Aubrie Hatch hauls down an offensive rebound against La Pine.
The Creswell Lady Bulldogs opened Mountain Valley Conference play at 1-0 after a decisive 54-14 victory over the visiting La Pine Hawks on Jan. 5. They also got past 4A Sutherlin, 39-35, on the road on Jan. 2.
Karley Bellew, who is averaging a double-double at 18-plus points and 11 rebounds per game this season, paced Creswell in both games, with 18 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and six blocks against Sutherlin, and 24 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and two blocks against La Pine.
”Karley’s just so versatile; she can play a lot of positions and do a lot of things, and she plays hard,” said Creswell Head Coach Tyler Hollingsworth.
The Sutherlin game was close the entire way; Creswell trailed 7-12 after one, led 22-19 at halftime and was down 30-33 after three, before outscoring Sutherlin 9-2 in the final period.
”They zoned us the whole game and it took us about halfway through the first quarter to get into our rhythm, but then we were able to exploit it and post up Bailey (Howell) and Karley really well.
Following Bellew, Howell contributed 11 points, five boards and two blocks to the win; Lexi McCrory added five points, three rebounds and two assists.
Against La Pine, Creswell came out strong and controlled the tempo from the start. ”We came out really hard; we got some good turnovers for easy buckets and got rolling really quick,” Hollingsworth said. ”It was good to see that effort.”
Following Bellew, Howell added eight points, four rebounds and eight blocks. Cali Allen had seven points, four rebounds and four assists. Aleesha Fox added six points on two threes, four assists and four steals.
All of Creswell’s reserves saw action, ”and everybody got at least one stat mark in the books,” noted Hollingsworth.
This week, the Lady Dawgs host Pleasant Hill and travel to Glide. ”Pleasant Hill’s going to be tough; they just lost their first game in seven games,” Hollingsworth said. ”But we’ve been having good practices and running our offense well, so it should be a good game.”
