OC Reds sweep five games and bring young promise to Oregon City High

The OC Reds were the overall champions in the “San Diego Classic” 1A division tournament last month.

Boding a great season ahead for Oregon City High School, the team started the tournament strong with back-to-back blowout wins, 64-7 against Southwest, Calif., and 52-15 to knock out Bonita Vista, Calif. Then the OC Reds took three more solid wins: 60-18 over Humboldt, Calif, 55-27 over Troy, Calif., and 55-27 over Colorado Gold.

Oregon City’s depth and full-court pressure wore down opponents. OC Reds’ endurance kept up even through 20-minute halves and a running clock (until the final two minutes of play).

“The girls all played extremely well together, (and during) different games, different players stepped up with scoring,” said Coach Glenn Hopkins.

Jordan Kelly led the way with seven three-pointers, and in the semifinal matchup against Troy, Calif., Oregon City’s post players Taylor Shaw, Chelsea Bone, Katie Kammerer and Taylor Knighton dominated the inside.

Early in the championship game, it seemed like it could have been a close call. OC was down early to Colorado Gold 10-2, and OC only led at halftime by eight points. Early in the second half, OC pressed hard on defense and forced several turnovers, which led to easy baskets. Hot three-point shooting also helped these young Pioneers bring home the first-place trophy. Cierra Walker had a “tremendous” championship game, hitting six three-pointers and several more baskets to stretch the Reds’ lead.

“Just guessing, Cierra had to have had 30 or more points!” Hopkins said.

Through every match, Hopkins credited Lindsi Peters, who was playing the point-guard position, as an amazing leader on both ends of the court. She averaged more than 10 assists per game, including several “Montana Walters-like” passes.

“Lindsi was great with controlling the offense; she saw the floor and her teammates extremely well; she had a 3-1 assist to TO ratio,” Hopkins said.

Olivia Creelman and Lucy Kleiner also brought a great “defensive stopper” mentality, Hopkins added, recalling the many times they guarded the opposing team’s best player, while also playing the front of the OC Reds’ press to get key tips and steals, making it difficult for the other team to get the ball into an offensive set.

“Overall our full-court press, and our passion for pushing the tempo, led to countless transition baskets for our team,” Hopkins said.

The team consisted of nine players. There were two upcoming sophmores: Lucy Kleiner and Chelsea Bone; and seven incoming freshman: Lindsi Peters, Cierra Walker, Jordan Kelly, Taylor Knighton, Olivia Creelman, Katie Kammerer, and Taylor Shaw.