It was a tough week of basketball for the Creswell Lady Bulldogs, who were blown out by the host Pleasant Hill Billies 17-54 on Jan. 8. It was the Lady Dawgs’ only game of the week.
”We just didn’t play very well,” said Creswell Head Coach Tyler Hollingsworth. ”We turned the ball over way too often, and we got good looks but just didn’t make the shots.”
Although the Lady Dawgs led 6-4 after the first quarter, they trailed 8-20 at halftime and 11-36 at the end of the third quarter.
Creswell racked up a staggering 30 turnovers in the game, leading to too many easy transition buckets for the Billies, or to fouling on the shot as the Lady Dawgs struggled to get back on defense.
”We were able to get good shots, but we missed several layups in a row and kept turning the ball over – and when you turn the ball over it’s hard to get back in time on defense, which can lead to giving them foul shots.” Hollingsworth said.
Lacking a true, experienced point guard is hampering the Lady Dawgs this season, the coach noted. That position is currently shared by Aubrie Hatch and freshman Emme Whitson.
”Emme’s a point guard, but as a freshman she’s still learning the position and getting used to the physicality of the game against some of these stronger, experienced upperclassmen,” Hollingsworth said. ”We knew point guard wouldn’t be our strength this year, but we need to compensate for that a little better. We need our other guard and wings to do a better job of getting open, and we’re working on that.”
Bailey Howell paced Creswell against Pleasant Hill with six points and three rebounds.
This week, the Lady Dawgs host Harrisburg and travel to Santiam Christian and La Pine. ”It’s a busy week for us; hopefully we’ll get some wins,” Hollingsworth said.
