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Zone stifles O-D in 4th; Warner, Hernandez-Rios play key roles
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Madi Douglass Natalie Warner Camila Hernandez-Rios
HAMLET — Madi Douglass outscored the entire Oregon-Davis team 6-5 in the fourth quarter and finished with a game-high 26 points to lead the visiting Caston girls basketball team to a Hoosier North road win at the Bobcat Den Monday.
Grace Colvin added 11 points, and Natalie Warner had Caston’s only two field goals in the fourth, including the go-ahead putback with 6:32 left. They were the first four points in the varsity career for Warner, a 6-1 sophomore post.
But the key might have been Caston’s 3-2 zone defense. They held Oregon-Davis scoreless for over seven minutes in the fourth quarter even though Douglass, Warner and starting post Allison Craig were all playing with four fouls
Junior reserve guard Camila Hernandez-Rios had two crucial steals, flying to intercept two post entry passes in the final 30 seconds.
Oregon-Davis only broke the scoreless drought when Gabriella Krause banked in a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left.
“The first half, we went with a lot of man because we had been working on it, and then when we got tired late in the second quarter, (Krause) scored 15 points in the first half and nine rebounds, and it was because we got tired,” Caston coach Josh Douglass said. “Madi, she had two fouls and didn’t want to pick up a third, so our help-side defense got tired.
“So we decided in the second half, and we went zone. We went to our 3-2 zone and tried to … put pressure on the ball, and I thought the girls did an excellent job of adjusting defenses when we switched defenses at halftime.”
Caston improved to 3-4 overall and 2-1 in the Hoosier North. Krause had 18 points for Oregon-Davis, who dropped to 6-2, 0-2.
Krause’s banked-in shot just before the buzzer was O-D’s only made 3-pointer, and they were Krause’s only points of the second half.
Only once in their previous seven games had O-D scored fewer than 45 points.
O-D took a 40-39 lead with nine seconds left in the third quarter on freshman Eryn MacMillan’s 16-footer, and they scored the first bucket of the fourth quarter on junior forward Sarah Thompson’s spin move in the lane.
But just moments after Warner picked up her fourth foul, Douglass found her for a layup, and Warner, who is five inches taller than O-D’s tallest player, followed with the go-ahead basket after an offensive rebound on the next possession.
Warner played in two varsity games last year. She played against West Central in the season opener this year but suffered a right knee injury and missed five games.
“She just missed a layup to give us back the lead at the end of the third,” coach Douglass said. “To come back and hit those was big for us. It gave us some big momentum there. … You have to remember that was basically her first game in three weeks.”
Then came a stalemate. Douglass picked up her fourth foul with 6:35 left. She went to the bench with 6:16 left. She came back in with 4:40 left.
It was still 43-42.
O-D called timeout with 4:32 left.
Neither team could score. Possessions slowed to a crawl. Warner missed two free throws with 2:05 left. Warner fouled out with 1:53 left.
Thompson missed at the other end.
O-D called a 30-second timeout with 1:02 left. Caston called timeout with 58.1 seconds left.
Douglass played keepaway. Caston entered the bonus with 47.7 seconds left, and Douglass hit two free throws.
Jayla Patrick missed a 3-pointer, and Douglass hit two more free throws with 36.9 seconds left.
Then came Hernandez-Rios’ first steal, and Douglass made it a 49-42 game with two more free throws with 21.5 seconds left.
“Huge,” coach Douglass said of Hernandez-Rios’ steals. “She was here last year, and those are things that we worked on in practice, and it was great for her to see that. She’s got so much speed, and that’s what we tell her. Defensively, she could be one of those kids for us that could go out there and do those things for us.”
Pushing the tempo with their full-court pressure, Oregon-Davis led 31-27 at halftime and extended the lead to as many as six in the third quarter.
Colvin and Douglass combined for all 12 Caston points in the third quarter. Down 36-32, they went on a 7-0 run that included a Colvin 3 from the right of the key off a Kylee Logan assist, a Douglass scoop layup and a Colvin floater in the lane that put Caston back up 39-36.
“It’s just a lot at once, a lot of pressure,” Colvin said of her freshman season. “But I really enjoy playing basketball, so I love it.”
Colvin was asked about playing with Madi Douglass. Madi Douglass was the primary point guard on last year’s regional championship team, but Colvin has found the ball in her hands more this year with Madi Douglass playing more off the ball.
“We both have had to learn a new role because last year I was the main point guard (on the Caston eighth-grade team), and this year I have her, and I love having her there as another person we can rely on with the ball,” Colvin said. “And I just love having someone that takes some of the pressure off me too.”
Coach Douglass said this win was a sign of growth.
“What it tells me is this team is learning to play together and learning to trust each other,” coach Douglass said. “I think they got tired of getting beat up there at the beginning. They probably got tired of me yelling at them at practice to play harder. But I think you’re seeing them grow up a little bit. We’ve still got a long ways to go. Don’t get me wrong. But you see a team that’s a fighter. They want to win, and they’re getting better at seeing things.”
Caston 49, Oregon-Davis 45
CASTON (49) (3-4, 2-1)
Grace Colvin 5 0-0 11, Kylee Logan 0 0-0 0, Madi Douglass 6 14-19 26, Olivia Thomas 2 0-0 4, Allison Craig 0 0-0 0, Ellie Zartman 0 0-0 0, Hadlie Coffing 0 0-0 0, Camila Hernandez-Rios 0 0-2 0, Natalie Warner 2 0-2 4, Adyson Steininger 1 0-0 2, Gigi Berry 0 2-2 2
TEAM: 16 16-25 49
OREGON-DAVIS (45) (6-2, 0-2)
Gabriella Krause 7 3-4 18, Madison Zelaya 0 0-0 0, Ashleigh Laster 3 1-1 7, Jayla Patrick 1 3-4 5, Sarah Thompson 4 1-4 9, Trinity Vaszari 1 0-0 2, Eva Young 0 0-0 0, Eryn MacMillan 2 0-0 4
TEAM: 18 8-13 45
Three-point field goals:
Caston 1 (Colvin),
Oregon-Davis 1 (Krause)
Total fouls: Caston 17, Oregon-Davis 20
Fouled out: Warner (CAS), 1:53, fourth; Thompson (O-D), :36.9, fourth
Turnovers: Caston 20, Oregon-Davis 20
Score by quarters
Caston 11 16 12 10 – 49
Oregon-Davis 10 21 9 5 – 45
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