Ranger defense smothers 2A Culver

“I am real happy with how everyone stepped up, especially the young guys,” Pence said. “Even though they don’t play that much, they are still on the bench prepared and ready to play just as good as the starters. You never know when you are going to get in the game. Like me, I don’t start, but I am ready to roll whenever I am asked.”

Dufur imposed its will in the opening quarter, as junior guard Connor Uhalde scored 11 of his 15 points to help his team jump ahead, 18-11.

At the three-minute and 18-second mark of the second quarter and the Rangers a head 25-13, McLaughlin hit a layup, Bailey Keever made good on a layup and a foul shot, Kolbe Bales banked home a paint attempt and McLaughlin capped the run with a short jumper to increase the lead to 35-16.

Dufur led 35-18 at the half and was ahead 39-24 when a 10-0 spurt over a span of 2:34 in the third quarter all but sealed the deal.

Curtis Crawford hit 1 of 2 free throws, Bales added two layups and McLaughlin tacked on two field goals and a free throw to cap the run.

At the buzzer, Pence received a pass from McLaughlin and banked home a layup to make it a 51-29 lead entering the final period.

Dufur hit on 10 layup attempts in the second half, 19 overall, with much of those chances created by steals or forcing bad Culver passes.

“The first half, we trapped and that really shook them up a little bit,” head coach Tony White said of the defense. “I think that we were in a little better shape and we continued to trap in the second half and we got some steals out of it. I was happy to see our defensive intensity create some transition baskets.”

Although the Rangers have had limited practice time, White said the team is steadily gaining traction on the hardwood and executing on both ends of the floor.

It was a good trend to see eight different players hit field goals.

“We were actually patient on offense where we weren’t in our first game. We got some really nice looks tonight,” White said. “Tabor McLaughlin played clutch tonight. I thought he stepped in and did a great job for us. He is not scared at all. We have some good pieces here, so we will see how much we improve once we get two weeks of practice under us.”

Uhalde led all scorers with 15 points in one half of play, as the Rangers hit on 27 field goals and converted on 7 of 19 free throws.

Keever, McLaughlin and Bales dropped in 11 points apiece and Travis Lucas added three field goals for his six points.

In his first game of the season, Keever sees a lot of heart and hustle from his mates.

It is still only December, so there is a long ways to go before the Rangers are a finished product.

“Each practice and each game, we have to play hard. This team just has to continue to improve,” Keever said. “We showed a little bit of improvement from our last game to this game with running the plays, executing, playing good defense and having more stamina in the end. We just got to come up in each practice and get better. Hopefully, we can do that in the end.”

Dufur (1-1 overall) hosts Lyle, Wash. at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.

Dufur girls take a 17-point loss

DUFUR – The scoreboard may have read as a 41-24 loss to 2A Culver, but at this juncture of the season, Dufur girls’ basketball coach Jack Henderson wants to get his roster of five underclassmen, three juniors and one senior on the same page.

From now until Feb. 13, 2016, the Lady Rangers have 22 games to get on its successful path.

“That is where we are at at this point in time. We are not worried about winning and losing,” Henderson said. “We got to get better every day and that is what we are preaching to these kids. Our effort was much better tonight than on Saturday night, so we just need to keep moving in that direction. If we can stay moving in that direction, I think we can be a pretty good basketball team.”

Dufur used an eight-point outburst from sophomore wing Chloe Beeson to go out in front by an 8-6 margin after one quarter of play, and then led 10-8 with five minutes and 13 seconds left in the second quarter.

But, Culver finished the opening half on an 8-3 run and used scores of 12-6 and 13-5 in the final 16 minutes of action to take hold of its 17-point win.

Twice in the fourth quarter, Dufur cut the Bulldog lead down to less than 10 points, the last time coming at the 4:52 mark after a jumper by Beeson to make it 33-24, but Culver withstood that rally and ended the game on an 8-0 run.

Beeson led Dufur with 10 points, Alexus Outlaw added nine and junior point guard Sydney Reed notched four points.

All told, the Rangers hit nine field goals, four from 3-point territory, and drained 2 of 8 free throws.

With the guards dominating the scoresheet, Henderson said one aspect he plans on correcting is establishing more of a scoring threat from the paint.

Getting Laticia Macias, Emily DePriest and Sydnee Byers the ball more down low will only prove beneficial to all of the scorers.

“We really need to concentrate on our post game and get things going down there,” Henderson said. “Once they get some success, it will open things up for everybody else. We will continue work on that area, along with other parts of our game over the next month.”

Culver totaled 16 field goals and went 9 of 19 from the line, with Hannah Lewis posting 18 points, Irma Retano following up with nine and Jessica Johnson adding six points.

The Rangers are 0-2 and will focus on a home date versus Lyle at 6 p.m. Friday.

DePriest is not worried about the start.

The volleyball team also started the year 0-2 before making a deep playoff run.

“I think during the midway point of the season, you will see this team blossom,” DePriest said. “We are a really young team and a lot of these girls really haven’t played a lot on varsity, but they are trying and doing everything they can to mesh well with the older girls. We are learning a lot on how to do it together as a team and we are sticking together to accomplish our goals.”