By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
TURNER, Ore.– Crosshill Christian’s Zoey Baker once again came in clutch for the Eagles Wednesday night against St. Paul.
Coming off of her go-ahead basket back on Friday against Central Linn in Crosshill Christian’s 45-43 victory over the Cobras, Baker connected on back-to-back baskets in the closing seconds of the contest to help the Eagles in their 38-35 victory over former Casco League foe in the Buckaroos.
The first basket, a lay-in, with 40.9 seconds remaining, drew a foul and an ‘And-One’ opportunity for the junior. The basket had put Crosshill back ahead 36-35 after St. Paul pulled ahead a few moments earlier in the game. Baker couldn’t connect on the foul shot opportunity but quickly redeemed herself as she got the rebound and put it back in to push the Eagle lead to three with about 38 seconds left in the game.
“They were big,” Baker said of the baskets. “I went to shoot the free throw, and I was really stressed, I haven’t made them throughout the game, and one of my teammates was able to tip it, and I was able to finish it. The last few wins have been big for us. We have this mindset of 1-0 every game. Just keep fighting. It’s been really encouraging for us to have those energy moments in the last two games to get those wins.”
It was a battle throughout the game. Crosshill was able to get out front first but wasn’t able to pull away from the upstart St. Paul team that they were facing. The Bucks, who started the year 0-6, entered the game winners of 10 of their 13, just kept fighting. Eventually, they pulled ahead of Crosshill in the fourth quarter for a brief moment or two before Baker’s two baskets.
Even then, the Bucks had a chance to tie things up in the final half-minute of the game. The Eagles, however, kept St. Paul, from doing so as Crosshill closed out the non-league victory Wednesday evening in Turner. It was a good tune-up game of sorts for the Buckaroos, who will head back into Casco League play Friday against Falls City/Kings Valley Charter on the road as they’re the only remaining unbeaten team in the conference this late into the season.
“There were some spots where we had some breakdowns and I talked about those after the game…We had some block outs, some breakdowns there at the end, those are some of things that we touched on that hopefully in two weeks we won’t have the same mistakes,” said St. Paul Head Coach Julie Melcher. “It was a good match-up. They’re a really well-coached team, and it was good for us against a team that has some height. A lot of teams in our league are a lot smaller. Defensively for about 85 percent of the possessions, and we just had a couple of breakdowns.”
Sienna Meza led the Buckaroos with 11 points, and Audra Rose contributed another ten in the game. Sierra Poush, Kasey Zuidema, and Baker each scored seven points to lead the Eagles, who will head to Waldport on Thursday and Toledo on Friday in Valley Coast Conference play.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
