Should the Clark College women’s basketball team have won Wednesday’s Northwest Athletic Conference South Region opener? Probably, coach Eric Harper said.
“It’s frustrating …” he said after his team’s 67-65 overtime loss to Mt. Hood. “Instead of finding ways to win, we’re finding ways to lose. We needed to be persistent and stick with what we’re doing and believe we’re going to win.”
Courtney Bay’s top-of-the-key jump with a foot on the 3-point line with 3 seconds remaining in overtime handed the Penguins their ninth loss on of the season. Even more heartbreaking was letting a double-digit fourth-quarter lead slip and even a six-point cushion with 90 seconds left slip.
Of the team’s nine losses, six have come by six or fewer points.
Add Wednesday to that total.
The Penguins (3-9 overall, 0-1 NWAC South) built a 53-41 lead with 5 minutes, 20 left in the fourth quarter after eight straight points to start the quarter by Union High product Abby Forsyth (team-high 15 points). Two baskets came via steals and another came off an offensive rebound.
Yet, Clark couldn’t sustain the lead.
Mt. Hood (6-7, 1-0) quickly cut it to 55-53 by the 2:17 mark, and by the time Chloe Cummins (game-high 20 points) was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 12.6 seconds to go, the Saints trailed by three with a chance to tie the game at the free-throw line.
She went 3-for-3.
In the 5-minute overtime, the 64-59 Clark lead fizzled fast and the Penguins didn’t get a shot off after Bay drilled hers that broke a 65-65 tie.
Nueku, Clark’s point guard, knows breaking the team’s “streak” of close losses is all about execution down the stretch.
“That’s it,” she said, “and playing as a team.”
MEN: Mt. Hood 90, Clark 85 — Cody Thompson’s 29 points highlighted the Saints’ victory, but Steven Fair’s six straight points down the stretch gave the road team the lead in the NWAC South opener for both squads that featured 21 lead changes and 14 ties.
Clark’s lead was just 76-74 and Fair’s six points was part of a quick 8-0 run by Mt. Hood (7-4, 0-1) to take the lead for good.
What sticks out on the loss for interim Clark coach Kevin Johnson isn’t so much the 15 total turnovers, but but how the turnovers happened: calling it “loose with the ball” and types of plays that led to transition plays for the Saints, especially in the first half.
“Our turnovers put us in difficult possessions to defense, because we were in broken floors,” he said.
Luke Osborn’s 21 points were one of four Penguins to reach double figures. Jack Nadelhoffer added 20, followed by Jordan Berni (17) and Ty Cleland (10).
