Varsity 541

Rogue River upends inexperienced Pirates

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PHOENIX — Rogue River erased an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat Phoenix 60-57 on Wednesday.

It's the first time the Chieftains (2-0) have beaten the former league-rival Pirates (0-1) since 2002 — the last year the Chieftains made the playoffs.

"This is definitely one of our biggest wins since 2002," Rogue River coach Scott Anderson said. "To beat them at their place is a pretty cool thing in addition to having the composure to hang around and get it done in the fourth."

Rogue River trailed 29-21 at the break but tied the game at 43 on a 3-pointer by Craig Lee at the end of the third quarter.

Phoenix scored five quick points, but the Chieftains again chipped away at the lead and eventually went in front with 3:30 to play and fended off the Pirates the rest of the way.

Phoenix had an opportunity with a good look at a tying 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it rimmed off.

Anderson said his team's defense and depth turned the game in Rogue River's favor.

"Our offense hasn't been clicking for us, but our defense has been keeping us in games," he said. "After a while, we start wearing down teams in the fourth quarter. We're deep. We play nine solid guys. That's helped us the past two nights."

Rogue River held a sizeable edge in free throws as well, making 22 of 27 attempts while Phoenix was just 5 of 8 from the line. The Pirates had three players foul out.

"We were attacking pretty well off the dribble," Anderson said. "We keep putting pressure on offensively and teams are getting their hands on us."

Rogue River's Craig Lee had 16 points and Cole Watson added 13 points and four steals. Lee and Watson also rotated in applying full-court pressure on the Phoenix point guard.

Jackson Mitchell also had 13 for the Chieftains and Kelly White had eight points, seven rebounds and four steals.

Phoenix was led by Skylar Reagan's 16 points and Ben Crichton's 15. Juan Sauceda added 11 points and seven rebounds.

"One big difference, they have at least three or four guys who have played varsity basketball before," Phoenix coach Brian Miller said. "It was the first varsity game for almost every guy on our team. They got into us a little bit and played a little bit more physical than us, which took us out of a few things we wanted to do.

"We knew they were going to be good."

ROGUE RIVER (60) — Schoner 2, Mitchell 13, Krouse 0, Watson 13, White 8, Lee 16, Johnson 0, Taylor 4, Garcia 4. Totals: 17 22-27 60.

PHOENIX (57) — Young 0, Lapat 9, Ralls 0, Tally 0, Sauceda 11, Bon 4, Crichton 15, Hendricks 2, Reagan 16. Totals: 24 5-8 57.

Rogue River 8 13 22 17 — 60

Phoenix 10 19 14 14 — 57

3-point goals — Rogue River 4 (Watson 2, White 1, Lee 1). Phoenix 4 (Crichton 2, Sauceda 1, Lapat 1). Fouled out — Lapat, Ralls, Hendricks. Technical fouls — Reagan.

JV result — Phoenix won.

ST. MARY'S 60, RIDDLE 24 — At Riddle, Keenan Grant poured in 10 points and added nine steals to lead St. Mary's to its first win of the season.

Lou Gambee added nine points and Zach Tomlinson chipped in with nine rebounds and Si Boggess had five assists for the Crusaders (1-1).

Franco Moreno led Riddle with 11 points.

ST. MARY'S (60) — O'Boyle 4, Reeder 2, Gervais 3, Boggess 4, Grant 10, Harper 4, Gambee 9, Bates 7, Gross 8, Tomlinson 4, Mosely 5. Totals: 25 7-17 60.

RIDDLE (24) — Pollinger 0, Stratton 0, Exceen 0, Serda 8, Napper 3, Pappas 0, Harris 0, Porter 0, Hanson 0, McKenna 0, Kremer 2, Moreno 11. Totals: 9 5-10 24.

St. Mary's 16 14 17 13 — 60

Riddle 5 11 6 2 — 24

3-point goals — St. Mary's 3 (Bates 1, Grant 2), Riddle 1 (Napper 1). Fouled out — Moreno.

JV score — St. Mary's 45, Riddle 22.

Girls Basketball

ST. MARY'S 84, RIDDLE 35 — At Riddle, Kelsey Gross had 18 points to lead five St. Mary's players in double figures in a season-opening triumph.

Veronica Valdez added 16 points, Katie Bates had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Abby Steinsiek came off the bench for 12 points and Aubrie Street had 10 for the Crusaders.

St. Mary's forced 23 turnovers in the first half alone and took a 50-15 lead into intermission.

Alex Rogers had 13 points to lead Riddle.

ST. MARY'S (84) — Gross 18, V. Valdez 16, Seus 0, D. Valdez 4, Steinsiek 12, Krieser 6, Street 10, Adderson 2, Bates 12, Alvarez 4. Totals: 35 13-28 84.

RIDDLE (35) — Rogers 13, McKinney 0, Vanauken 2, Yackamouin 0, Grunwald 0, Hanson 3, Gianotti 4, Riekeman 7, Ramsey 3, Nelson 3. Totals: 11 11-30 35.

St. Mary's 24 26 14 20 — 84

Riddle 5 10 8 12 — 35

3-point goals — St. Mary's 1 (Steinsiek 1), Riddle 2 (Rogers 2). Fouled out — Adderson, D. Valdez.

JV result — St. Mary's won.

GOLD BEACH 52, NORTH VALLEY 30 — At Merlin, Taylor Vandehey tallied 14 points and Brooke Fray added eight in a losing cause for North Valley.

Kay Moore poured in 12 points to lead Gold Beach, which used a 15-3 run in the second quarter to pull away.

GOLD BEACH (52) — Moore 12, MacLaurie 11, Kay. Zuber 10, Hockma 8, Kat. Zuber 7, Koenig 4. Totals: 21 9-12 52.

NORTH VALLEY (30) — Vandehey 14, Fray 8, Ellis 2, Na. Goens 2, Nic. Goens 2, Nicholson 1. Totals: 14 2-7 30.

Gold Beach 11 15 12 14 — 52

North Valley 10 3 9 8 — 30

3-point goals — Gold Beach 1 (Kat. Zuber).

Hockey

NORTH MEDFORD 6, SOUTH MEDFORD 5, OT — Jared McClure capped a stellar performance with the game-winning goal in sudden-death overtime for North Medford in the season opener for both teams at The RRRink.

McClure finished with a hat trick. Alex Huff and Alan Evans added goals for North Medford. Lizzie Jossie, Rex Bufalino and Evans each added an assist.

Dane Irving had two goals for South Medford while Wyatt Small, Samantha Andrews and Brandon Punsuk had one goal each for the Panthers.

Punsuk and Small both had two assists.

North Medford's Chase Myers stopped 33 of the 38 shots on goal while South Medford's Brandon Andrews had 25 saves on 31 shots on goal.

ASHLAND 10, CRATER 6 — Casey Skolnik opened the season for Ashland with a hat trick and five assists at The RRRink.

Ashland goalie Gabe Dean stopped 7 of 10 shots on goal while Grizzlies' freshman Daniel Siegrist had one save in four attempts.

Crater trailed by just one goal, at 7-6, entering the third period. Jake Randol had a hat trick for the Comets.

Crater freshman goalie Lucas Paulsen made 23 saves.