Cougars lose Wuesthoff

January 11, 2012

Chewelah’s Kaitlin Krouse positions for rebound.

The Chewelah girls lost their first three games of Northeast A League season last week, but the biggest blow of all was los­ing starting guard Brittney Wuesthoff for the re­mainder of the season to a torn meniscus in her left knee.
“It’s a tough way to start the league season,” said head coach Tom Skok.
Coach Skok feels that the Cougars are taking the loss in stride and dealing with the ab­sence of a key player as well as they can.
“It makes things tough, she was our leading scorer at the time,” Skok said. “But we’re battling to get through it.”
The Cougars will have to look for other offensive sources and leadership.

‘Other kids are step­ping up.’

“Other kids are stepping up,” says coach Skok. “Ryann Rich­mond is putting some points on the board and LaVonne Smith and Sydnie Katzer have scored more and rebounded better since Brittney went down.”
Coach Skok added that “There is nothing really good about the injury, but some kids have had the opportunity to step up and play a little more.”
The Cougars have had scoring issues this season, but have been showing some signs of finding their range on the court.
“We get a lot of looks at the bas­ket, but we are in too big a hurry,” said coach Skok. “We need to relax and take good shots. I am confident we are working through these struggles.
“It’s a challenge for every­body, from kids to coaches. The kids have a great attitude and keep working hard.”
As for last week’s games, on Tuesday the Cougars traveled to Freeman (12-0, 3-0) and faced the Scotties. A big first quarter by Freeman put the Cougars in a deep hole they couldn’t climb out of and the Scotties cruised to a 47-15 win.
Molly McIntyre had 10 points and seven steals for Freeman, while Mikaela Hopkins and Richmond scored five each for the Cougars.
On Friday, Chewe­lah played Lakeside in Nine Mile Falls and the Cougars were unable to mount much of an attack on the Eagles (7-6, 2-1). Lakeside led wire to wire in the 68-29 win.
Tayler Flemming scored 18 points and Ashley Cook-Cox ad­ded 16 points and eight steals for the Eagles.
Richmond scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds and had six steals for the Cougars.
On Saturday, the Newport Grizz­lies (9-3, 1-2) visited JHS and ran up a big first half lead on their way to a 65-34 win. Court­ney Wiese scored 20 points and Taylor Lewis added 16 for New­port.
Richmond led the Cougars with 14 points, 12 coming in the second half.
THIS WEEK
This week the Cougars (2-11, 0-3) play two games. On Tues­day, Chewelah traveled to Riverside to face the Rams and on Friday the Colville Indians (7-5, 3-0) travel to JHS to take on the Cougars. Both games are scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.

Chewelah 5 8 0 2-- 15
Freeman 24 8 9 6-- 47

Chewelah--Hopkins 5, Riese 0, Richmond 5, Krouse 2, Garner 2, Smith 0, Pugh 1.

Freeman--Pilant 0, Vold 6, Groves 2, Maine 5, McIntyre 10, Paukert 0, Sorensen 9, McGar­ity 6, Barnes 3, Burke 0, Cos­sey 6.

Lakeside 68, Chewelah 29
Lakeside 17 21 14 16—68
Chewel. 9 8 4 8-- 29

Chewelah--Hopkins 0, Riese 0, Richmond 14, Frederick 0, Krouse 1, Garner 4, Katzer 2, Smith 4, Pugh 4.

Lakeside--Bennett 3, A. Cook-Cox 16, Kyllo 7, Flemming 18, T. Jacob­son 0, Brittos 2, Wid­man 9, Marikis 2, Mahowald 2, J. Cook-Cox 6, L. Jacobson 1, Hannah 2.

Newport 15 23 12 15--65
Chewelah 2 5 17 10--34

Newport--Lewis 16, J. Freder­ick 9, Wiese 20, H. Malsbury 4, M. Frederick 12, Young 0, Al. Newcomb 2, L. Malsbury 1, Barrens 1, A. New­comb 0.

Chewelah--Hopkins 1, Riese 0, Richmond 14, Krouse 1, Garner 1, Katzer 8, Smith 9, Pugh 0.