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56 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, March 7, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find a Rental Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Email Story to a Friend February 26, 2004 Crater digs deep for win over Willamette By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — Crater senior Dani Montgomery has done her fair share of carrying the load for the Comets’ girls basketball team this season. So when she needed a boost Wednesday night, it was only fitting that her teammates responded in kind as Crater fought off a tough Willamette team for a 49-40 victory in the second round of the Class 4A state playoffs. Facing relentless defensive attention, the Southern Oregon Conference’s player of the year struggled from the field, but her peers picked up the slack with notable efforts by Katie Robertson, Emily Brookins and Nicki Tyska. Robertson scored six of her 12 points in the first quarter when few others could buy an outside basket, while Brookins came off the bench for nine points and Tyska had two of the game’s biggest baskets in leading the Comets to their 12th straight victory. Advertisement "That’s what makes Crater so good right now," said Montgomery. "We have nine other girls who are going to step it up if one of us isn’t performing. That’s really helping us along the line here. Our bench is giving us great defense and great scoring." Despite an off-night for the usually potent scorer, Montgomery was able to chip away for a game-high 15 points on 7-for-19 shooting (37 percent) from the field. The 5-foot-11 senior wing/post also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds and took two charges. "Because teams are putting a lot of attention on her," Crater head coach Scott Dippel said of Montgomery, "she’s going to have times where she has tough shooting nights. But that’s why she’s where she’s at (as SOC player of the year). ... She’s resilient, and she stuck with it." For their winning efforts, the Comets (19-6) earned a third-round date with Lakeridge at 7 p.m. Saturday in Central Point. Led by last year’s state player-of-the-year Jillian Harmon, the fifth-ranked Pacers won 71-48 at Sandy on Wednesday. "It doesn’t get any easier from here," Dippel said. Willamette (18-6), the No. 3 seed from the Midwestern League, put up a formidable challenge Wednesday behind the blue-collar effort of 5-11 junior Stephanie Stephens and the opportunistic scoring of junior Nattisia Reynolds. Stephens hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds and added 10 points for the Wolverines, while Reynolds knocked down two 3-pointers and three transition layups to post 13 points. Even though Willamette never managed a lead or a tie against Crater, the Wolverines nipped on the Comets’ heels all night. "We knew we had to have our ‘A’ game and making smart passes was our barrier today," Stephens said of the final outcome. "It just wasn’t our day." The Comets led by as many as 11 entering the fourth quarter, but that dropped to four moments later as Willamette scored the opening seven points in that frame. Crater’s lead could have been cut even further, but the Wolverines missed three close-range efforts on ensuing possessions. Tyska notched the first of her two big baskets seconds later off an assist by Whitney Black, who had five for the game. The short jumper with 4:28 to go stemmed the tide and put Crater up 41- 35. A driving basket by Montgomery pushed the cushion to eight, but Julia Over answered with a 3-pointer for Willamette. With the Wolverines flying around the court to deny Black, Robertson and Montgomery, Tyska found some space again and scored off an assist by Montgomery to make it 45-38 with 2:38 to play. Following a Stephens miss, Crater played keepaway to perfection, taking more than 1½ minutes off the clock before two separate fouls by Stephens finally put the Comets in the bonus. Brookins missed the one-and-one free throw with 44 seconds to play, but Montgomery pulled down the rebound and made a tough fading shot from the baseline to ice the victory. "She wants to win worse than anybody on the floor, and she’s going to do whatever she can to make that happen," Dippel said of Montgomery’s late surge. WILLAMETTE (40) — Reynolds 13, St. Stephens 10, Sh. Stevens 7, Over 6, McGee 2, Em. Gray 2, Maris 0, Shoop 0. Totals: 16-44 4-14 40. CRATER (49) — Montgomery 15, Robertson 12, Brookins 9, N. Tyska 6, Wasniewski 5, Black 2, Je. Stoner 0, Reiter 0, Wiersma 0, Ratty 0, K. Tyska 0. Totals: 20-50 8-11 49. Willamette..................................11 6 11 12 — 40 Crater..........................................13 9 17 10 — 49 3-point goals — Willamette 4-11 (Reynolds 2, Over 2), Crater 1-12 (Brookins 1). Fouled out — St. Stephens. Technical fouls — Willamette coach Brothers. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. 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