Eric Gustafson, 3-14-98.

e-mail me with comments or questions (no complaints allowed): egustafs@mesd.k12.or.us

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Sixth Graders fall one point short at Central Oregon Shootout (3-14)

The Sixth Grade Wildcats played great at the Central Oregon Shootout in Bend-Sisters over the weekend, winning three games and losing just a two-point heartbreaker to Oregon City. The 3-1 record in pool play earned the Wildcats a first place tie, but the tie breaker system used to separate Oregon City, The Extreme, and the Wildcats found the Wildcats one point short of playing in the championship round. Instead of playing for first place, the Wildcats had to go home after their exciting come from behind 32-31 win over the Xtreme.

Unfortunately the Wildcats let a 17 point lead get away from them against Oregon City, in a game they lost 25-23. The game was marred by ugly fan conduct by some Oregon City spectators, and an intimidating performance by the Oregon City coach. The coach and fans so rattled the officials that they watch the last 10 minutes of the games as the Oregon City girls mauled, pushed, kicked, bit, scratched, and tripped their way to steal after steal. They finally erased the Wildcats lead in the final minute, then scored with four seconds to play for the two point win.

Against the Xtreme, it was the Wildcats' turn to come from behind. The Xtreme got off the a 5-0 lead early in the game, and led the entire way. Their halftime lead was 21-16, and with just a few minutes left in the game they still held a four point lead. But the Wildcat girls kept fighting, playing tough defense and rebounding the ball aggresively. They picked up a steal with less than thirty seconds to go in the game, then worked patiently until they could free Shayla for a baseline shot that she sank with 7 seconds to play. The 32-31 lead was the first and only Wildcat lead of the game. Shayla ended up with 17 points. Kelly played her usual great defensive game, and Hannah had one of her best rebounding game of the season. Jessica P. and Megan played tough solid games, and Ali did a good job on the boards before she fouled out.

Fifth Grade Wildcats Win Battle Ground tournament (2-21)

The Fifth Grade Wildcats performed brilliantly Sunday, February 21, winning all three of their games at the Battle Ground tournament and taking home the championship trophy. The junior Wildcats started off by beating Centralia 32-10. In this game Shayla led with 18 points and Jessica added 10. Our full court pressure was too much for the opposition, and they turned the ball over a lot. In the second game the Wildcats played the Lightning Bolts, a team that we had previously beaten easily. We got off to a great start in this game, building up an impressive 24-5 halftime lead. Unfortunately our ball handling and defense got a little sloppy, and Shayla had to leave the game for a while with a bloody lip. We only scored 4 points in the second half, but held on for a 28-15 win. Shayla again led us with 18 points.

The Championship game was a tough battle with the Shooting Stars of Longview. They were a good team and we had to play tough alert defense the whole way to keep them from scoring. They also played tough defense and didn't allow us many uncontested shots. We led 11-10 at halftime, and the second half things got even tighter. The Shooting Stars took a brief lead, but the Wildcat defense stiffened and did not allow many more chances. Shayla fouled out of the game (on a terrible offensive foul call) with about three minutes to go in the game and with us holding a one point lead. Fortunately our defense stayed tough, led by Crystal Moore, and we got two free throws from Crystal in the final minute. The Wildcats escaped with a 17-14 win. Shayla scored all the Wildcats points in this game until Crystal's free throws. She ended up with 15 points.

We won this tournament with defense. All the girls did a good job on the press, and in helping pick up girls that got close to the basket. Especially good on defense was Crystal. Melanie did an excellent job along with Jessica. Shayla was great as usual and Tess made a number of good hustle plays, stealing the ball or tying it up. Our inside girls, Greta, Tracy and Sarah did a good job of not allowing uncontested shots and fighting inside to defend our basket. Great job girls!

Open Gym: Come any Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Some days we will be able to use the new gym by ourselves to practice. Other days we can just come and mess around (productively) from 3:00 till 5:00 in the main gym.

Monday Nights: Beginning Dec. 7, we will have the West Orient gym from 7:00 until 9:00 on Monday nights. We will miss holidays, such as MLK day, Presidents day, any snow days, etc.,

We will have the possibility of getting some other miscellaneous nights in the new gym at Barlow. Those nights will be posted here when we know about it.

