LAKEWOOD, Wash. — Clackamas threw an effective box-and-one zone defense against Walla Walla’s Cierra Jo McKeown here Sunday afternoon in the championship game of the Raiders Holiday Invitational.
McKeown came into the game averaging 24.7 points through the Warriors first seven games of the season and was limited to three points on one first-half 3-pointer.
While the defense worked as far as McKeown was concerned, Walla Walla looked elsewhere for its offense and came away with a 57-49 win to claim the tournament title and run its women’s community college basketball record to 7-1 with its fifth straight victory.
Fellow shooting guard Teresa Acock connected on 6-of-13 shots from the floor, five of them 3-pointers, and led the way for the Warriors with 18 points.
Adrianna Peralez, in the starting lineup for only the second game after recovering from a concussion, was 8-of-13 from the floor and tallied a career-high 17 points.
Point guard Jade Skidmore was all over the floor, scoring nine points, hauling down a team-leding 10 rebounds and dishing out a game-high eight assists.
And freshman guard Kate Renfro came off the bench late in the game and hit two crucial 3-point baskets that iced the victory for the Walla Wallans after Clackamas had crept to within six points.
“They were saying that we only have one player and we don’t,” WWCC coach Bobbi Hazeltine said of the Cougars’ defensive ploy. “They frustrated Cierra Jo, blanketed her the entire game and challenged other players, and that was really good for us.”
Peralez scored 13 of her 17 points in the first half and Acock had the majority of her points before the intermission as well as WWCC built a 33-25 lead that it never relinquished in the second half.
“Those two were kind of breaking the box, so to speak,” Hazeltine said. “I kind of thought maybe at halftime they would try something else but they didn’t. So we had to keep going and we needed other kids to score and that was pretty refreshing.”
Kayce Mock scored 12 points and picked off 11 rebounds to lead Clackamas. CJ Buckley finished with 11 points for the Cougars, who are 6-2 on the year.
McKeown, who had scored 26 points in Friday’s 70-69 victory over Bellevue in the first round and poured in 29 points in an 80-61 victory over Lane in Saturday’s semifinals, was named the tournament’s most valuable player despite Sunday’s 1-for-8 shooting. Skidmore was also named to the all-tournament team.
Columbia Basin defeated Lane 82-78 in Sunday’s third-place game and Wenatchee downed Bellevue 58-49 to take home fourth place.
“This was a really good tournament,” Hazeltine said. “Lane, Bellevue and Clackamas are three of the best teams we will see all year.”
The Warriors travel to Centralia this coming weekend for a Northwest Athletic Conference crossover tournament. WWCC faces Centralia Friday, Mount Hood Saturday and Peninsula Sunday.
Warriors 57, Cougars 49
CLACKAMAS (49) — McCormick 2-7 5-8 9, Hermosillo-Wright 3-14 2-2 9, Nofziger 2-6 0-0 6, K. Mock 4-6 3-6 12, R. Mock 0-6 0-0 0, Jensen 0-0 0-0 0, Buckley 3-9 4-4 11, Elliot 0-2 0-0 0, Toyra 1-1 0-0 2, Barden 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-52 14-20 49.
WALLA WALLA (57) — McKeown 1-8 0-0 3, Acock 6-13 1-1 18, Skidmore 4-13 1-1 9, Turner 0-3 1-2 1, Peralez 8-13 0-0 17, Hutchison 0-2 0-0 0, Radford 0-4 0-0 0, Gunter 1-6 0-0 2, Renfro 3-4 0-0 8, Bowen 0-0 0-0 0, Dietrich-Denton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-67 3-4 57.
Clackamas13121311—49
Walla Walla18151311—57
3-point goals — Clack 5-21 (McCormick 0-4, Hermosillo-Wright 1-3, Nofziger 2-4, K. Mock 1-1, R. Mock 0-4, Buckley 1-3, Elliot 0-2), WWCC 9-22 (McKeown 1-4, Acock 5-12, Skidmore 0-1, Peralez 1-2, Gunter 0-1, Renfro 2-2). Total fouls — Clack 10, WWCC 17. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none. Rebounds — Clack 34 (K. Mock 11), WWCC 42 (Skidmore 10). Turnovers — Clack 18, WWCC 16. Assists — Clack 6 (Barden 2), WWCC 16 (Skidmore 8).
Union Bulletin
