six attempts, which secured the win.

Ila Reid led the Outlaws with 10 points, and Emma Lutz and Petterson had eight points each.

Josie Patton led the rebounding effort with eight boards, followed by Reid, who had seven, and Petterson who finished with six.

“We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, but we got enough rebounds to stay in control of the game,” said Coach Paul Patton.

Another positive from the game was that the Outlaws stole the ball more than they turned it over. Emma Lutz had seven steals to lead the team and Petterson followed with five.

“If we can win the rebound battle and have a positive steals-to-turnover ratio, we should have a shot at winning the game,” said Patton.

Sisters had 13 girls get minutes on the court. The team has battled a bit of injury and illness and hopes to get healthy and back to full strength soon.

In Wednesday’s match-up at home against Crook County (CC), the Lady Outlaws played pretty even in the opening quarter against the Cowgirls, who entered the contest 3-0 against 5A and 6A opponents. Sisters was down by just four, 12-16, at the close of the first period. Both Maggie Lutz and Payden Petterson hit a shot from behind the arc to help keep the score close.

The Cowgirls built a big lead in the second quarter. Sisters struggled to make their shots and scored only four points, while CC scored 20. At the half the Outlaws trailed by 20 with a score of 16-36.

The second half ended even, with both teams putting 20 points on the scoreboard, and the Outlaws taking a 56-36 loss.

For the fourth consecutive game, the Outlaws had a different player lead in scoring, this time Haleigh Froelich, who finished with nine points. Petterson contributed seven points, and Maggie Lutz added six.

Froelich led the team with six rebounds, and Petterson recorded four.

Patton said, “We lost the team-total rebounding battle decisively and that’s a big reason for the lopsided score, so we know what we need to work on. The bottom line is that Crook County is a good basketball team and we had a bad quarter. But, the other three quarters we proved that we can be a good basketball team too.

“The biggest thing we learned from this game is that we need to be ‘all in,’ that is, we need to fully commit in our effort to play full court pressure defense and fast-breaking offensive basketball,” added Patton.

The JV squad battled well against the Cowgirls and lost by just three, 31-34.

On Saturday, the Outlaws traveled to La Pine and had to play with a depleted line-up. Three of their top players, Josie Patton, Hadley Schar, and Tatem Cramer, were all out with injuries, and senior Payden Petterson had a conflicting commitment. Despite being short players the Outlaws beat the Hawks by 30.

“Tonight we learned that we need to assert our up-tempo style of play and not let our opponent dictate the pace of the game,” said Patton. “With just 16 girls available for the varsity and JV games, most of the girls, with the exception of a couple of upperclassmen, had to play in both games. The rules allow you to play five quarters a night and we had 10 girls who did.”

Sisters got 14 girls in the varsity game and 10 of them put points on the scoreboard.

Reid led the Outlaws with 14 points, all in the second half. She had three steals and also led the team with seven rebounds,

Emma Lutz had a stand-out defensive game with eight steals. On the offensive end she scored six points and tallied seven assists. Maggie Lutz also had six points in the game.

Ashlynn Moffat recorded five points, and Ellie Mayes, Haleigh Froelich, Shae Wyland, and Nevaeh McAfee scored four points each. Juhree Kizziar and Delaney McAffee added two points each.

Sisters was to play at Cottage Grove on Tuesday, December 14. The Lady Outlaws will play at Burns on Monday, December 20. They will take a short break and then be back on the court at home in the Sisters Holiday Shoot-Out, Tuesday through Thursday, December 28-30.