Girls basketball team begins league play with loss
Seth Thompson
The Chronicle
THURSTON – Thurston faced Eagle Point in both teams’ Midwestern League opener on Thursday night, with the Colts falling to the Eagles 51-41 in girls basketball.
Both teams entered the game at .500 – the Colts 5-5 and the Eagles 6-6 – hoping to start conference play with a victory. While it’s the first game of the league season, it could play a role in determining the end-of-season tie-breaker.
“We felt like we were ready to play, but we sure weren’t,” said Thurston coach Kevin Durfee.
“I felt like we were playing catch up from the first quarter on. They outscored us 14-7 in the first quarter and the other three quarters were almost equal.”
This was a proper assessment by the coach. The Colts nearly matched the Eagles in all of the three succeeding quarters (12-10, 13-12, and 12-12, respectively). Despite never leading, the Colts were able to shrink the lead to one point (26-25) during the third quarter.
Emmie Gerdrum was the offensive engine for the Colts on Thursday during their comeback attempt with 15 points. She was particularly effective beyond the arc as she tied the school’s record for 3-pointers made in a single game with four.
On top of her shooting, Gerdrum has been a steady presence for the Colts all season as the team’s main ball handler.
“She handles the ball well. To be honest, she’s the only true point guard we have in the program, so we need her on the floor,” Durfee said. “When we play teams that pressure us we struggle if Emmie isn’t on the floor. She settles us down and gets us through full-court pressure.”
Addi Nelson also has been a standout for the Colts this year. On Thursday she recorded seven points and led the team in rebounds.
“She is a very aggressive, athletic player, and she’s also very competitive. Those traits showed up tonight. I think she had about 70% of our team rebounds, which isn’t good to have one player with that many, but she’s going to show up every night,” Durfee said. “She’s going to play hard, she’s going to rebound, she’s going to defend, and she’ll get her points because of her aggressiveness on her drives.”
As the Colts move forward in the league play, it’s important they gain all the experience they can.
The team is still inexperienced with seven sophomores. Durfee already has seen growth and improvement.
“We’re just one of those teams that’s going to have to scrap and claw out everything we get. We don’t have a lot of size, but the girls work hard and I think they’re getting better,” Durfee said.
League play continues for the Colts on Tuesday, Jan. 13 at North Eugene.
“We’re just beginning the league season, so we’ve got a lot to play for still,” Durfee said. “We’ll get back and go to work in practice to be ready for a tough North Eugene team next Tuesday.”
