Amity girls come from behind to down Sutherlin 46-44, face Corbett Saturday night for state title
Amity’s dance continues.
The girls basketball team overcame a six-point deficit at the half to edge out Sutherlin 46-44 on Friday, March 1, at Marshfield High School. With the win, the Warriors improve to 24-3 and advance to the state title game against undefeated Corbett (26-0) on Saturday, March 2 at 8:45 p.m., also at Marshfield.
In the win, the Warriors were led by sophomore Adie Nisly with 15 points, followed by sister Eliza Nisly with 9 points; sophomore guard Alyssa McMullen and junior Saralynn Grove each added 8 points to the scoring total.
Emotions were running high after the close game.
“It’s really exciting,” Adie Nisly said. “Last year, we lost in the first round and it was really disappointing but this year we worked really hard to come back. A lot of pressure but I’m really excited.”
“It’s so crazy,” Alyssa McMullen said. “I’m so thankful and blessed to be here. That’s how I’m feeling. I’m so thankful to for my teammates and I’m happy for all of us. We worked our butts off.”
The first half was not a kind one to the usually explosive offense. Amity scored just six points in the first and second quarters, unable to find much in the way of steals and turnovers from a stingy Sutherlin offense. In addition, Sutherlin hounded the offensive rebounds and gave itself plenty of second chance opportunities.
Amity trailed 8-6 after the first quarter and 18-12 at the halftime break.
With play opening up slightly in the second half Amity still found itself down multiple possessions, at one point trailing 27-17. Sutherlin junior Addyson Clark bore the brunt of her team’s scoring load, notching 24 points over the course of the game, including 8 in the third quarter.
But Amity would not be deterred, and over the course of the third quarter cut into the Bulldog lead. A Mya Haarsma lay-in here, an Adie Nisly slash to the basket there, and Amity was down 35-27. An Alyssa McMullen 3-pointer from the right corner gave the Warriors momentum heading into the pivotal fourth quarter.
The difference between the third quarter and the first half? Creative freedom, according to coach McMullen.
“In the second half we spread it out and ran what we call shell, opened it up and there’s no rules, the kids fly around and do whatever they want,” McMullen said. “We ran some high ball screens for Mya, put our shooters in the corner, just tried to spread them out and it worked.”
The fourth quarter opened up with an Amity scoring streak giving the Warriors their first lead of the game at 36-35. Amity would not give it up, but it wouldn’t be easy.
The Warriors got steals that led to buckets in transition and trips to the free throw line. Adie Nisly scored 8 points in the quarter, but it was the points she didn’t score that led to high drama with 2.5 seconds left.
Amity led Sutherlin 46-43, and Adie Nisly was fouled and sent to the line. After missing both free throws that would have stretched the Warriors advantage to two possessions, Sutherlin inbounded the ball and was fouled on a half court heave with 0.2 seconds on the clock.
Clark sank the first free throw, but missed the second and a lane violation gave Amity control of the ball. The Warriors sealed the win and went on to the championship game.
“I’m so unbelievably excited,” Jed McMullen said. “These kids have worked so hard, battled through some mental toughness issues early on in the season, but they’re growing every day. They’re young, we’ve come a long way. Probably the most growth I’ve ever had in a team, mentally. But it’s huge. We’ve been in this spot, Amity’s been in this spot, multiple times and we’re hoping we can seal the deal tomorrow.”
COACH McMULLEN
“That’s frustrating, they’re long. We expected that, they get out and the passing lanes are really long. It just took us a little while to get us going. In the second half we spread it out and ran what we call shell, opened it up and there’s no rules, the kids fly around and do whatever they want. We ran some high ball screens for Mya, put our shooters in the corner, just tried to spread them out and it worked.”
“I’m so unbelievably excited. These kids have worked so hard, battled through some mental toughness issues early on in the season, but they’re growing every day. They’re young, we’ve come a long way. Probably the most growth I’ve ever had in a team, mentally. But it’s huge. We’ve been in this spot, Amity’s been in this spot, multiple times and we’re hoping we can seal the deal tomorrow.”
ADIE NISLY
“Really good. I was really excited to see everyone come together.”
“No, we’ve come back from a lot. It’s our intensity, we need to pick it up when we get into moments like those. When we come down, we always come together. It’s always our press that always brings it back for us.”
“It’s really exciting. Last year, we lost in the first round and it was really disappointing but this year we worked really hard to come back. A lot of pressure but I’m really excited.”
ALYSSA McMULLEN
“It’s so crazy. I’m so thankful and blessed to be here. That’s how I’m feeling. I’m so thankful to for my teammates and I’m happy for all of us. We worked our butts off.”
“It’s amazing. I’ve been watching basketball since I was little with him. He’s taught me everything, he’s the reason I’m the player that I am. It means a lot.”
“We were putting me in the wing, in this corner, and we have so much speed with our point guards. If they chose to come out and guard me, then Mya, Adie, and Eliza were going to be wide open. If they close on them, we have our posts for the dump down. It showed that we have so many weapons on our team, it makes it hard for other teams to guard us.”
“A lot of shooting. Pretty much shooting, honestly. That’s kind of their thing, shooting the 3. They’re good at driving, they’re a really good team, but our strength and athleticism is going to help us, and having played them before is going to help us a lot. We know what they do; we’re prepared.”
“We had a really bad third quarter that first time, and it really hurt us. We came back from being down 13, so that really shows we can do whatever we want when we put our minds to it.”
Amity girls blow out Nyssa 62-38 in quarterfinals
[Friday, March 1]
It’s not quite a trend, but two victories in increasingly dominant fashion is certainly a good thing.
At least, it was for the Amity girls basketball team, who defeated Nyssa for the second time this season, doing so 62-38 in the state quarterfinals at Marshfield High School on Feb. 29. The two teams first squared up on Dec. 30 at the Crusader Classic in Salem, with Amity winning that encounter 57-51.
The Warriors got incredible production from twin guards Adie and Eliza Nisly, who finished with 18 and 15 points, respectively. Sophomore shooting guard Alyssa McMullen finished with 10 points, as did junior post Saralynn Grove.
Grove tweaked an ankle during shoot-around and had a slight limp, but going into the contest she battled through the discomfort and was a positive force on defense and the boards. According to coach Jed McMullen, ankle discomfort is not an entirely new sensation for Grove.
“Saralynn is alright, she’s a gritty kid,” McMullen said. “She rolled her ankle here last year really bad and played through it. She’s a super tough kid, so she’ll be fine.”
Amity started the game strong, getting out to a 9-3 lead over the Bulldogs. Four of those points came from Grove who split a pair of free throws and hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Amity finished the quarter up 15-11.
The second quarter was back and forth but the Warriors began to pull away from Nyssa. As the quarter waned, the Warriors went on an 8-2 run to take a 28-22 lead into the halftime break. Adie Nisly had a massive second quarter, scoring 8 of her teams 13 points in the quarter and getting to the free throw line on two separate occasions.
In the third quarter, Amity turned up the pressure. The Warriors outscored the Bulldogs 18-12 in the frame and got incredible production from the Nisly sisters, who assisted each other on more than one occasion. Eventually, the pressure of Amity’s offense led to Nyssa getting into foul trouble. According to Alyssa McMullen, getting Nyssa’s players into foul trouble wasn’t necessarily the plan.
“Our coach always tells us to play our game and worry about the rest later,” Alyssa McMullen said. “‘If you play how we teach you to play, if you work hard, and play like we play in practice, it’s going to come.’ I think it’s just our speed in our attack, they couldn’t handle it and they fouled out. It wasn’t our plan, we just play what we’ve been taught all season.”
After the third quarter, Amity led 46-34. Nyssa senior Clarita Arizmendi fouled out 20 seconds into the fourth quarter, and Amity went on a 16-0 run to shut the door on a Bulldog come back.
Jed McMullen didn’t take the win for granted.
“They got a lot of kids over there, several seniors, kids who played on their title team, they’ve been here before,” McMullen said. “They brought it. We knew they would come out and play really hard, and they played well early. I think we kind of wore them down over time. But we expected them, they’re a championship caliber team, they’ve been here, so we expected them to come out and come after us.”
With the win, Amity improved to 23-3 and advanced to face Sutherlin in the semifinals on Friday, March 1.
COACH McMULLEN:
“They got a lot of kids over there, several seniors, kids who played on their title team, they’ve been here before. They brought it. We knew they would come out and play really hard, and they played well early. I think we kind of wore them down over time. But we expected them, they’re a championship caliber team, they’ve been here, so we expected them to come out and come after us.”
“We wanted to attack (10 and 20) and make them play defense. They were in foul trouble a little bit going into the half there, so we were just trying to get downhill and make them play defense and attack them.”
“Saralynn is alright, she’s a gritty kid. She rolled her ankle here last year really bad and played through it. She’s a super tough kid, so she’ll be fine.”
“The twins were sensational, as was Alyssa on top of our 1-3-1. She’s working her tail off to herd them to the corners. Really, a good team win. I thought we were proud of all of our kids, it was really balanced.”
ALYSSA McMULLEN:
“I liked that we kept our attitudes up even when it was a close game. They’re a good team, they made some runs and when it was tied 20-20, I thought we responded really well, better than we did last time. Last time we beat them by six, this time we beat them by 20. I think we just kept our heads up. Our mental game this season has grown a lot. I think that really helped us the whole game.”
“Our coach always tells us to play our game and worry about the rest later. ‘If you play how we teach you to play, if you work hard, and play like we play in practice, it’s going to come.’ I think it’s just our speed in our attack, they couldn’t handle it and they fouled out. It wasn’t our plan, we just play what we’ve been taught all season.”
“One play at a time is what we’re doing. One play at a time, one step at a time, and just, if we can play our game, we know we can do a lot of really good things.”
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