Wildcats beat Prairie: "Best game We've ever played" (3-9)

After losing to Prairie earlier in the season by nine points, the sixth grade Wildcats played their best game ever and beat Praire 36-23. Defense was the key to this game as Kelly, Megan and Shayla harrassed the Prairie ball-handlers throughout the first half, causing them to cough up the ball numerous times. Our middle and back players did a good job of protecting the basket on the occasions when the ball did move upcourt. Prairie was unable to get easy chances at the basket, and when they did shoot it was usually from long distance. Our rebounding was good, and we got the ball out of traffic very efficiently.

Offensively Hannah, Shayla and Kelly all scored eight points, but the real highlight of the game was our ball movement. We passed the ball better than we have all season and we manuevered the ball inside many times for easy shots. Prairie's zone defense could not keep up with our ball movement. We also did a great job against their press. We got the ball up the floor quickly and took advantage of their press to get easy shots before their defenders could get back on defense. In all areas of play it was our best game ever.

Wildcats get revenge against Team Northwest (3-4)

The Sixth graders got back at Team Northwest at the Hoop last night when they held on for a close 34-32 win over Team Northwest. It was a rough game with lots of fouling, pushing, blocking and hacking. Unfortunately, the referees didn't call much, so the rough play continued. Amazingly, we had more fouls called against us than Team Northwest.

The girls did a good job of hanging on, but it wasn't our best game. We got off to a good start with a 14-6 lead, but we gave that lead away and it was 14-14 shortly before halftime. Then in the third quarter we built up a 26-14 and it looked we were in control. Then we started missing a lot of easy shots, and we gave them some easy baskets, and unfortunately, the game got close. Then I got a T, which didn't help, and the game got closer. The fourth quarter was very tight and Team Northwest tied the game at 32-32. Shayla sank a shot for the winning margin with about a minute left in the game.

I wanted to put Kinsey, Alison and Jessica K back in the game in the fourth quarter, but things got tight, and in the heat of the game I just decided not to. I'll try to make up for it in an upcoming game. But at least we won, and all the girls did a good job when they got it. Kinsey, Jessica K, and Alison all scored 2 points, which really helped us win the game.

Especially good in this game were Kelly and Jessica P on defense. Megan also did a good job helping out on number 2, their good player. Megan was still feeling weak from her sickness.

Wildcats beat Hot Shots (2-2)

The Sixth Grade Wildcats had another good game, beating the Hot Shots from Camas 42-14. Play was a little bit erratic in this game, mostly because the other team had trouble dribbling and passing the ball. We did a better job passing and had a couple very good give-and-go plays, and a couple good passes off penetration into the key. We will need to continue to improve on defense and rebounding, especially when we play better teams. I want us to also continue to pass the ball into the post as often as possible, as this will open up many opportunities for a lot of girls to score. Wing girls can cut to the basket. The point girls can cut off the post. And the inside girls can get free for easy shots.

Wildcats Beat Xtreme. (1-28)

The Sixth Grade Wildcats did a TREMENDOUS job against the Xtreme team Thursday night at the Vancouver Hoop, 29-26. The reason we won the game was the great defense and good hustle from all our players. The great part about this game is that is shows how much better we are getting. Just six weeks ago the Xtreme team beat us 51-35. We surprised them tonight with how hard we played and how hard we made it for them to score. If we keep this up, we'll be able compete with ANY sixth grade team around.

Our league record is now 1-2, but we have played three of the best teams in the league so far. I expect the Prairie team to be pretty good, but we can, and will, beat them. As long as we hustle, fight for loose balls, pass the ball to the open players, and stop the other team from getting easy baskets, WE WILL BE A VERY GOOD TEAM. Great job to all the girls who played in this game. Hannah, Kelly, Jessica P., Ali, Kinsey, Amanda, Shayla, and Jessica K. Every player did a good job. I'm very proud of all of you.

If anyone needs to reach me and can't get me on my phones (663-4214 h) (257-1545 w), try my email. I read it often (more often than I answer the phone). My address is egustafs@mesd.k12.or.us