By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

BEAVERTON, Ore.–  McNary’s KJ Custer flew around twice in the second half against La Salle Prep in the first day of the Celtics Summer League schedule at Southridge High School.

The Falcons had climbed back into the summer league after McNary built an 11-point lead early in the second half of the contest.  Custer and her defense took it as a test, after defeating Sunset 66-11 earlier in the day, as they enter day 2 of the four-game series Sunday with some positive momentum as they held on for the 48-45 win Saturday afternoon.

“They’re one of the top 5A schools for sure and it was really good to crack down on them.  We were expecting them to run on us, but we came out and played that against them and took it to our advantage,” Custer said.  “Playing unselfish ball, pushing the ball up court, seeing people up the court, making extra passes.  Seeing all of that really got us going.”

Custer was joined by Ava Rubio, Avery Buss and Lilian Besa from this past seasons 8-16 season.  Rubio, who will be a junior this upcoming season, hit some free throws down the stretch to help aid the Celtics to stay ahead in the victroy.

For Custer, she knows how big this season will be for her entering her senior season to be a leader for McNary.  Coming off a toe injury that sat her out the first few games of the season, Custer hopes to come back better than ever to help the squad going into the Winter with the returners that they do have coming back.

“I really want to lead this team and really pull my energy out and teach the younger ones coming in too, to lead this program and have them set in stone in the coming years for them to lead too,” Custer starts.  “Coming back with a lot of our returners and us playing as a team.  The play that we had right there (against La Salle), it feels so good and it feels like we have a lot of chemistry now and I feel like we’re going to have a really good season (in the Winter).

“I feel like last year we were timid, but I feel like this year with going through Summer and practicing so much and getting better all the time, I think we will be strong and will have a really good season.”

McNary returns to Beaverton Sunday for another twin-bill of games as they will play Newberg at 12:15pm at Mountainside High School before playing Southridge High School at Southridge.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald