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Grizz hold on for SOC opener By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Marla Morin invited everybody to her 18th birthday party then ditched early, but her teammates were more than happy to clean up. Morin, Ashland's formidable 6-1 senior post, scored 16 points by halftime and finished with a game-high 25, leading the Ashland High girls basketball team Friday night to a 57-54 win over the Eagle Point Eagles in the Southern Oregon Conference opener for both teams at Mountain Avenue gym. Morin fouled out with 3:31 left and Ashland nursing a seemingly comfortable 53-45 lead, but Eagle Point scored nine of the next 11 points to cut the lead to one and had two shots to tie in the final 20 seconds. Both the long-2 by Kristina Bateman with 20 seconds left and the desperation 3-pointer by Kadee McLaughlin at the buzzer were well off, however, and the Grizzlies escaped unscathed. "We have a thing where we kind of get scattered," Morin said. "When the other team starts getting on runs, we sort of tend to give them the ball. We need to work on calming down the game and getting back into our own rhythm. I think we play really well once we're together, we just need to work a little more because we've got a lot of age difference and � we're still kind of meshing together." Two big free throws, one by sophomore guard Hilary Huyett with 21 seconds left and the other by senior post Chloe Hansen with 6.1 seconds left, helped the Grizzlies avoid disaster. Huyett, who entered the game as Ashland's leading scorer with a 17.2-points per game average, finished with 14 points and three 3-pointers and Hansen was third on the team with eight points. Ashland's fourth-straight victory ended with both teams sporting an 8-3 overall record. The Grizzlies led from tip to horn and looked primed for a league-opening blowout after using a 19-6 run in the first quarter to take a 23-10 lead after one, but Eagle Point outscored Ashland 13-8 in the second and managed to stay within striking distance the rest of the way. "I think we played good," said Grizz sophomore guard Alysse Carlson, who scored all of her five points in the fourth quarter. "I mean, Eagle Point is a tough team and you can't take anyone lightly in our conference." In a game marred by turnovers - the two teams combined for 35 (22 by Eagle Point, 13 by Ashland) - neither squad was able to settle into a rhythm and stay there after Ashland's big first quarter. Morin's inside dominance helped the Grizzlies shake off that trend. She scored eight in the first and eight in the second, none from the free throw line, and dropped in 13 straight Ashland points between the start of the second quarter and midway through the third. "Marla came to play," Ashland coach Steve Humann said. Morin's buckets came in all forms - rebound put-backs, medium range jumpers, hook shots - and served to underscore her status as the conference's top returner. Her only weakness was on defense, where she picked up her fourth foul with 5:08 left and her fifth one minute later. That turn of events seemed to energize the Eagles, who already have more wins than they had all of last season, when they finished 5-18. Senior post Alisa Lee sparked Eagle Point's comeback by scoring seven of her team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter, and junior post Ashley Curtis also helped the Eagles' cause by netting 10 of her 14 points in the second half. Eagle Point outscored Ashland 23-12 in the fourth quarter and outrebounded the Grizzlies 10-4 in the quarter and 25-20 for the game to nearly overcome a 45-31 deficit. "They hit the boards and we were not blocking out very well," Humann said. "But hey, a win's a win." Game notes: The Grizzlies broke out their new powder blue uniforms, which they will wear in home games this season. � An Ashland middle school basketball player won the halftime raffle then swished the ensuing half court shot to win $250. � Only one of Morin's 25 points came at the free throw line, where the Grizzlies were 9-for-14 as a team. Eagle Point went 7-for-13 at the charity stripe, led by Lee's 5-for-6 effort. � Morin on Ashland's No. 1 ranking in the SOC preseason coaches poll: "It's good but it's also bad. It's something that we're very honored to have but it's also a danger spot because in our league there's a lot of teams that could be No. 1 and a lot of other team's got No. 1 votes so it's a league where No. 1 really doesn't mean anything." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -