Sisters’ boys and girls basketball teams played against the Monroe Dragons in a neutral site pre-season game held at Santiam Christian High School on Saturday, December 10. The boys squad walked away with a 52-47 win, and the girls fell 36-28.

In the boys’ game, Landon Scott got the Outlaws started with a transition layup. Kale Gardner attacked the Dragons’ zone defense and scored the next two baskets. Sisters forced the Dragons to turn the ball over eight times, and scored six points on the turnovers. At the close of the first period the Outlaws held a slim two-point lead, 10-8.

The Outlaws continued to pressure the Dragons in the second quarter and forced another five turnovers. Sisters also forced seven Dragon fouls and converted six of nine attempts. Scott led the team with nine points, and Jessey Murillo tallied seven. At the half the Outlaws were on top 30-19.

Monroe came out aggressive in the third and cut the Outlaws’ 11-point halftime lead to six. Sisters was unable to get their offense going and only scored one field goal the entire quarter, a basket which came from Hudson Beckwith. Murillo went four-for-four from the charity stripe and at the end of three the Outlaws held on to their lead with a score of 36-30.

Teams traded baskets back and forth in the final period. Gardner and Diego Silva hit the team’s only three-point baskets, and each of them put an end to a mini-run by the Dragons. Adam Maddox-Castle hit his only field goal of the game on a driving layup from the left side of the basket with 4:30 left on the clock, to give the Outlaws their biggest lead of the quarter. Sisters hit four of their six free-throws in the quarter to hold onto the lead and secure the win.

Gardner and Scott both finished the night with 13 points and three steals. Murillo tallied 12 points, and pulled down four boards. Silva contributed seven points and four rebounds, Beckwith had three points, and Garrett Sager added two.

Coach Chad Rush said, “I was pleased with our team tonight. After two lopsided wins earlier in the week, where a lot of things went right for us, we faced adversity tonight and had to make plays at the right times in order to secure the win.”

The Lady Outlaws lost by eight in their matchup against the Dragons. Both Sisters and Monroe entered the game with a 1-4 record and the contest was fairly evenly matched. The Outlaws’ first quarter was their best of the game with nine points, and at the close of the period they trailed by just two, 9-11.

The second quarter was difficult for the Outlaws as Monroe outscored them 12-6 and built an eight-point lead. Sisters played even with Monroe the second half, but couldn’t recover from their first-half deficit.

Jenna Lake scored 11 points, and Ashlynn Moffat and Haleigh Froehlich added five each. Froehlich led the defense with eight rebounds and also recorded five steals. Josie Patton finished with five rebounds, four steals, and three assists.

The Outlaws were unable to keep Monroe off the offensive boards; the Dragons got 18 second chances. Sisters also struggled to take care of the ball, and turned it over 26 times.

Coach Paul Patton said, “We learned from the game that we need to prioritize rebounding in practice and do more live scrimmaging where we can work on our decision-making with the basketball. We’ve had a little trouble getting good competitive practice reps in due to having girls out sick, injured, or gone to conflicting activities. Hopefully, in the coming week we’ll be closer to full strength.”