Document text
FRIDAY January 30, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels January 2, 2004 Grizz girls the team to beat as SOC play begins By Tim Pyle For The Tidings It's all nonsense. So says Steve Humann. Upon learning that his Ashland girls basketball team was being anointed the team to beat in the Southern Oregon Conference for the second consecutive year, Humann wanted to set the record straight. ASHLAND HIGH junior guard Alysse Carlson goes up for a jump shot over a Mountain View defender during an early-season Grizzly home victory Dec. 20 in Mountain Avenue gym in Ashland. The Grizzlies were No. 1 in a preseason SOC coaches' poll. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings "If I were you, I wouldn't trust those coaches - and you can print that," Humann says. "I think anybody, and I mean anybody, in the league can beat anybody on a good night." It's just that most the other coaches expect the Grizzlies, who haven't won the league since 1999, to have more good nights than anyone else as the SOC season tips off tonight. Ashland is 9-1 overall after winning the Les Schwab South Coast Holiday Tournament on Wednesday, and the Grizzlies boast a pair of heady, high-scoring guards that are probably the conference's best backcourt duo. Hilary Huyett is a sharpshooter who is one of two returning first-team all-SOC performers in the league, and Alysse Carlson is a point guard adept at both scoring and distributing. "I think they're the best scoring guards in the league and probably the best two guards in the state," Humann says of the junior tandem. "They've played together since the fifth grade." Ashland, however, isn't without its question marks. Carlson and Huyett are surrounded by three new starters, a bench that runs just three deep and no players taller than 5-foot-10. "I'm concerned about our size," says Humann, who directed the Grizzlies to a 19-9 record last winter that featured tying for second place in the SOC with North Medford and a Class 4A state-tournament appearance. "And we have to be more consistent on defense." The other teams considered top contenders for the conference crown are North Medford, Roseburg and Crater. They're ranked in that order in the coaches poll, each separated by just one point. Eagle Point, South Medford, Klamath Union and Grants Pass, in that sequence, round out the poll. The catch phrase among league coaches is parity, and it appears accurate. Despite Ashland's No. 1 tag, there is no overwhelming favorite. Nobody expects the champion to go undefeated, as has been the case the last three years. "I think that it's a little more balanced," says South Medford's Andrea Jaime, the league's longest-tenured head coach in her seventh year. "The bottom of the conference is better, and the top is maybe not quite as dominant as it has been." North Medford (7-3) wields five players who gained considerable starting experience last year and an up-tempo, pressuring style that suits its depth and athleticism. "We've forced a lot of turnovers, created a pace we want and taken teams out of their comfort zones," second-year head coach Tim Karrick says of the Black Tornado's early- season effort. "We spread out the scoring and put pressure on other teams defensively." Roseburg (7-2) lost SOC player-of-the-year Jori Grady, who is now starring at point guard for Umpqua Community College and four other seniors who made big contributions. But the Indians are still dangerous, led by senior point guard Katie Stephens and senior post Katie Fuller. "Probably, we're a little more versatile than we have been in the past," says third-year head coach Bob Feasel, who guided Roseburg to a perfect SOC campaign last winter. "I don't think there's one area you can defend us." Crater (5-5) boasts a trio of players as good as any around in senior point guard Whitney Black, senior wing Katie Robertson and senior post Dani Montgomery. Besides Huyett, Montgomery is the SOC's only other returning first-team all-league standout. The supporting cast, however, is inexperienced. "It's a lot about confidence," says second-year head coach Scott Dippel. "A lot of the kids contributing key minutes don't have a lot of varsity experience, so we're still going through the bumps of that a little bit." Nobody is looking past Eagle Point (7-3), South Medford (2-7), Klamath Union (7-2) or Grants Pass (6-3), either. It's just that most look at the Grizzlies and see a slight favorite in what promises to be a compressed, competitive conference race. "Ashland is seasoned," Dippel says. "Those kids are knowledgeable basketball players, which is a huge advantage. They work hard, and they've played together a long time as a unit (dating back to their youth days)." In tonight's openers, Grants Pass is at North Medford, South Medford's at Roseburg, Ashland travels to Eagle Point and Crater goes to Klamath Union. All games tip off at 7 p.m. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - ODOT Road Cams