Saints start out fast, lose momentum in second half

Mt. Hood was ahead early in the first half, but the Portland Community College Panthers stormed back to take the lead and then win Wednesday night’s hard-fought women’s basketball game, 70-61.

The Saints started off in perfect rhythm, coming out to grab a solid lead in the game’s first few minutes. They were hitting most of their shots, and playing with confidence.

The Panthers rallied in the last few minutes of the half, however. They finished on an 18-2 run to tie the game at 31-31.

The goal for the Saints in the second half was to focus on how well they played the first 12 minutes, and to finish harder than they did at the end of the first half, said head coach Tyler Rose following the game.

But the Saints quickly found themselves behind, and could never get within striking distance of the Panthers.

“We couldn’t offensively get anything going early in the second half, and we got down and tried to chip away,” said Rose. “Then (we) got down, and tried to chip away (again). Turnovers didn’t help us, either.” For the game, Mt. Hood lost the turnover margin, 30-17.

Star Saints center Marley Yates finished the game with a double-double of 17 points and 17 rebounds. She also added team highs of four blocks, four steals, and four assists. Freshman Delanee Martin added 14 points, eight rebounds, and three steals. Coming off the bench, Madison Weaver provided 10 points and six rebounds.

Asked about moving forward from this game, Rose said “we can just build on the positives, and the stretches where we were showing the type of team that we are capable of being.”

He said another focus going into the next few games is “not letting the mistakes get to us to the point where it takes us out of games,” which is the problem the team has found themselves in the past few weeks.

Last Saturday, the Saints found themselves down 39-11 at half. The second half was different story as Mt. Hood was only outscored by one point, losing 69-40.

The Saints have a bye this weekend, then play a tough game against the 13-5 (2-2 in conference) Clackamas Community College Cougars. The game is at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Clackamas.