CRESWELL’S FREYA DEMASTERS AND HER FAMILY WERE RECOGNIZED DURING THE SENIOR NIGHT FESTIVITIES ON FEB. 11. Tom Page/For The Chronicle
Seven seniors were honored prior to tipoff of the Creswell Lady Bulldogs’ final home basketball game of the season, against Harrisburg on Feb. 11. The families of Bailey Howell, Aubrie Hatch, Freya DeMasters, Jada Gallegos, Morgan Janshen, Megan Seele and Tabetha Donovan joined them on the court, congratulating them with flowers, balloons and more as the seniors’ letters of appreciation and favorite basketball memories were read aloud.
Six seniors started, with Seele and Donovan coming off the bench in the first quarter, which ended with Creswell down 3-10. The Lady Dawgs trailed 11-18 at halftime and 16-24 after the third quarter, before falling 21-30.
”We gave up a lot more offensive rebounds than we have in the past and had some costly turnovers,” said Creswell Head Coach Tyler Hollingsworth. ”In the first half, 10 of Harrisburg’s 18 points were off turnovers, so that was a huge factor for us.”
Hatch paced Creswell with eight points, three rebounds and two steals; Howell added five points and nine rebounds.
The Lady Dawgs wrapped their 2018-19 season with a 31-53 loss to host Santiam Christian on Feb. 13.
”It was a tough finish, but the girls kept fighting until the end, and in practices they kept getting better; it’s just unfortunate that they didn’t really get to see that improvement in games,” Hollingsworth said.
Creswell trailed SC 5-13 after one, 12-23 at halftime and 22-35 after three.
”We turned the ball over 25 times and not executing our defense was a huge factor,” Hollingsworth said. ”Our plan on defense was to keep certain players out on the perimeter and not let them attack or making them go the way we wanted them to go; but they were able to take the shots they wanted and go the way they wanted to go, every time.”
Howell was a bright spot for the Lady Dawgs, posting a double-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and two blocks in her final game for Creswell.
And she might have scored even more: ”We had a huge size advantage on the inside, and we had a game plan to get the ball inside, but we didn’t get it in to Bailey often enough, early enough,” Hollingsworth said.
Although the Lady Dawgs finished 1-11 in league and 7-16 overall, will lose seven seniors to graduation, Hollingsworth is optimistic about the future. Three freshmen – Emme Whitson, Karina Leonard and Emma Maness – got some varsity playing time this year and several strong JV1 players are coming up.
”We’re going to be young, but I like the look of this year’s freshman class and there are some other good players coming up, so I’m looking forward to next year,” he said.
