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Crater girls come up short By Tim Pyle Mail Tribune PORTLAND - Even the best-laid plans don't always work out. The Crater girls basketball team hoped to secure, dreamt of claiming and perhaps even expected to win the program's first-ever state title in the Chiles Center this week. With stars Sarah Pool and Amy Denson leading the way and four other seniors on a roster chock-full of championship experience, the Comets arrived in Portland on Tuesday intent on taking the Class 4A OSAA/U.S. Bank state tournament by storm. Instead, Crater, ranked and seeded No. 2, was bounced from the championship bracket by an upset quarterfinal loss to Glencoe on Thursday night. Tears were shed and dreams were dashed, but then the Comets reset their sights on bouncing back to finish fourth and in the process set a new program record for wins in a season at 26. They thumped Corvallis on Friday to take the first step toward those new goals. But Saturday afternoon, Crater ran into the only team that had defeated it during the regular season, and fourth-seeded Central Catholic again bottled the Comets with a 60-55 victory in front of 1,214 fans. The fourth-place final was among the tournament's best-played and wasn't decided until the final minute. Crater, which finishes in seventh place at 25-3, had two shots to claim the lead and one shot to tie come up empty during the final 60 seconds. The most heartbreaking was Denson's twisting bank shot that spun around and out with 18 seconds remaining and the Rams holding a 57-55 edge. It was that kind of tournament for the Comets, as Central Catholic (24-3) added three free throws for the final tally. "That's kind of the way I was feeling when (Denson's shot) spun out, that maybe it just wasn't meant to be for us," said Crater head coach David Heard, who will determine by March 15 whether he will return to guide the Comets again next season. "That doesn't disregard 25 wins and a great season for these girls. Unfortunately, they'll have a sour taste in their mouths." The Rams, who were bounced from the championship bracket by a quarterfinal loss to Jesuit, led nearly the entire 32 minutes. Their largest first-half edge was five, at 17-12, and they held advantages of 17-14 after one quarter and 28-27 at the half. Crater's lone lead of the first half was 27-26 when Pool stopped and popped a short jumper in transition. In the last minute of the first half, Central Catholic senior post Vanessa Wyfells knocked home a banker to give the Rams the halftime edge. Central Catholic broke it open with three consecutive 3-pointers early in the third quarter. After Comets senior guard Sarah Yager bottomed out a 3 to tie it at 30-all, the Rams got bombs from senior wing Whitney Cave, junior post Kate Benz and Cave again to make it 39-30 with 5 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the third. Denson, who scored a game-high 25 points to finish with 92 points in four tournament games, tallied six straight around a Benz free throw to close the gap to 40-36. By the end of the quarter, Crater was back within 43-41, but both head coaches agreed that the three straight 3-pointers were a defining moment. "Absolutely," said Central Catholic head coach Sandy Dickerson, whose squad beat the Comets, 79-64, in late-December. "We did a good job of getting the ball inside and shooting from the outside." Wyfells led the charge for the Rams with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Cave added 13 points and Benz chipped in 10 rebounds and nine points in Saturday's third-place final. When Pool, who scored 12 points on 5-for-19 shooting and dished five assists, penetrated and dropped a short jumper 16 seconds into the fourth quarter, the game was tied at 43-all. The Rams responded with a 7-0 run and led the rest of the way. Crater senior forward Addie Wiersma drilled two fourth-quarter 3-pointers to keep the Comets within striking distance. She had eight points and five rebounds before fouling out with 2.44 seconds remaining, after another Denson shot - a 3-pointer - used every part of the rim before coming out. The outcome decided, Heard substituted for the rest of his starters - Pool, Denson, Yager and sophomore wing Katie Robertson. He hugged each one, his last coaching moments with Denson and Pool, who head on to Arizona State and California-Berkeley as Crater's No. 1 and 2 all-time scorers, respectively. "I wanted this group to get one last applause," said Heard, whose teams went 41-1 in winning three straight Southern Oregon Conference championships, lost just five times overall and finished second in the state in 1999-2000 and 2000-01 during Denson, Pool and the other seniors' Comet careers. "I don't need them to walk off the court with their heads down, feeling like failures. They need to hear how successful they were this season and be reminded of that. And they were." CENTRAL CATHOLIC (60) - O'Malley 2-6 1-2 7, Conway 3-10 3-6 9, Wyfells 7-8 3-6 17, Cave 3-7 4-4 13, Benz 1-5 6-8 9, Doleac 1-6 1-2 3, McIntyre 1-1 0-0 2, Feltz 0-0 0-0 0, Mathews 0-0 0-0 0, Lee 0-0 0-0 0, Marre' 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-43 18-28 60. CRATER (55) - Yager 1-3 0-0 3, Wiersma 3-5 0-0 8, Pool 5-19 1-2 12, Robertson 1-4 1-4 3, Denson 7-14 10-10 25, Black 0-3 0-2 0, Kinney 0-1 0-0 0, Huntley 0-0 0-0 0, LeBel 2-3 0-0 4, Anhorn 0-0 0-0 0, Maartense 0-0 0-0 0, Green 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-52 12-16 55. Central Catholic.................................17 11 15 17 - 60 Crater...................................................14 13 14 14 - 55 Halftime - Central Catholic 28, Crater 27. 3-point goals - Central Catholic 6-14 (O'Malley 2-6, Conway 0-1, Wyfells 0-1, Cave 3-4, Benz 1-2), Crater 5-17 (Yager 1-3, Wiersma 2-2, Pool 1-6, Robertson 0-1, Denson 1-2, Black 0-2, Kinney 0-1). Rebounds - Central Catholic 34 (Benz 10), Crater 31 (Denson 6). Assists - Central Catholic 11 (Wyfells 3), Crater 7 (Pool 5). Fouled out - Wiersma. Team fouls - Central Catholic 13, Crater 24. A - 1,214. Reach reporter Tim Pyle at 776-4483 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.