Cardinals Can’t Top Logger Defense

Amber Durand (#25) of Onalaska challenges a shot by Winlock's Kaley Crawford (#13) during a game on Friday evening.

The Lady Loggers of Onalaska displayed their signature defense and an opportunistic nature during a 38-27 SWW 1A Evergreen Conference victory Friday evening.

The match also contained a sub-plot as brothers Doug and Scott Ashmore faced each other as basketball coaches for the first time. Doug won this meeting but they are not strangers in baseball. Scott Ashmore has been the baseball coach at Adna while Doug has coached nine years at Onalaska. “It is kind of stressful being family and coaching against each other, “ said the Onalaska Coach Doug Ashmore. “You know, you got to talk about those things at Christmas time.”

The 1st quarter of this match-up saw a deluge of unforced Winlock turnovers as they went on to total 20 through the evening while the Lady Loggers were credited with 14 steals. Ony had a tough time hitting the rim, let alone putting the ball through the hoop early in the game.

The key word is opportunistic. A transition basket here and a three pointer there.

In time, the Lady Loggers began to cash in on offensive rebounding opportunities and their strong 1-3-1 zone that held Winlock to just 28% shooting. “Mandy Reynoldson does a great job up top. And really forces the girl so we can get traps out of it,” explained the Onalaska Coach. “Our whole team really knows the system. It is a good defense and the girls have really bought into it. They love doing it so it causes a lot of havoc.”

Winlock's Kayla Rakes (#41) is set to defen Onalaska's Mandy Reynoldson (#23) during Friday nights 38-27 Lady Logger victory.

After two quarters, Onalaska took a 22-9 lead into the locker room, but a different Winlock team appeared in the 3rd quarter. Winlock Junior Point Guard Courtney Sutor seemed to take the rest of her team on her slight back as she drove and forced three fouls mid-way through the 3rd stanza. In the process she converted a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to eight points.

Amber Durand struck right back with five of her 23 points to extend the lead.

Winlock’s Julie Jacobo hit a two and then Amber Buckman scored five straight points to narrow the Ony lead to 29-25 at the end of the third quarter.

While Durand was effective, she complimented Winlock Junior Julie Jacobo with successful defense on her for a portion of the game. In the next breath, Durand complimented her teammates. “I think we are doing pretty well,” she said. “We are all getting our defense back together.”

While Durand led her team in scoring and rebounding with 8, Samantha Gordon added 7 assists. Haily Givens assisted with 7 rebounds of her own but it was the Cardinals that won the rebounding battle 36-28.

Onalaska Coach Doug Ashmore was also complementary about Winlock’s “help” defense that caused some poor shooting. “This will be a good test to see on film because they sagged a lot to help. We have to figure out some offensive stuff. They way they were sagging and we have got to come up with something to give our girls confidence in shooting.”

Ashmore saved last compliment of the night for his brother the Cardinal Coach. “My brother has done a good job with them and they have improved and they play good defense. They gave us fits”

Winlock, 6-3 and 0-3 will visit Tenino while Onalaska 4-2 and 2-0 will host Forks on Tuesday.


Winlock 4 9 10 4-27
Onalaska 8 14 7 9-38


Loggers 38 Cardinals 27
WINLOCK-Courtney Suter 10, Tasha Sayers 8, Amber Buckman 5, Julie Jacobo 4, Kaley Crawford 0, Amanda Suter 0, Kayla Rakes 0 MacKenzie Spalding 0, Jill Craft 0
ONALASKA-Amber Durand 23, Hailey Givens 4, Kalie Ritchey 3, Mandy Reynoldson 2, Samantha Gordon 2, Sarah Barnes 2, Regan Givens 2, Erin Wrzesinski 0