By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.–  The 9am game was a tad more kinder to the Gervais Girls Basketball team Friday morning.  There was still some waking up as they led 22-16 three minutes into the second quarter, but then that’s where the Cougars flipped the switch and turned it on against Country Christian.    Turning a six-point lead into a 36-18 halftime cushion against their tough 1A competition in their 63-43 victory to finish third in the Crusader Classic Green Bracket.

“It was good for us to have that bounce back game after our loss (to Sutherlin).  I think we still needed a little warming up this morning, but we started executing our plays in the second quarter and then we continued that into the second half,” Ava Sellers said.

Sellers finished with 11 points and had two of the Cougars six three-pointers, both three’s coming in the third quarter as Gervais continued to feed off of their first half momentum into the second half.  Closing out the tournament strongly.  Addy McCargar had three of the three’s as well as she finished with ten, the Boyd Sisters recorded double-figure games.  Izzy finished with ten, Olivia with 16.  Sofia Contreras finished with eight points as nine Cougs scored at least two points in the win going into their Tri-River Conference-opener with Colton on Wednesday.

“This is a great confidence booster for us to go out and compete against these really good teams before we start season.  It was awesome to see so much competition and I think this high level of play will prepare us for the next few weeks,” Izzy Boyd said.

Annie Bafford led the 1A Cougars with 14 points, Grace Colvin contributed seven points for Country Christian.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald