Sutherlin loses to Junction City, 43-40

CORVALLIS — Leah Mancino and Katie Rear each finished with 10 points, and
Mancinoıs steal of an inbounded pass from Sierra Terrel-Perez with 8.9
seconds remaining helped preserve the Junction City High girls basketball
teamıs 43-40 victory over Sutherlin in the quarterfinal round of the 4A
State Championships earlier today.

Tess Bennett and Kaylea Vermeer each scored a game-high 11 points for the
Bulldogs (18-10 overall), who dropped into the tournamentıs consolation
bracket with the loss. Sutherlin will play Tillamook, a 45-30 loser to
Stayton earlier in the day, in a consolation semifinal game at 9 a.m. Friday
at Gill Coliseum.

No. 10-ranked Junction City (21-5) moved into the state semifinals to play
Stayton, with tipoff scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday.

All of Vermeerıs points came in the second half, and her layup with 39
seconds remaining gave Sutherlin a 40-39 lead. The Tigersı Kayla Rauschert
was fouled on the other end and sank both ends of a 1-and-1 free throw
opportunity, giving the lead back to Junction City with 32.9 seconds left.
Sutherlin called its final timeout with 23.3 seconds left and, with 10.1
seconds remaining, Nikki Sherman drew a charging foul on a drive to the
basket by Sutherlinıs Mandy Siewell. Linsy Van Ras was fouled and hit just
1-of-2 free throws, giving the ball back to Sutherlin with 8.9 seconds left.

Terrel-Perezıs pass to Bennett went well short and into the hands of
Mancino. She passed to Van Ras, who sank 1-of-2 free throws again to push
Junction Cityıs lead to its final margin with 1.8 seconds left.

Van Ras missed the second foul shot and Vermeer was fouled on the rebound.
But Vermeer missed the front end of her 1-and-1 opportunity, and Rear
rebounded the ball for Junction City to seal the win.

The Bulldogs, who shot 51.9 percent (14 for 27) for the game, held a 20-16
halftime lead and held the Tigers without a point until a layup from Sherman
with 1:45 left in the first quarter. Sutherlin scored six unanswered points
after that to lead 8-2.

Junction City, which finished the game 13-for-27 shooting from the foul
line, took a 32-30 lead into the fourth quarter on a pair of foul shots from
Rear and led by as many as five early in the final stanza. But Sutherlin cut
the lead to 37-36 on a Marji Maxfield jumper and nearly took the lead after
a Junction City turnover, but Siewell missed a fast-break layup with 2:30
left that would have given the lead back to the Bulldogs.