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60 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, March 15, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend February 29, 2004 Crater�s Dani Montgomery, left, drives against Lakeridge�s Lauren Howze (25) and Paige Halberg in Saturday�s playoff game. Mail Tribune / Andrew Mariman Comets can’t keep up with Lakeridge Buoyed by all-star Jillian Harmon, fifth-ranked Pacers crush Crater By TIM PYLE Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — Confident and composed, Lakeridge looked like a champion Saturday night. The Southern Oregon Conference’s champions were no match. Led by the state’s best player, the visiting Pacers impressively pounded Crater, 68-52, in the third round of the Class 4A girls basketball state playoffs. Jillian Harmon amassed 26 points, 17 rebounds, five steals, four assists and two blocks to propel Lakeridge into the state tournament Thursday to Saturday at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center. Advertisement The fifth-ranked Pacers (21-4) open with Intermountain Conference No. 1 Pendleton — a 68-61 winner over McNary on Saturday — Thursday night at 6:30. Lakeridge finished third in the state last year, but the Three Rivers League’s third seed may improve upon that if it can keep performing like it did Saturday. "I told (Pacers head coach Heather Roberts), ‘If you can win in this place, there’s no reason that you can’t keep this up,’" said second-year head coach Scott Dippel, whose Comets finish 19-7. "There’s no reason they can’t be a final-four team and even play in the finals." Crater scored the game’s first five points, but a 10-0 Lakeridge response gave the Pacers the lead for good. The Comets closed to within 23-22 midway through the second quarter with a 9-0 surge that was aided by an unusual technical foul issued to a Lakeridge assistant coach. Just after Crater sophomore guard Emily Brookins dropped in a floater along the baseline, the technical was whistled, and senior wing Katie Robertson hit both free throws. The Comets also received possession of the ball, and that set up a pair of one-and-one free throws from senior wing/post Dani Montgomery to wrap up the six-point sequence with 4 minutes, 15 seconds left in the half. "What it was was my assistant coach was upset with one of my players for getting beat baseline, so he said, ‘Play some fritzin’ defense,’" said Roberts, who coached the Ashland girls for five years prior to taking over the Pacers in 2001. "The official then gave him a technical and (said) I couldn’t get up the rest of the game." Lakeridge recovered to coolly score the half’s final four points and take a 32-26 edge into the break. "I kept telling ‘em, ‘You can’t control (the officiating); you can only worry about what you can control,’" Roberts said. The Pacers quickly established firm command in the second half, opening the third quarter with eight straight points to earn a 40-26 cushion. Crater crept to within 42-33 on three free throws from Robertson, fouled behind the 3-point line at the 3:18 mark, but Harmon provided the final seven of her 11 points in the period to push Lakeridge to a 55-42 advantage entering the fourth quarter. "We knew we weren’t gonna be given anything down here, so we just had to stay in it," said Harmon, a 6-foot-1 junior who can play all five positions and was the state’s 4A player of the year as a sophomore. "We tried not to talk to the refs and tried to stay focused on the main goal." Any hope for a late Comet rally was effectively killed by Crater’s shooting struggles and a full-court press by the Pacers that forced several turnovers deep in the backcourt. "Their defense was really awesome tonight," said Robertson, whose team committed eight of its 13 turnovers in the second half and shot 34.6 percent (18-for-52) from the field for the game. "They were all in our faces, and it was really hard even to get a pass off. I would have to say that was probably the best thing they did." Lakeridge sank 11 of 20 free throws in the fourth quarter as the Comets tried to come back, and only a 1-for-8 shooting effort from the field in the final period pulled the Pacers under 50 percent for the game to 46.3 percent (25-for-54). Crater’s "Big Three" of Robertson, Montgomery and senior point guard Whitney Black all exited to standing ovations in the final minutes. Montgomery, the SOC’s player of the year, collected 17 points, 11 rebounds and three assists; Black found eight points and three assists; and Robertson compiled seven points and six rebounds. Junior post Nicki Tyska contributed 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting. "Man, what a season," said Dippel, who directed the Comets to their seventh SOC title in nine years. "So proud of our girls, and I think that not only did we win, but we won with class. ... Everybody in the crowd knew what (the seniors) meant to the program. I told them, ‘These people are here because they love you.’" Freshman wing Paige Halberg provided Lakeridge with pinpoint outside shooting in scoring 16 points, and Dippel labeled her performance "the biggest thing" in the game because it made Crater shift its defense from solely focusing on Harmon. Junior point guard Brittany Halberg, Paige’s older sister, added 12 points and five assists. It all amounted to too much, even for the SOC’s best team, which had won 12 straight entering the night. "We had to earn everything today," Montgomery said. "They’re a great team." LAKERIDGE (68) — Bennett 0, L. Howze 2, Harmon 26, P. Halberg 16, B. Halberg 12, Beeson 0, Aldinger-Gibson 5, Kam 7, B. Howze 0, Lawson 0, Huck 0. Totals: 25-54 15-30 68. CRATER (52) — Montgomery 17, Wasniewski 6, N. Tyska 10, Robertson 7, Black 8, Brookins 2, Je. Stoner 0, Ratty 2, Reiter 0, Wiersma 0, Ja. Stoner 0, K. Tyska 0. Totals: 18-52 13-17 52. Lakeridge ................................ 15 17 23 13 — 68 Crater ...................................... 10 16 16 10 — 52 3-point goals — Lakeridge 3-11 (Kam 2, Aldinger-Gibson 1), Crater 3-12 (Black 2, Montgomery 1). Fouled out — Montgomery, Wasniewski. Technical foul — Lakeridge bench. Reach reporter Tim Pyle at 776-4483 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress Advertisement s