Saints fall to Chemeketa, to face tough challenge in Lane

As the last seconds rolled off and the players broke off from their opponents, it was a familiar, unfortunate scene.

The scoreboard above read: Chemeketa – 67, MHCC – 38.

Since their last victory on Dec. 1, the MHCC women’s basketball team has been under a bit of a dry spell for the last month.

Against Southwestern Oregon Community College on Saturday, the Saints had a very difficult time getting the ball into the basket and wound up shooting less than 20 percent, losing 83-38.

Individually, sophomore Hannah Mocaby had a solid day scoring, leading the team with 13 points and five rebounds. Freshman Sydney Mendazo also had a good day, with 12 points and three rebounds. In total, the two accounted for 65 percent of the Saints’ points.

In Wednesday’s loss to Chemeketa, however, neither Mocaby nor Mendazo were able to get into double digits, as the team as a whole struggled offensively.

Over the course of both games, turnovers were an issue. The Saints (2-15, 0-6 in their division), scored just 14 points off of turnovers to their opponents’ 57.

“Ball handling is a huge issue. We turn the ball over way too much. This to me is mental toughness, self-discipline,” said head coach Jocelyn McIntire.

“This team needs leadership and mental toughness. When these two things begin to show themselves, we will be able to see more consistent play which will in turn result in better overall play,” McIntire said.

Nonetheless, even with some lopsided losses, the Saints have played some solid games defensively this season and had 111 defensive stops in their games against Chemeketa and Southwestern Oregon.

“In both games, we had moments where we really did play together as a team.  We need to take these and build on them. We need to start having more moments and get them to last longer,” said McIntire.

“The team plays hard and is beginning to understand how to work together,” she said.

“We often play well in the half court, force a poor shot, but we fail to finish the job by securing the rebound,” she said.

Being a young team with only three sophomores on this year’s squad, a lack of experience is also telling, McIntire noted.

“I definitely think our youth has contributed to our struggle this year. We do not have any strong leaders at the moment, and we play a ton of freshmen that just don’t have the experience,” said McIntire.

But, with a young team this year, the Saints are expecting to have a veteran squad ready for next season.

“My hope is, that with these freshmen returning next year, they will be mentally tougher and more disciplined. They will have a better understanding of what college basketball is about,” said McIntire.

The path to victory won’t be an easy one, although this Saturday could be a good opportunity as the Saints take on a struggling Linn-Benton squad, just 4-14 on the season.

The Saints then hit a bit of a roadblock at their next game against Lane on Feb. 2. Lane currently holds the best record in all of NWAACC (19-1 overall), its only loss (77-64) coming against the Number One team in the Southern Region, Clackamas Community College.