The women couldn’t bounce back Wednesday when the Clackamas Cougars created a solid lead and held the pressure in defeating the Saints at home 82-23.

“We started out the game pretty well. We played solid half court defense. We got beat transitionally and they got some points off of turnovers. Offensively, we missed a couple of easy shots,” said head coach Brianna Finch.

In the second half Clackamas held Mt. Hood scoreless for 6:40 until right after a crucial time out, sophomore guard/forward Brittany Grizzard broke through with a lay up to work up some momentum.

“Second half we didn’t come out ready to play. We panicked and didn’t keep very good control of the ball and lost our focus and composure,” said Finch.

“We need to stay within our offense and work on being aggressive and attacking more. Defensively, we need to talk more and rotate better,” said Finch.

The women were having trouble breaking the zone and connecting on passes, causing critical turnovers.

Regardless of the score, the women still showed a relentless attitude by playing hard-nosed defense to the very end, stopping two scoring drives by Clackamas in the final minute of the game.

“We’ve improved a lot since the beginning of the season. We are challenging ourselves more,” said Finch.

The Saints have their work cut out for them, having only two substitutes on the team.
“It’s been challenging, especially when we have injuries, but at the same we’re trying to get the girls to understand is that while we only have seven (players), most teams are only playing eight,” said Finch.

With Wednesday’s loss, the women are last in the Southern Region with a record of 0-3 in the league and 1-16 overall.

Saturday, the women will host the Umpqua Timberwomen who are undefeated with a record of 3-0 in the league and 18-0 overall.

“It’s going to be another challenging game. Hopefully we’ll give better effort and try to stay consistent through the entire game,” said Finch.