Women’s basketball team struggles with shooting in loss

The pressure is mounting for the Saints women’s basketball team, which lost Wednesday night and now has dropped three of its last four league games.

The Saints fell 82-66 to the Clackamas Cougars Wednesday night in Oregon City, and struggled with shooting and early scoring.

“We did not play well at all,” a frustrated head coach Jocelyn McIntire said Thursday morning. “We played scared, Clack jumped on us and we didn’t know how to handle it.”

The Saints, who shot 20 percent by going five for 24 from the field, were down 15 points heading into the second half. Accurate and consistent shooting has remained a sore spot for the Saints since the start of the season. “There were lots of turnovers and quick shots. We were not mentally prepared,” added McIntire.

On the bright side, sophomore point guard Emily Burch led team with 20 points. “She did out outstanding job,” said McIntire. “There were points when she carried the team on her back. She just did a phenomenal, phenomenal job.”
The loss to the Cougars followed a 63-45 loss to the Umpqua Riverhawks Saturday, Jan. 14, where the Saints shot only 24 percent, going 16 for 65 from the field.

McIntire and her staff are setting aside practice time for shooting and running sets but, she added, shooting problems really have little to do with athletic ability. “Shooting is a tough thing. It’s based a lot on confidence. They have to believe and continue to be confident and stop missing easy buckets,” McIntire said.

The Saints hold a 1-3 record in the Southern Region and will need to improve soon to reach their goal of making it to the post-season. “We’re in league play now, and we set a goal to make it to NWACCs,” said McIntire. “We are definitely talking about that and keeping it in our sights.”

Still, according to McIntire, there is a need for everyone to step up their game and not get complacent.

“Some of the girls are starting to get comfortable,” said McIntire, who will make a line-up change going into Saturday’s game against the Southwestern Lakers. “We’re going to mix things up, so that players aren’t getting content and are focusing on being smart basketball players,” said McIntire.

McIntire is still optimistic and points to her team’s constant resilience. “The thing about this team is that they don’t give up or roll over and die — ever,” McIntire said.

The Saints will play the Lakers on home court Saturday at 4 p.m.