Men’s Basketball

The Saints’ 12-game win streak was snapped by an 88-66 loss to the Chemeketa Community College Storm Wednesday night in Salem.
The loss drops the Saints (14-2, 3-1) to second place in the Southern Division and gives the Storm (13-5, 4-0) sole possession of first.
Head coach Rob Nielson said the Saints’ downfall in the game was a lack of focus. “We weren’t ready to play mentally. We played poorly in every aspect of the game,” said the coach. “They out-hustled us, out-rebounded us, out-shot us and just outplayed us.”
Nielson said that when a team is winning a lot, it’s hard to keep focused. “Hopefully this will refocus the guys. We need to reevaluate what we do that makes us successful and do those things,” said Nielson.
The Saints host the Southwestern Community College Lakers at 6 p.m. Saturday. The Lakers play an up-tempo style that the coach said should play right into the Saints’ hands. “It will be a nice change for us. It seems like every team we play this year is trying to slow us down,” Nielson said.

Women’s Basketball

The women’s basketball team can’t seem to catch a break, adding an 84-33 loss to their record against the Chemeketa Storm Wednesday night.
Sophomore forward Kristen Tillstrom led the Saints with 10 points.
Mt. Hood kept the game within two to three points in the first five minutes by playing good half-court offense. Then their transition defense wasn’t smooth and they missed some easy shots. As soon as the Storm got up 10 points, the Saints got frustrated and could not recover.
“If you take away the points from offensive rebounds and points off of turnovers from both teams, then the game would’ve been a pretty close one,” said head coach Brianna Finch.
The Saints will be looking to control turnovers in Satuday’s rematch against the SWOCC Lakers (2-3 league, 7-10 overall), which was a close game their first meeting.