CRESWELL – Creswell lost at home 57-56 in overtime to Cascade on Saturday in its final non-league game of the season.
The Bulldogs trailed 24-17 at halftime; it was the largest lead for either team. The Bulldogs made a 9-0 run to start the third period to make it a game. But poor rebounding troubles hurt Creswell.
“I like the resolve in the second half, but our rebounding is not good enough,” Bulldogs coach Tyler Hollingsworth said. “We gave up 22 offensive rebounds tonight, and down the stretch that changed the game.”
There were 11 lead changes on Saturday, with three coming in overtime. During extra period, the Bulldogs allowed the Challengers to get the offensive rebound twice after missed free throws. This meant instead of getting the ball down 54-53 with 20 seconds left, the Bulldogs got the ball while trailing 57-53 with 12 seconds to go.
The Challengers are an aggressive team, and that was evident Saturday. They ran a full-court press on the Bulldogs, forcing a plethora of turnovers early on.
“We played yesterday, so we didn’t really prepare,” Hollingsworth said of facing the pressure. “We talked a little bit about what they do, but we were just trying to survive in that first half. We didn’t respond well.”
The Bulldogs had a number of standout performances in the one-point loss. Elliette Kinney had 23 points – with 19 of those coming in the second half. Kylie Leonard was active on both sides of the ball, recording 10 points and 5 steals. Leonard was the Bulldogs’ vocal leader throughout the game, communicating on both ends while fighting until the last buzzer.
“Kylie’s not afraid to be vocal. We asked her to be vocal, and she’s been starting for three years, so she knows what she should be doing,” Hollingsworth said. “She’s a phenomenal defender, too. She played super hard and put lots of pressure on people. She doesn’t really give up, it’s always fight fight fight.”
Raelle Green had 14 points with two 3-pointers.
“She does a lot of things for us. Her shot has improved a ton, so she can step out and space the floor. Now we can have three or four shooters on the floor at all times,” Hollingsworth said.
The Bulldogs entered this week No. 4 in the Class 3A state rankings. With this loss – and the loss to Sisters on Friday – they have dropped to No. 8. While the team doesn’t want to focus on rankings yet, it is clear some improvements have to be made.
“We’re trying not to (focus on rankings) because that’s not where we are. If you want to be No. 4, you’ve got to be a better rebounding team, and we’re not a better rebounding team yet. So we have things to work on. We’re super competitive and there’s still lots of basketball left. But in reality, you don’t want to be No. 4 now, you want to be No. 4 at the end of the year. So we have a lot of work to do.”
