Lady Outlaws host annual Sisters Shootout

The Lady Outlaws hosted the annual Sisters Shootout Thursday through Saturday, January 2-4. Teams in attendance were: 3A Sisters, Banks, Valley Catholic and Taft, and 4A Madras, Junction City, Henley, and 5A Caldera. 

Sisters started the tourney with a matchup against the Junction City (JC) Tigers on Thursday, and fell in a final score of 52-56. On Friday they suffered a hard 61-62 loss to Taft, but rebounded on Saturday with a big 64-47 victory over Madras.

On Thursday against JC, teams scored back-and-forth and the score was tied up five times in the first quarter. Maddie Durham hit a big three early in the period to give the Outlaws a 7-6 advantage. Audrey Corcoran led the scoring effort with 10 points and at the end of the quarter the Outlaws trailed by three, 16-19. JC had five different players contribute points, and was led by Elise Hartle who scored eight.

Sisters defense did a great job in the second quarter, holding the Tigers to just four points, while putting up 11 points of their own. At the half the Outlaws were up by four, 27-23. 

The Outlaws were outscored 11-23 in the third period. Midway through the quarter the Tigers went on a 9-0 run and took a three-point lead at 36-39. Durham hit a field goal, and then the Tigers closed out the period on a 7-0 run. At the end of three the Outlaws were down 38-46.

Sisters clawed their way back in the final period. The Outlaws went on an 8-0 run late in the game. Corcoran hit a three, then stole the ball and dished it off to Shae Wyland for a layup, Jorja Christianson hit a field goal, and the run ended with another layup from Wyland. Verbena Brent hit one of two free throw attempts with 51 seconds left on the clock and closed the gap to two at 52-54, but JC hit a field goal with 12 seconds left and won by four, 52-56.

Corcoran scored 24 points, Durham scored 11, Wyland contributed eight, and Christianson added five.

Coach Paul Patton said, “Audrey scored 17 points in the first half, but in the second half they committed to locking her down with their best defender and she was limited to just seven more points. We did have some other girls step up and score buckets for us, but we have to work on how to run some actions to free Audrey up when teams do that.

“They turned out to be just a little deeper than us,” added Patton. “But, I was still pleased that we played such a competitive game against a quality opponent. Junction City is a 4A school whose only losses this year have come against the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the state.”

On Friday, the Lady Outlaws suffered a heartbreaking one-point loss to Taft. The Tigers entered the tournament 8-1 and ranked No. 2 in the state at the 3A level.

The Outlaws struggled at the start of the contest as the Tigers came out with energy and a full-court press. Sisters committed eight turnovers in the period, and the Tigers capitalized and converted those turnovers into fast- break buckets on every one. At the close of the first the Outlaws trailed 7-22.

Patton said, “Before the start of the second quarter we talked abut how there was a lot of basketball left to play and that if we could just take better care of the ball and keep them off the offensive boards that we could claw our way back into the game.”

The Outlaws came into the second period determined to turn the game around. They did just that and outscored the Tigers 24-11 to come to within two at 31-33. Wyland was the star of the quarter as she dominated in all facets of the game: scored five points, blocked four shots, rebounded on the offensive and defensive end, and dished out several assists.

In the third, the Outlaws scored nine, and the Tigers put up 10. Norah Thorsett hit a three-pointer with 10 seconds left in the period to close the gap to three, 40-43.

Taft came out and scored six straight points to start the final period, and a short time later the Outlaws found themselves down by eight, 44-52. Sisters had a hard time hitting their shots and the Tigers seemed to get all their shots to fall. Finally, at the five minute mark, Christianson hit a long ball to close the gap to two at 50-52. Sisters kept within two-to-four points of the Tigers. With just over two minutes left, Wyland hit both her free throws to make it a one-point game, 58-59. Corcoran followed with a three to give Sisters their first lead of the game at 61-59. 

The Tigers evened the score 61-61 with a tough baseline jump shot with just over a minute left on the clock, were fouled and hit one of two free throws to retake the lead. With 17 seconds left on the clock the Outlaws got the ball out of bounds, but unfortunately turned it over. Time ran out and Sisters took the loss.

Corcoran scored 19, Christianson had her best scoring game of the season with 15, Wyland tallied 13, and Brent recorded 10. Wyland led the rebounding effort with 13 and also had five blocked shots in the contest.

Senior Shae Wyland said, “I’m so proud of all the girls after being down by 17 at the end of the first quarter and feeling the energy shift in the second and come back to within three. I was proud of us for having fight in us to keep going after that hard first quarter. It wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but we learned so much. Having to fight and then holding onto that fight the next three quarters. I think that will really help us in league.”

Patton said, “I was impressed with how our girls battled back after falling behind early in the game and how we did it so quickly. It was good for us to have a close game against a good team and it gives me hope that once we clean things up a bit that we’ll have a good chance at winning games like this in league play.”

Sisters wrapped up tournament play with a decisive 64-47 victory over Madras on Saturday.

Teams were evenly matched the first quarter of play, but Sisters 11 turnovers in the period was once again an issue which limited their scoring opportunities. At the close of the quarter the score was tied 13-13.

Play was fairly even in the second period as well. Both teams played scrappy defense and scoring didn’t come easy. Wyland scored four of the Outlaws’ nine points. Madras put up 10 points and at the half the Outlaws trailed by one, 22-23.

Patton said, “Our key focus in the second half was to cut down on the turnovers by remaining calm under pressure and finding the easier pass. We also wanted to be more disruptive with our defense and communicate better.”

The Outlaws did just that, and only had one turnover in the quarter. Corcoran put up 10 points in the quarter, Paityn Cotner scored six including a three from the top of the key, and Brent added four. At the close of the third the Outlaws had stretched their lead to 45-28.

Sisters continued to score in the final period. Durham hit a three and converted on four of her six free throws. The Outlaws bench came in and wrapped up the win.

Corcoran scored 26, Brent 12, Wyland 11, and Cotner nine. Wyland and Corcoran both had nine rebounds.

Patton said, “It was great to get a win in our third game of the tournament after two close losses. But, those losses against good teams prepared us to be successful against a good Madras team. Audrey had a good all-around game with her usual high scoring, but also being a more active rebounder and dishing out some nice assists. Paityn, who always gives us strong defense, had a breakout game offensively which was good to see. Verbena was tough on both ends of the court guarding their point guard. Shae deserves to be commended for playing three games in a row with a painfully sprained thumb on her dominant left hand.

“After a relatively easy preseason schedule I think this tournament with games against quality opponents did a great job of preparing us for some upcoming tough league contests,” added Patton.

The Outlaws have two more non-league games before league play begins: a road trip to Douglas on Tuesday, January 7th, and then a home contest against Burns on Saturday, four days later.