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| Vale's Vanessa Lovell passes around Coquille's Katy Pflaum in the second half of their Oregon 3A basketball tournament in Salem Wednesday evening, Feb. 27, 2008. The Red Devils ended up on the wrong end of the score, 41-28. - World Photo by Lou Sennick |
Vale outfires Coquille at state tournament
By John Gunther, Sports Editor
Thursday, February 28, 2008 1:11 PM PST
SALEM — Coquille’s first trip to the girls basketball state tournament in three decades started with a thud.
The Red Devils came out flat against a physical and aggressive Vale squad and never recovered in a 41-28 loss in the Class 3A quarterfinals Wednesday night at Willamette University. Coquille slipped into the consolation bracket and a 10:45 a.m. game today against Harrisburg, which fell to Rainier in another quarterfinal Wednesday.
Vale took control of Wednesday’s game from the start and never looked back.
Kate Lutjens, who turned out to be the biggest of many problems for the Red Devils, scored the opening basket for Vale. After Katlyn Shaw tied the score with a drive to the hoop, Lutjens scored again and Vanessa Lowell hit a 3-pointer to start a 9-2 run to end the first quarter.
The second quarter brought more of the same, as Vale went in front by double digits on a three-point play by Lutjens and started a trend that continued throughout the night of beating the Red Devils to offensive rebounds and loose balls. The Vikings grabbed eight offensive boards in the second quarter alone and built the lead to 28-15 by halftime.
Coquille pulled within 10 a couple of times in the third quarter, on a 3-pointer by Laurie Breuer and a basket from Kalei Libby, but Lowell hit another trey and then Lutjens, Mary Hicks and Sam Kamo had consecutive hoops to essentially put the game out of reach.
By the end of the night, Vale had a 38-22 rebounding edge and had limited the Red Devils to 11-for-39 shooting from the floor.
“We came out and played hard,” said Lutjens, adding that she was “flabbergasted” that the Vikings were able to beat Coquille, which she described as a “tough team,” so easily.
“I’m proud of our team,” Lutjens said.
The Vikings executed their game plan to perfection, she said.
“Our goal is defense, box out and rebounding,” she said. “We did all three tonight.”
Coquille coach Jennifer Sproul, meanwhile, said her team didn’t execute like it needed to.
“We talked about before the game how we’d have to play solid defense, rebound the basketball and attack the basket, and I don’t think we did any of the three,” she said.
 Jennifer Sproul
Coquille often ran its offense for long stretches without anybody attacking the hoop or looking for an open shot.
“When you get up to this level, if you can’t score, you can’t win,” Sproul said. “When you get up to a state game, you have to be clicking on all cylinders.”
Vale was much more productive on offense, with good passing to set up Lutjens and other players either for layins inside or open jumpers. When they missed, the Vikings often ended up with the rebound. Vale had more offensive rebounds (15) than Coquille grabbed defensive boards (12).
The Vikings also handled Coquille’s defense, committing just 10 turnovers, and didn’t allow the Red Devils to get the fast break hoops that Coquille thrives on when it is playing well.
Sproul said the problem wasn’t how hard her team was playing.
“The energy wasn’t channeled in the right direction,” she said.
The Red Devils also might have struggled some because of state tournament inexperience, she said.
The Red Devils start five seniors and one of the first players off the bench also is a senior. Vale, though, also starts five seniors, and has four more on the bench. That group was at the state tournament the last two years, as well.
“It’s hard to win here when you don’t have a single player who’s been here before,” Sproul said. “When you get to this level, you have to play above and beyond what you’re used to.”
Katy Pflaum led the Red Devils with 11 points and Kalei Libby scored seven. They each also grabbed five rebounds.
Lutjens, meanwhile, had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Vikings.
Now Coquille will turn its focus to trying to get a win today and finish the tournament with a trophy.
“I told them, ‘It’s a tournament,’” Sproul said. “‘It’s not a one-game thing. You (try to) play your best. We didn’t do it that game. Now do it tomorrow.’”
“(Vale) took us out of our game,” said Libby. “Tomorrow, we just have to come out and play our game. We have to run and play our ball.
“We have to look at this game as a learning experience. Our season’s not over yet.”
Valley Catholic 44, Creswell 38
Valley Catholic withstood a fourth-quarter rally by the Bulldogs to reach the semifinals.
The Valiants led by 15 points before Creswell scored 10 straight, including a pair of 3-pointers by Sara Collins. The Bulldogs never got any closer though.
Emily Anctil had 14 points for Valley Catholic and Jeni Picken added 13 points and 12 rebounds. Alicia Geil had 14 points and Chandler Gabrio 10 for Creswell.
Rainier 31, Harrisburg 28
Rainier led the entire way and held on for the win in the quarterfinals to stay unbeaten on the season.
Kayla Nagunst had nine points and hit 7 of 8 free throws for the Columbians.
Harrisburg rallied in the second half, when Rainier shot just 2-for-18 from the floor, but the Eagles weren’t much better, going just 5-for-20.
Eric Traw had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Harrisburg. |
