Crater guard scores 21 as Comets roll to 50-32 victory

By Steve Gress

Mid-Valley Sports

CORVALLIS - With just over a minute to play in the first half, the Corvallis High girls basketball team was just where it wanted to be in its first-round Class 4A subtournament game against Crater on Tuesday night.

The Spartans trailed 18-14 despite giving up numerous offensive rebounds and turning the ball over nine times.

That's when Crater's Whitney Black took over.

Black scored what seemed like a harmless bucket to give her four points. That bucket began an onslaught that saw Crater's junior guard score 17 of the Comets' next 19 points that pushed the Crater lead to 37-20 with 2:53 left in the third quarter.

When Black finally cooled off in the fourth, it was all the Comets needed for a 50-32 victory over the Spartans. Crater advances to face Lake Oswego on Thursday, while the Spartans end the season at 13-12.

Black's 3-pointer with 26 seconds left in the half gave the Comets a 23-16 lead at the break. She opened the second half with a bucket before Crystal Huntley pushed the lead to 27-16. After a bucket by Anna Miller, Black scored the next 10 points for the Comets and Crater was in control at 37-20.

"I thought we played outstanding defense the whole first half except maybe for the last 30 seconds when we give up the three to the one girl we know is a 3-point shooter," CHS coach Scott Lasswell said. "Instead of four we are down seven and in that type of a game that is huge."

Lasswell said the Comets didn't do anything different on offense to get Black open.

"They might have come out a little more focused and they might have looked for her a little more," he said. "We came out the same defense and we lost her a couple of times on the inbounds plays and we might have gotten a little bit tentative. When a girl that is used to scoring gets going, they are tough to stop."

Despite trailing by seven at the break, Lasswell and the Spartans were confident they could get back into the game if they did a better job on the boards.

"We spent the majority of the half talking about what we needed to do; we needed to block out and be more aggressive," Lasswell said. "They (Crater) were a step meaner, a step quicker and maybe a little hungrier. I don't know how you describe it. They got to them and we didn't."

But Black's outburst put an end to that.

Kelli Cronkrite had 11 points, with nine coming in the first half, and Kellyn Cooper also had 11, with eight in the second half. Black finished with 21 for the Comets, which also ended the Spartans' season last year at the state tournament.

Even with the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, Lasswell was impressed with the effort his team gave.

"We didn't play well, but we did play hard," Lasswell said. "I will give my girls credit. We played hard down the stretch. We did get everyone in, and we got them in when it mattered. We played hard. We weren't going to quit. They played better than we did, so tonight the better team won."

It's the same effort Lasswell saw throughout the season.

"We never had to turn it on and off," Lasswell said. "We turned it on and played hard all year long. I think that is to the girls' credit. With about three minutes to play, we knew we weren't going to win, but the girls that were in there were battling like it was the tip-off and I like that."

Crater 50, Corvallis 32

CRATER 8 15 14 13 - 50

CORVALLIS 10 6 6 10 - 32

Crater - Whitney Black 21, Huntley 7, Robertson 7, Kell 6, Montgomery 6, Green 3, Wasniewski, Kinney, Stoner, Bettencourt, Adams, Tyska

Corvallis - Kelli Cronkrite 11, Kellyn Cooper 11, Heyman 3, Kuenzli 2, Miller 2, Reich 2, Klamkin 1, Morrison, Wood, Bakkom, Edinger-Snodgrass