Bulldogs face tall order at state

SUTHERLIN — Making it to the final eight with only three seniors is a good accomplishment. The Sutherlin High girls basketball team is hoping to add a little frosting to a fine season at the OSAA Class 4A State Tournament, which begins on Wednesday at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis. The seventh-ranked Bulldogs (21-4) meet No. 2 Marist (17-8) at 3:15 p.m. in a quarterfinal game. The Spartans, riding a nine-game winning streak, have nine seniors and juniors on their roster and will have a significant height advantage over Sutherlin. “I’ve thought all year Marist is the best team in the state we’ve seen,” said Sutherlin coach Josh Grotting. “We’ll try to speed the game up and need to find a way to keep them off the boards.” In other quarterfinal games, No. 6 Central of Independence (21-4) meets Ontario (13-13) at 1:30 p.m., No. 3 Cascade of Turner (22-2) takes on defending state champion La Pine (19-9) at 6:30 and No. 1 Cottage Grove (23-2) plays No. 8 North Bend (16-8) at 8:15. Marist, guided by Michelle Quist, finished second behind Cottage Grove in the Sky-Em League during the regular season. It played a competitive non-league schedule, with five losses coming to 6A or 5A clubs. “We feel very prepared and excited,” said Quist. “We’ve done nothing but continue to improve. Our girls really pulled together, communicate well and play well together. We’re peaking at the right time.” Marist handed Sutherlin one of its four losses earlier this season, rolling to a 53-30 win at the Seaside Holiday Classic on Dec. 17. Quist doesn’t put much stock into the contest. “I know we’ve come far since that game, but I guess they have, too,” she said. “We didn’t do a good job of handling their (defensive) pressure,” Grotting said. “We had way too many turnovers and missed a ton of easy shots. We’ll have to take better care of the ball and finish shots.” The Bulldogs will have to contend with Allie Rogers, a 6-foot-2 senior post, and Hanna Mack, a 6-3 sophomore post. Rogers, a first-team all-league selection and the Sparts’ leading scorer with 11 points a game, had eight rebounds and seven blocked shots in Marist’s 46-42 playoff win over Yamhill-Carlton Friday. Other top players for the Spartans include 5-5 senior wing Nikki Demers, a first-team all-leaguer, and 5-6 sophomore guard Olivia Houser, who made second-team all-league. Macky Dennis, a 5-5 senior guard who was second-team all-Sky-Em, missed the Yamhill-Carlton contest with a knee injury and is doubtful for Wednesday. The Spartans are averaging 53.2 points a game and allowing 41.2. That’s nearly 10 points more than Sutherlin (43.8) is scoring, but the Bulldogs have been stingier (35.2) on the defensive end. “We have a lot of depth, we play nine consistently,” Quist said. “They’re a good group of kids. They’re hungry and do whatever it takes.” “I don’t expect us to win the rebounding battle, but we’ve got to at least be competitive,” Grotting said. “We need to make it difficult for them to make their entry passes (inside.)” The Bulldogs are expected to start 5-4 freshman Lainey Corbett at point guard, 5-2 senior Danielle Hults and 5-7 senior Brooklyn Norman at the wings, and 5-5 junior Mikayla Mendenhall and 5-9 senior Randi Kostner at posts. Kostner and Norman are the team’s top scorers, with Norman netting 27 points to lead Sutherlin past No. 9 Mollalla 46-44 Friday in the second round of the playoffs. The play of sophomore Lana Chamberlain, Sutherlin’s tallest player at 5-10, and 5-8 junior Kasse Freeman will be important in dealing with Marist’s bigs. The Sutherlin-Marist winner will face the Central-Ontario winner at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. The losers play at 9 a.m. Thursday. TOURNAMENT NOTES — La Pine defeated Sutherlin in the semifinals and Cottage Grove in the final to win the title last year. The Hawks are coached by Kim Beer, who led 2A North Douglas for six seasons … Sutherlin has finished with three straight 20-win seasons, a first in school history. The Bulldogs went 23-5 en route to their first state championship in girls basketball in 2008 and finished third last year with a 26-1 record … Sutherlin’s other losses this season came to Elma, Wash., Brookings and North Bend … Marist defeated La Pine twice and split with Cottage Grove in Sky-Em play, and lost to La Pine at the Seaside Classic … Kostner was a member of Sutherlin’s state championship team as a sophomore, but didn’t play last year and Mendenhall returned this year after skipping last season.