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Crater grabs fourth in tournament Staff Reports BEAVERTON -- The Crater High girls basketball team finished on a winning note and walked off with the fourth-place trophy at the Holiday Hoopfest Basketball Tournament Thursday. Jody McLeod scored 12 points and snagged nine rebounds and Sarah Yager registered 12 points and three steals as Crater defeated Prairie, Wash., 48-34, in the fourth-place game. The Comets finished 3-1 in the 16-team tournament that featured some of the top high school girls teams in the country. "This is going to prepare us for the rest of our league season," said Crater coach David Heard, whose Comets improved their record to 8-2. "I think we grew a lot the last four days. We're getting our confidence." Prairie slapped an aggressive full-court, man-to-man defense on Crater, but the Comets responded with some tough defense of their own -- a series of zones that smothered the Washington state opponent. "They were in our face on defense and they dictated the tempo of the game," Heard said. "But (Sarah) Pool did a nice job of getting the ball up the court and getting us into our offense. "And our defense definitely bothered them." The Comets broke the game open in the third period when they went on a 12-3 run to take a 34-18 lead. Prairie -- the No. 2-ranked team in Washington -- never recovered. Pool finished with nine points and five assists and was named to the 10-person all-star squad. "Each game we won up here, we won in a different way," Heard said. "That should help us down the line." Jessica Jones led Prairie with 10 points and 6-foot-3 post Callie Spooner had eight. PRAIRIE, Wash. (34) --Pickup 7, Anderson 0, English 2, Thorkildson 0, Kendall 0, Wright 0, Jessica Jones 10, Hamberg 0, Callie Spooner 8, Cushing 7. Totals: 12-48 7-10 34. CRATER (48) --Yager 12, Hemphill 6, Pool 9, Sapienza 0, McLeod 12, Wiersma 2, Hall 2, Denson 3, Johnson 2. Totals: 15-40 15-19 48. Prairie, Wash .......9 6 3 16 -- 34 Crater ...............8 14 12 12 -- 48 3-point goals -- Prairie 3 (Pickup 1, Jones 2), Crater 3 (Yager 2, Pool 1). Technicals -- Prairie coach Aldridge, Crater coach Heard. NORTH MEDFORD 48, LAKERIDGE 45 -- At Beaverton, the Black Tornado capped its experience at the Holiday Hoopfest Tournament on a high note thanks to solid work defensively and on the boards. North Medford (4-7) created 24 turnovers and converted those Lakeridge miscues into 23 points while outrebounding the Pacers 33-20. The Tornado finished 11th in the 16-team tourney. Tressa Manwaring had 13 points and Ashley Nelson added 11 points and 10 rebounds to pace North Medford. Kara Hwang chipped in nine points and four steals, while Tennille Bennett had a solid all-around effort with eight points, five steals and five assists. The Black Tornado managed a 10-point lead at halftime, but stumbled in the third quarter to leave the door open for a potential Lakeridge comeback. Nelson, a 6-foot junior post, responded to increased playing time for the second straight game. Coming off an injury, Nelson had limited minutes in the first two games of the tournament. She played 29 minutes in Wednesday's win over Aloha, posting 18 points and nine rebounds. Nelson played 21 minutes in the win over Lakeridge. NORTH MEDFORD (48) -- Manwaring 13, Nelson 11, Hwang 9, Bennett 8, Versteeg 5, MacLauchlan 2, Williams 0, Jones 0, Horn 0, Allen 0. Totals: 20-53 8-17 48. LAKERIDGE (45) -- Beall 10, Moller 9, Dodds 5, Shameklis 4, Hinkle 4, Coulson 2, Carpenter 2, Cole 2, Berreth 1, Harwood 6. Totals: 14-36 16-20 45. North Medford ......13 19 6 10 -- 48 Lakeridge ............8 14 13 10 -- 45 Fouled out -- Shameklis. Technical fouls -- Lakeridge coach Mark Wipf. SPRINGFIELD 65, ASHLAND 49 --At Beaverton, junior wing Hannah Seltzer managed 18 points but the rest of the Grizzlies couldn't find the hot hand as Ashland dropped its final game in the Holiday Hoopfest Tournament. The Grizzlies, now 6-4 on the season, finished the 16-team tournament with one victory in four games. ASHLAND (49) --Seltzer 18, Woods 11, Pippa 9, Morgan 9, Bullen 2, Huyett 0, McNaught 0, Kalemkeris 0. SPRINGFIELD (65) --Wagner 21, Rath 20, Hedgepeth 10, Johnson 9, Purscelley 2, Baynes 2, Skeele 1, Thurn 0, Millegan 0. Ashland ..............13 10 16 10 -- 49 Springfield .........17 10 21 17 -- 65 Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.