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Crater girls nearly perfect in rout By Greg Stiles CENTRAL POINT � From the opening tip, it was one-sided. As routs go, the judges could give the second-ranked Crater Comets a 9.5. Maybe not perfect, but awfully close. Klamath Union might have absorbed a worse beating somewhere along the line in 25 years of girls basketball, but it�s not likely anything could have surpassed Tuesday night�s 88-53 dismantling administered by the Comets. If this is the way the Crater Comets go about their business in 2001, the rest of the Southern Oregon Conference is in for a rough two months. "Their team is so well balanced," veteran Klamath Union coach Jack Sharp said. "They�re really strong inside, they have good guard play and you can�t press them because of Sarah (Pool). You can�t man them." And the Pelicans certainly couldn�t defend the Comets, who hit 10 of their first 13 shots from the floor and wound up 36-for-58 (.621) and 8 of 10 from 3-point range. "We certainly didn�t give them any type of a game tonight," Sharp said. "But I can�t imagine they could shoot any better than they did tonight." Five Comets scored in double figures as Crater improved to 5-0 in conference play and 13-1 overall. Jody McLeod, who led all scorers with 21 points, gave the Comets a 2-0 lead six seconds into the game. Then Janell Sapienza scored six of her 14 as Crater rolled to a 13-0 advantage with five minutes remaining in the quarter. Klamath Union couldn�t find any daylight against Crater�s interior defense and had no luck in firing perimeter shots in the opening quarter, hitting just 1 of 11 shots from the field. "We�d love to be able to come out this strong every game and find the weakness in every team, but that doesn�t always happen," Sapienza said. "We came out and played one of our best halves. I had seen them play before, but that didn�t seem to be their best effort." The Pelicans� first basket came on Grace Fagan�s putback at the 4:12 juncture of the quarter. But Crater responded with another 13-0 run as Pool knocked down seven of her 15 points in a four-minute span. Crater coach David Heard was nearly as overwhelmed as the Pelicans. "I was expecting a tough game, the kind like they gave Grants Pass," Heard said. "But that was a clinic in the first quarter. "When we shoot well from the perimeter, it makes us pretty tough � especially because they�re so small. I thought we moved the ball at a perfect pace. Sometimes we get in such a hurry that we don�t get a good shot. But everyone was getting the ball in good position to make their shots." McLeod was 9 of 10 from the field and was the beneficiary of many of Pool�s 14 assists. McLeod also had seven rebounds and three putbacks. "I got position, boxed out and concentrated on the fundamentals," McLeod said. "Sarah makes some great passes and I�ve gotten used to playing with her the past couple of years. She does a great job of finding the open player." Amy Denson, the SOC�s No. 3 scorer (17.3 average) who had 24 points against Ashland last Friday, finished with 12 points and six assists against her former teammates. Freshman Whitney Black was the other Comet in double figures with 10 points. Crater went on a 12-0 run, punctuated by seven points from McLeod, midway through the second quarter to take a 49-13 advantage and led 53-20 at the half. The margin became 65-22 when McLeod, via Pool, converted a turnover with 5:20 left in the third period. The Comets had connected on seven of their first eight shots in the period and led 71-29 with 2:37 to go when Heard pulled his starters. To that point, Crater had sunk 29 of 44 field goal attempts. Freshman Katie Robertson, who scored 28 points in two quarters of the junior varsity game, made it 75-31 at the final break. Kelsey Anhorn gave Crater its biggest lead at 78-33, on a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 6:58 to play. Sam Gilbert went on a 12-point tear in the final quarter for the Pels and finished with 17 points. The Comets visit second-place Roseburg Friday night. Despite the one-sided outcome against the only conference team to beat the Indians, Heard was quick to point out the difficulty of winning on Roseburg�s court. "I think it would be real easy to have a letdown right now," Heard said. "You want to be 10 to 15 points ahead going into the fourth quarter at Roseburg." KLAMATH UNION (53) � Gilbert 17, Donahoo 2, Davison 9, Leppert 10, Fagan 4, Spires 0, Sharp 2, Brookshire 9. Totals: 19-43 12-20 53. CRATER (88) � Black 10, Kinney 3, Anhorn 3, Pool 15, Sapienza 14, LeBel 0, McLeod 21, Huntley 0, Robertson 6, Nafie 2, Denson 12, Johnson 2. Totals: 36-58 8-10 88. Klamath Union.........................................2 18 11 22 �53 Crater......................................................26 27 22 13 � 88 3-point goals � Klamath Union 3-14 (Gilbert 1, Leppert 2), Crater 8-10 (Black 2, Kinney 1, Anhorn 1, Pool 3, Sapienza 1). Fouled out � LeBel. JV score � Crater 61, Klamath Union 41. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4483, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.