Lady Outlaws split preseason games

The Lady Outlaws overpowered the Douglas Trojans in a 58-18 win on Tuesday, January 7. At home on Saturday, they suffered a tough 47-65 loss to the Burns Hilanders.

The Outlaws were in control throughout in Tuesday’s action against Douglas. The 3A team entered the game 1-10, at the bottom of all 3A teams.

At the close of the first period the Outlaws held a 20-2 lead. Audrey Corcoran had several steals which she converted into baskets on the other end and had 10 of the Outlaws’ 20 points. Jorja Christianson hit a three and Verbena Brent also had a couple of buckets.

Sisters let up a bit in the second quarter and the Trojans got some points on the scoreboard. At the half the Outlaws were on top 31-13. Emma Sahlberg scored four of the Outlaws points and Maddie Durham hit a three.

The Outlaws held the Trojans to just five points in the third. Sisters headed into the final period up by 31, and the running clock came into effect due to the mercy rule. The Outlaws JV finished the game, and the Trojans were held scoreless in the quarter.

Ten of the 12 Outlaws that played scored points for the team. Sisters played without senior Shae Wyland, their top post player, who was out with a sprained thumb.

Coach Paul Patton said, “Emma and Althea (Crabtree) picked up the slack and took advantage of the increased minutes to get better themselves.”

On Saturday, the Outlaws faced Burns, a traditionally strong program, currently ranked No. 10 in the state.

Sisters was only able to put four points on the scoreboard in the first seven minutes of play in the first quarter. With under one minute left, Christianson hit back-to-back threes from the baseline and at the close of the period the Outlaws trailed 10-20. The majority of the Hilanders’ points all came in the paint, and 14 of their 20 points came from their dominant post player, Akylah Kaino. (Kaino went on to score 40 points in the contest.)

Patton said, “We had a hard time finding our stride and didn’t execute our zone actions very well against their defense.”

Corcoran hit a three from the top of the key for Sisters’ first points in the second quarter, and Paityn Cotner followed with a three from the baseline to close the gap to 16-24. The Hilanders went on an 8-0 run, and then Cotner grabbed a rebound and scored a layup to break the streak. Corcoran hit back-to-back threes in the final 40 seconds to make it a 24-36 game at the break.

Patton said, “Trailing by 12 we felt like we could claw back into this one. We’ve been in situations like this before and have been able to go on a run to even the score out. We talked abut adjusting defensively in the second half to bring double team onto Kaino and trust our offensive actions more to move the ball for better shots.”

That offensive surge didn’t materialize in the third quarter. Cotner scored a layup for Sisters’ first third-quarter points, after the Outlaws were held scoreless for the first four minutes of the period. The only other points came off a Wyland steal and layup and a long ball from Corcoran. The Hilanders kept up their scoring spree and Sisters found themselves down 31-52 at the end of three. Sixteen of Burns’ 18 points came from Kaino.

Burns played a lot of their bench in the final quarter, and held on for a 18-point win.

Corcoran finished with 25 points, Cotner scored seven, and Christianson added six.

“Burns is obviously a good team, and they presented us with some problems that we hadn’t seen before, like a dominant post player, and we struggled to solve them,” Patton said. “But we now know what we need to work on more and we will be better the next time we face a similar opponent.”

Sisters was to play on the road on Tuesday, January 14, at No. 13-ranked Harrisburg, currently 10-4. They will play at home against Creswell on Friday.