Women show effort in 72-58 loss against Chemeketa

By PETER HILLS

The women’s basketball team lost Wednesday’s match up against Chemeketa 72-58, in Salem.

“It was a good game. We played hard and took a lot of positives from it,” said coach Larry Davis.

Tristen Naylor, who had 14 points and nine rebounds, said, “We had spurts where we would be down and come back and get within about five points.”

Davis said they struggled with the interior defense and their interior game overall.

Due to the team’s short roster, Davis has them work extra hard on endurance so they can last two full halves.

Last Saturday they reached a season low, losing to Lane 114-36, their biggest margin of defeat. Davis was disappointed with their lack of focus and had the team stay after the game and practice and work on defense.

“We can’t allow that to happen, even if they are a number one ranked team in NWAACC. A 78-point loss is unacceptable, especially when we competed so well against them in the first game. We know we can play against them and unfortunately we didn’t have that intensity,” said Davis.

They host Umpqua Saturday. “We played really well against Umpqua the last time we met. It was still a 30-point loss, but they kind of opened up the game during the end because we started gambling a little bit. It was a lot closer game than what the score showed. There are probably the biggest threat to us because of their size. They have five six-footers,” said Davis.

With four games remaining, the women are looking to grab a win. “We have a good chance against Linn-Benton or PCC,” said Naylor. “We’re not quitting and we’re not giving up.”