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Crater gets its shot at crown Defensive plan helps Comets stifle Beaverton in 4A semifinal By GREG STILES PORTLAND -- Betsy Boardman and the Beaverton Beavers have seen the box-and-one a lot. More teams have tried it than Beaverton coach Sean Coste cares to admit. But few worked the defensive scheme as well as the Crater Comets did Friday night in the Class 4A state girls basketball semifinals. The Comets added the box-and-one to their game plan hours before tipoff, then acted like they invented it in driving Boardman and Co. to distraction as Crater shocked the Metro League champs, 47-42, before 4,987 at the Chiles Center. The victory advanced No. 7 Crater, the Southern Oregon Conference champion, into the title game for the second time in three years. The Comets will meet the Metro League's runner-up, No. 5 Westview, which outlasted top-ranked Oregon City, 43-40, in the other semifinal. "Coach (David) Heard told whoever was guarding Betsy not to worry about where the ball was and just to keep in her face," said junior guard Janell Sapienza, who switched off on Boardman with Sarah Pool, Skye Hemphill, Amy Denson and Brandi Hall. "Everyone else was supposed to call out screens and switches, and we were pretty much supposed to deny her the ball." Boardman, who averages 19 points a game, had just two points at the half and just seven going into the fourth quarter. With their leader tied in knots, the Beavers barely resembled a team that lost once in the tough Metro League. "She's been boxed a lot," Coste said. "But we struggled tonight, we were out of sync. Betsy got in foul trouble, and Crater was doing a good job of what they were doing." Heard and his staff were up into the wee hours Friday morning sorting out a game plan. The box-and-one was almost an afterthought. "We had dinked around with a box-and-one against Eagle Point," Heard said. "The hardest part of the box-and-one isn't the one, it's the other four, and they did a great job. I'm amazed how these kids picked it up that quickly and how they responded to the pressure tonight for 32 minutes. Beaverton is a really, really good team." Crater nabbed the lead midway through the first quarter and never allowed the Beavers to pull even, although they often lurked two or three points away. A 9-2 run in the middle of the fourth period, featuring six points by Jody McLeod, pushed the Comets' advantage to 43-33 when Sapienza converted a three-point play with 2:22 to play. "I think the most important thing was that we kept the lead the entire way," said Pool, who got in early foul trouble and spent much of the night being worked over by Beaverton's guards. "If we let them catch up, they probably would've beaten us." McLeod, who totaled 11 points in the first two games of the tourney, led all scorers with 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Denson chipped in with 10 points and 12 rebounds as the Comets outrebounded the taller Beavers, 38-28. "Jody really sparked us on the boards, constantly battling with their big kids," said Yager, who nailed clutch 3-pointers in both halves. Hounded from the get-go, Boardman sat out all but six minutes of the first half after drawing her second foul with 4:12 left in the first quarter. Crater scored 10 points from 4:34 in the first quarter to 6:11 in the second quarter to take a 15-6 advantage. But Kellie Young, who scores fewer than five points a game, scored the next eight points to pull the Beavers to within 15-14. But Sapienza drove the lane to make it 17-14 with 3:31 to go in the half. Those were the last points, largely because Beaverton -- with Boardman on the bench -- held the ball at midcourt for nearly 80 seconds while Crater remained in its zone. The Comets didn't have to come out because they were ahead. Finally when the Beavers began their offense, Malia Nagy's pass for Tracy Vanderzanden sailed out of bounds. "I think they were kind of confused, because we kept changing things up," Sapienza said. "We really wanted it and this one was going to the team that wanted it the most." Crater upped its lead to seven points early in the third quarter, but Beaverton kept rallying. With the Comets nursing a 28-26 advantage, Yager splashed an NBA 3-pointer to push Crater's advantage to five points. Then McLeod speared the final push with passes from Denson and Pool. "We were working so hard on defense that we tired out and didn't rotate and they got easy shots," Coste said. Now the Comets turn their attention to a team that Beaverton beat twice. But one that bombed Crater, 57-28, in the Northwest Holiday tournament at Westview. "I feel we're more ready for them now," Denson said of Westview. "We're playing at our peak." And perhaps Heard will have a new scheme for Westview's 6-foot-5 Kara Braxton, who scored 45 points in limited playing time during the first three rounds. "We had chemistry and communication tonight," Heard said. "Obviously, we'll have our hands full. We might be overmatched, who knows? "But how often do you get to the state championship game? We're just going to have fun." CRATER (47) -- McLeod 16, Yager 6, Pool 2, Sapienza 7, Denson 10, Hemphill 6, Hall 0, Johnson 0. Totals: 17-45 11-17 47. BEAVERTON (42) -- Boardman 14, Baker 2, Vanderzanden 6, Harguth 5, Young 8, Nagy 0, Vernon 0, Neupert 1, Joo 0, Byers 6. Totals: 17-52 6-9 42. Crater .......................11 6 14 16 -- 47 Beaverton ..................6 8 12 16 -- 42 3-point goals -- Crater 2-7 (Yager 2), Beaverton 2-12 (Harguth 1, Boardman 1). Rebounds -- Crater 38 (Denson 12, McLeod 10), Beaverton 28 (Boardman 8). Turnovers -- Crater 14, Beaverton 9. Total fouls -- Crater 12, Beaverton 15. 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