By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– McNary-grad Ava Rubio once again stepped up in Chemeketa’s 63-48 victory over the Pacific University JV squad on Tuesday night.
In 31 minutes, the Storm sophomore led Chemeketa 22-point, 11-rebound and four steals double-double. The performance came off of Rubio’s 21-point, eight rebound, six assists game against Shoreline on Friday that has the Storm off to a 2-0 start to the year.
“She’s going to be one of the people that’s going to make us go, she’s very aggressive on both ends of the floor. She likes to take to the basket, she didn’t shoot the three great tonight, but she’s worked on that all Summer,” said Chemeketa Head Coach Justin Sherwood. “It’s good to have her step up and take that offensive leadership role of being aggressive right there.”
The game itself was a little more tight for the Storm compared to their season-opener against Shoreline, an 80-46 victory on Friday. Chemeketa led the Boxers 36-26 at halftime, but the Pacific University JV squad cut the deficit to six, 40-36, with 5:06 left in the quarter. But over the course of the final 15:06, the Storm outscored the Boxers 23-12 to rebuild not just their double-digit lead, but to give themselves some breathing room down the stretch.
“It was helpful to be in a little bit more competitive game, a little bit closer all the way through. We didn’t play as well as I thought, especially offensively, so that kind of led to some of that,” said Sherwood. “I think it was good for us to work through some struggles and figure some things out.”
And it’s just the second game of the year. A good standing to see where they’re at to improve from going into Saturday’s game at home against Highline. The biggest things of emphasis, points Sherwood, moving into that game and beyond are the easy fixable things. Turnovers, execution, intensity on the defensive side of the ball. The little things that will come around once they sure them out now that the season is underway.
Santiam Christian-grad Mia Fullbright scored ten points with six rebounds. Dallas’ Kaiya Woolsey recorded eight points for the Storm.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
