Document text
The best 1-2 punch ever? Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Crater's Amy Denson, left, and Sarah Pool rank No. 1 and 2, respectively, in career scoring for the Comets and will be making their bid for a third straight trip to the Class 4A state championship finals when Crater opens the girls tournament tonight against Tualatin. Crater seniors Sarah Pool and Amy Denson have positioned themselves among the state's elite combinations of all time By TIM PYLE Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT - In Chicago, it was once Jordan and Pippen. In Salt Lake City, it's still Stockton and Malone. In Oregon City, it was once Smith and Meharry. In Central Point, it's still Pool and Denson - for one more week. As Crater High School prepares to make its annual run in the Class 4A girls basketball state tournament beginning today in Portland, senior stars Sarah Pool and Amy Denson are aiming to cap illustrious prep careers with the school's first state title. But even if the Comets fall short, Pool and Denson are destined to go down as one of the best duos in Oregon girls hoops history. In fact, many coaches and experts believe Pool and Denson are on par with ex-Oregon City stars Ashley Smith and Brianne Meharry as the best 1-2 punches in state history. "It's debatable whether Pool and Denson or Smith and Meharry is the best duo ever," says Lake Oswego head coach Gary Lavender, who went head-to-head with the latter pair in Three Rivers League action in the mid-1990s and has played against Crater's stars a handful of times, most recently at the adidas Laker Interstate Shootout in late December. "(Pool and Denson) have to be in the top 10, both of them, in the history of Oregon girls basketball." That's heady praise coming from a coach who has been in charge of prep girls basketball programs in the state for 27 years, the last 25 at Lake Oswego. Eighth-year Comets head coach David Heard, who has directed his teams to state runner-up finishes three of the last four seasons, also believes Pool and Denson are right there with Smith and Meharry, who both graduated in 1997. "They're comparable," he says. "Sarah scores more than Ashley did. But Ashley was with other great players on that team. (Lindsey) Yamasaki, who was an All-American (and now starts at Stanford), was at the wing for two years with Ashley and Meharry. "They won three national championships in a row, those two, with some other great players around them." Smith went on to start at point guard for Vanderbilt as a freshman, then quit the team as a sophomore. Meharry had a productive career at Oregon, finishing 14th on the Ducks' all-time scoring list. Pool, a 5-foot-8 point guard who is headed to California next year, averages 20.5 points and 8.3 assists per game for No. 2-ranked Crater (23-1 overall). Denson, a 6-1 post who will play collegiately at Arizona State, puts up 20.7 points and pulls down 11.5 rebounds per outing. Denson leads the state in scoring, and Pool is a close second. With 497 points for Denson and 491 for Pool, the two should push past 1,000 points combined for the season in tonight's first-round state-tournament matchup against Tualatin at 8:45 at Portland's Chiles Center. Brad Smith, co-coach of No. 1-ranked Oregon City and the father of Ashley Smith, says Pool and Denson do more on the court than Smith and Meharry did, in part because the Comets' supporting cast is not what the mid-'90s Pioneers' - with Yamasaki and Co. - was. "The difference between those two and our two is Sarah is a great passer, but she also looks to score," says Smith, who coached Oregon City for 20 years, assisted at Vanderbilt for one and is now in his third season back with the Pioneers. "Ashley didn't have to score for us. And then Amy can play inside and out. She steps out and shoots jumpers with regularity. Bri for us was just a post-up player. She was a very good post-up player, but she never had to leave the blocks." Pool and Denson have etched their names all over the Crater record books, even though neither attended the school as freshmen. After transferring from Bend High School between her freshman and sophomore years, Pool has ascended to second on the Comets' all-time scoring list (behind Denson) and tops the career assists ledger by a whopping 274 over second place. Denson played at Klamath Union as a freshman before coming to Crater to shatter the all-time scoring record and climb to third among the Comets' best career rebounders. Denson has 1,234 points, while Pool is at 1,020. Caryn Ross held the Comets' old career-scoring mark at 990. "I knew both had great, unlimited potential," says Heard, whose squad's only loss this season was to Central Catholic, the state tournament's fourth seed, at the aforementioned adidas Laker Interstate Shootout. "They're the two best ever in our league. And it's so hard to compare kids of different eras and different times and different teams ... but numbers-wise, they're more potent than anybody, ever. "I don't think there's ever been a team with the top two leading scorers in the state on the same team. ... Maybe Oregon City one of those times." With so much already accomplished - including three straight Southern Oregon Conference titles and a 41-1 record in SOC play - Crater's magnificent pair is determined to go out by capturing the one thing that has eluded it. Each of the last two seasons have ended with bitter defeats in the state-championship game, 47-44 to Westview in 2000 and 48-30 to Oregon City last year. "Since losing it twice, especially the way that we lost it last year, when you go out of the game knowing that you could have done so much more ... it's kind of devastating," says Denson, who was 0-for-10 from the field and scored but two points in last season's finale, in which the Comets shot 23.9 percent as a team. "But you just come back the next year, and hopefully it's the year. Third time's a charm." Pool says Crater is ready as ever to reach the top of the state's girls basketball landscape. "I feel confident," says Pool, who paces the team in 3-pointers made and attempted and steals in addition to her scoring and assists work. "I feel like we're veterans now. We've been there twice. We know what it's like. We know what it is to win. We know what it takes to get there. And that helps us." Heard believes this is the Comets' best chance ever at a state title. "I have the two best players in the state, and there's only five players at a time on the court for each team," he says. "People won't know how good these two girls are until they're gone." Pool and Denson say much of their title motivation stems from the desire to get Heard his first crown before they move on to Pacific 10 Conference competition. "Our coaches have totally picked up this program and made it a place where you wanna work hard, you wanna give your all, but you have so much fun doing it," says Denson, shooting a sparkling 59 percent from the field this season. "That's why we've been in the state championship the past couple years." Adds Pool: "I just wanna win it for coach Heard because he hasn't gotten any of the credit he deserves. ... We've had back-to-back undefeated conference championships, and that's something that most coaches will never accomplish in their lifetimes. I just wanna win it for coach Heard because of all the time he's put in, all that he's done for us, our team, the community, everything. "He deserves it. If anyone deserves it, it's him." Spoken like true coaches' dreams. Except most wouldn't dare to imagine having a pair of Pool and Denson's caliber together. And very few have. 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.