By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore. Everything just clicked for Sprague in their second meeting with McNary Tuesday night. The offense was hitting their shots, at a lot of them. Their defense got the stops and slowly led them to build a 61-43 lead three minutes into the third quarter.
They mentally stayed with it. They survived the minor runs that the Celtics went on. It’s been a steady improvement this season for the Olympians this season to be able to sustain their energy throughout the game in order to try to come out the other side of it with as much minimal damage as possible.
“We learned earlier this year, it’s hard when momentum switches and we haven’t been in a lot of tight games and when momentum switches and for them to hang on and not panic, that showed a lot of improvement with the team,” said Sprague Head Coach Andy Sydow. “I’m hoping (Tuesday) gives them some confidence, I really am. Jason (Alexander), our assistant coach, has done a great job working offense with them and our offense really started to click tonight and I’m hoping that continues to click and they continue to trust it because they got a lot of good looks tonight.”
McNary had one last run in them, however. With 1:10 left in the game, the Celtics clawed back and trailed the Olympians 63-55. It was a 12-2 run that got McNary back into the game, but it wasn’t enough for the Celtics to overcome the deficit as Sprague picked its first Central Valley Conference victory of the season.
There wasn’t frustration as just being on the unlucky side of things for the Celtics. Head Coach Brittany Dunn pointed out that their effort was there Tuesday night. It just didn’t go the way that they would’ve hoped.
“Some of those you win, some of those you don’t. We take it as a lesson, move on, and we look towards the next game,” starts Dunn. “(Friday) is a good opportunity for us to bounce back and use the momentum from that last part of the game to really focus on that and enhance those things that we did well to come out on top.”
McNary heads to Canby on Friday for a non-league game. Ella Kellar led the Celtics with 12 points. Kate Cruickshank contributed another 11 for the Celts.
Carly Skogstad led Sprague, who will be at South Salem on Friday, with 18 points. Addison Almero also scored 18 points for the Olys.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
