By RON HARTMAN
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COOS BAY – Creswell seniors Elliette Kinney and Kylie Leonard were not going to end their high school careers with a whimper. So they made sure to go out with a bang.
Facing Mountain Valley Conference rival Sisters in Thursday’s quarterfinal round of the 3A Girls State Championship, Kinney and Leonard led a fourth-quarter charge that lifted the Bulldogs to a 52-40 victory.
It was believed to be the first time that the Creswell girls had won a first-round game in Coos Bay. And although the Bulldogs lost their remaining two games at state, their fifth-place finish was a program record.
The Sisters game couldn’t have been more closely contested. Creswell led by a point after one quarter, then again at halftime – and again after three quarters.
That’s when Kinney and Leonard took over.
“Kylie had a great game, her defense was phenomenal,” Creswell coach Tyler Hollingsworth said. “Elliette got in foul trouble. She had all 14 of her points in the second half – that’s why we won by 12 – I think she only took two shots in the first half.
“I love this group, man. They play so damn hard, it’s awesome. And that’s the difference, like, it’s the fourth quarter, they’re tired, they’re not ready to go another quarter like this, and all of a sudden we get four straight steals or stops and we score on three of them, and that’s how you separate yourself.”
Kinney’s scoring binge started when she made a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left in the third period to put the Dogs up 37-32, but the Outlaws answered with two quick buckets to make it 37-36 after three.
The fourth quarter started with a Kinney steal for a basket, followed by another Kinney 3 and another Kinney layup.
Sisters chipped away, closing the gap to 45-40, but Raelee Green’s 3-pointer at the 2:26 mark made it 48-40 all but sealed the deal for Creswell. On Sisters’ next possession, Kinney ripped down a missed Outlaws shot with authority, an example that the Bulldogs might be small, but they’re not going to get pushed around by anyone.
■ Vale 48, Creswell 29: Kinney and Green scored nine points each as the Bulldogs shot just 28% against top-seeded Vale, which got 19 points from Elli Jacobs. “Our ‘D’ was good for most of the game but we weren’t able to execute when we needed to,” Hollingsworth said. “We got it within 11 with 5 to go but then we threw the ball away. You have to be able to execute when you get those chances.”
■ Banks 55, Creswell 23: The Bulldogs essentially ran out of gas in their game against the Braves. “They scored some easy ones early, and we missed a couple of easy ones, then we started pressing, and trying too hard,” Hollingsworth said. “Playing three games in three days, with the style we play, it’s tough for a team like us with very little depth. We had some tired legs – and we weren’t getting the turnovers that we usually rely on.” After starting the year 10-6, the Bulldogs reeled off 11 straight wins – largely due to their commitment to rebounding with a purpose. Their mentality is to keep scrapping and fighting and we won the third quarter after having a scoreless second quarter – Elliette got stepped on so she has two dead legs and a footprint on her leg with blood coming out of her leg on one side,” the coach said of the league’s co-Player of the Year. “When you take away 18 points from the league’s best player, who scored only 4, that’s hard to make up.”
