Story and photos by Jacob Thompson

Clackamas Community College’s women’s basketball team’s season came to a close Thursday afternoon at Everett as the Everett Community College Trojans defeated the Cougars 102-77.

From the opening tip it looked like Clackamas might be in trouble, falling behind 15-5 with 6:08 remaining in the first quarter with only sophomore guard Nicole Hermosillo-Wright scoring for the Cougars.

The Cougars eventually settled down and were able to create a run of their own which started by a three-pointer from sophomore guard Brittany McCormick. The Cougars closed the first quarter outscoring the Trojans 14-5, but still trailed 19-20.

The Cougars took the lead at the beginning of the second quarter, 21-20, on a layup by freshman guard CJ Buckley. The quarter was a battle until Kayce Mock picked up her third personal foul and went to the bench. Without their second leading scorer on the floor, Clackamas stayed fairly consistent on offense and with 1:38 remaining in the half Mock returned to the floor and instantly got to the free-throw line and knocked down two shots to bring Everett’s lead down to four, but it didn’t last long.

On Everett’s next possession, sophomore guard Tyra Lopez hit a three to give the Trojans a 47-40 at half.

“It felt like we were playing right along with them,” Mock said. “They just hit the shots that we didn’t.”

After the halftime break, Everett’s hot shooting hadn’t cooled down and Lopez hit a 15 footer just 10 seconds into the third quarter. Clackamas fought back and for the first four minutes of the third the teams were trading buckets, but the Cougars never gained ground and still trailed by nine, 48-57. The next three minutes was catastrophic for Clackamas, shooting 0-7 from the field.

Everett out scored the Cougars 11-0 and held a 68-48 lead with 2:54 left. A bucket by Buckley ended Clackamas’ drought, but the Trojans stayed on the attack, outscoring Clackamas 35-18 in the quarter, and took a 82-58 lead into the fourth frame.

“I don’t know if it’s so much that we got tired as it was we saw we were down 20,” said head coach Jim Martineau. “It’s a lot easier to play fast when you’re down four or five. The difference was they finished better than us at the end of the break, that’s the bottom line.”

The fourth quarter was back and forth and although Clackamas found their offensive rhythm, it was too little too late and the Cougars’ season was done. 102-77.

“I think since it was their home court they were so much more pumped up,” said sophomore guard Ricki Mock. “When you’re on your home court, you always end up making your shots and make everything you throw up and that’s what they did.”

When Martineau addressed the team after the loss, he said he didn’t discuss the game much, but something much more important.

“Wins and losses, whatever. The success for me was watching this group hangout and really enjoy each other,” Martineau said. “They’re going to remember themselves personality wise a lot more than if we won 22 or 24 games and who ends up winning the tournament.”

The Cougars have a tall task ahead of them this off-season as they look to replace leading scorers Hermosillo-Wright and Kayce Mock, as well as sophomore guards Brittany McCormick, Ricki Mock and Kennedy Nofziger.

“We’re a family no matter what and I love this team,” McCormick said. “It’s sad that we’ll all go our separate ways now, but I’m happy that my last season ever was with them.”