Ashland's Marla Morin puts the clamps on Marshfield's Lauren Parrish. Ashland Daily Tidings/AMY ALONZO

Pirates sink Grizz girls

By Joe Zavala

Ashland Daily Tidings

Ashland girls basketball coach Stephanie Santos says her Grizzlies are still a work in progress. After Friday night's home-opening loss to Marshfield, it's hard to argue.

The Grizzlies scored 21 points in the second quarter to get back in the game, then collapsed under a mountain of turnovers in the second half in a 68-55 loss to the Pirates Friday night at the Mountain Avenue gym.

"There were a lot of loose balls. Marshfield got every single one of them," Santos said. "Our girls were just kind of playing a little timid. They were nervous, definitely, and we're still trying to find our identity. We still don't even know who the starting five is yet."

The loss dropped Ashland to 1-3 heading into today's game at North Bend. It was the season opener for Marshfield.

The Pirates seemed to turn every Grizz mistake into a fastbreak layin as they used a 12-2 burst midway through the second half to take a commanding 55-41 lead.

Marshfield senior guard Celina Roberge, who led all scorers with 25, scored nine in that run, including two steals and two layups in a 15-second span that capped the rally.

Ashland was led by junior post Marla Morin, who scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, both team highs.

"We have a lot of really young players and once we get more games under our belts, once we keep practicing hard and we know what kind of practices we need to have, we're going to continue to get better," Morin said.

The Grizzlies also got 10 points from freshman point guard Alysse Carlson, nine points from junior post Julia Sobolik and eight from sophomore wing Kate Morris.

Stefani Talbott, a junior wing, added four points, four assists and three steals.

The Grizzlies displayed a promising inside-outside punch in the first half, particularly in the second quarter when Carlson, Sobolik and Morin combined to score all 21 of Ashland's points. Despite outscoring Marshfield 21-17 in the period, the Grizzlies still trailed 32-29 at the break.

"We know we've got (Morin) in that post," Santos said. "In fact, all of our posts are awesome, and (Carlson) is going to be a great point guard. We need to just start believing in our abilities and taking care of the ball."

Marshfield picked up the defensive intensity in the second half and quickly went on a 6-1 run to go up 38-30. A 3-pointer by Morris got Ashland within 43-39 with 2:09 left in the third, but Roberge answered with a quick three to ignite the game-clinching run.

Roberge's fastbreak layup with 6:20 left gave Marshfield a 14-point advantage. She scored 19 points in the second half, 11 in the third quarter.

"She's a great little basketball player, runs the show for us," Marshfield coach Dennis Driscoll said. "I thought we turned it up defensively in the second half, intensity wise. Our ball defense was much better. They weren't just throwing it in to (Morin) so easily, and that was the key to it."

Ashland never got closer than 10 in the fourth quarter, but had several chances.

Morin said the Grizzlies had some home court jitters. "Especially some of the younger players," she said. "(It was) their first varsity game at home, playing in front of all their friends. But after this I think it's going to get better for our home games and those jitters are going to turn to energy."

The Grizzlies have six more days and one more game to work out the kinks before Friday's Southern Oregon Conference opener at home against South Medford (1-3).

"We're a really young team but we just need to get used to working together and playing together because none of us have played together," Talbott said. "It's going to take time. We're starting to get better every game."

Ashland Boys Basketball

At Coos Bay, Marshfield's Ace Dillworth scored on a layup with 12 seconds to play to the give the Pirates a 64-63 victory over Ashland Friday night.

Despite leading for all of the first three quarters, Ashland saw the lead slip away as Marshfield outscored the visitors 23-19 in the final quarter and took their first lead of the game with 1:30 to play.

After Dillworth's late score, Ashland senior Titus Weston missed a jumper the would have won it for the Grizz.

Senior Lance Streng hit for a career-high 23 points for the Grizz. Weston followed with 13, while senior forward Isaac Wright added 11 points and nine rebounds.