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Roseburg dominates AHS girls inside, wins big By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings ROSEBURG - Too big, too strong and - for now at least - just too good. The Roseburg High girls basketball team on Tuesday outrebounded Ashland 42-23 and never trailed in a 57-44 win over the Grizzlies at the Stewart W. Robertson Memorial gym, all but clinching the Southern Oregon Conference and the automatic berth to state that goes with it. The win improved the fourth-ranked Indians, winners of 14 straight, to 11-0 in the conference and 19-2 overall, while the Grizzlies fell to 8-3 in the SOC and 15-6 overall. With three games left, Roseburg has a three-game lead in the conference standings over both North Medford (13-8, 8-3) and Ashland. "We knew we had to play a perfect game, but we're not going to let one game ruin our season," Ashland head coach Steve Humann said. "The plan all along was to go to the state tournament and win league. Now, we can adjust the plan, and we're going to try to go to state." Roseburg senior guard/post Jori Grady had a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds and 6-4 senior post Kristen Bitter pulled down a game-high 12 boards, as the Indians parlayed their rebounding dominance into a 14-shot advantage (57-43). Flu-striken senior post Marla Morin led Ashland with 20 points and seven rebounds, but no other Grizzly scored in double figures as AHS was held to its second-lowest scoring output of the SOC season on 37 percent shooting (16-for-43). The Grizzlies were down by three after one, by 10 at the half and by as much as 14 in the third before slowly starting to claw their way back. They cut the deficit to 10 by the start of the fourth and used a 7-2 run capped by Alysse Carlson's 3-pointer with 6:34 to go to get within five at 43-38. But Roseburg, one of the tallest teams in the state, turned two offensive rebounds into five points over the next three minutes, including Micaela Williams' (13 points) rebound send-back with 3:39 to go, to stake an insurmountable 50-41 cushion. "We put a lot of emphasis on (rebounding) at the beginning because we felt like we dominated on the boards (in the last meeting) too," Roseburg coach Bob Feasel said. "We felt like that would be something we would have to do." The Grizzlies played a pretty clean game, turning the ball over just eight times to Roseburg's seven, but could not overcome the same Indian paint dominance that led to a 46-45 loss back on Jan. 14 in Ashland. While that game was decided by Katie Fuller's last-second free throw, this time Roseburg needed no such heroics thanks to a quick start bolstered by a 24-11 first-half rebounding clinic. "Well, they're just a very tall team and they have good shooters," said Grizzly sophomore guard Hilary Huyett, who came in averaging 16.2 points per game, but was held to nine points on three 3-pointers. "Them being able to get rebounds and put-back shots and also hit from the outside is just really tough to defend. "We know they're a great team and we have to play our best and we played hard, but we weren't exactly at the top of our game. Offensively, I think, our shots just weren't there - it happens sometimes, you just have to move on." The Grizzlies held Roseburg to 39 percent shooting (22-for-57), including 32 percent (11-for-34) in the middle two quarters, but were repeatedly burned on second and third-chance opportunities. On one Roseburg possession that summed up the game, the Indians missed three straight second-quarter shots but snared the offensive board each time before finally cashing in on a Bitter lay-up. Ashland's postseason fate now rests on its final three league games against Grants Pass (Friday), Crater (Feb. 18) and North Medford (Feb. 20). The Ashland-North Medford rematch, to be played in Ashland, could determine the No. 2 seed, which provides a much easier postseason fate than the No. 3 seed. The No. 3 seed must win two playoff games - including one on the road - in order to make the 16-team Class 4A State Tournament, to be held at the Chiles Center March 4-8, while the league's No. 2 team need only win a single playoff game at home to advance. "Right now, our goal is just to win the rest of our games and get second in the conference," Huyett said, "and at this point it looks like if we win the rest of our games we will get second so we just need to keep playing hard and improving and we'll be fine." Game Notes: Ashland also got nine points out of Carlson and six from senior post Chloe Hansen. � Morin hit 7 of 9 shots on a variety of post moves, including a turnaround jumper that led to a three-point play in the first quarter. � After starting the second half 8-for-12, Ashland missed six of its last seven shots. � The complete league-by-league playoff and state tournament pairings are available at www.osaa.org. 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 -