McNary guard Leah Doutt drives past her defender in the Celtics 54-37 victory over Summit on Friday, Feb. 7. Doutt had a game-high of 20 points in the win (KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings).
After the McNary girls hoops team lost to Summit by the double-digits in their last matchup, the Celtics were able to exact their revenge against the Storm on Friday, Feb. 7.
Leah Doutt led the way with 20 points and five assists and Kennedy Buss chipped in with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from behind the arc as McNary picked up their third win in league play with a 54-37 victory over Summit.
“We came out with a really high intensity and we stuck with that for all four quarters. It started on defense and then it led into our offense and I think that gave us a ton of momentum to keep it going,” Doutt said.
A jumper from Buss and a 3-pointer from Doutt had the Celtics up 9-5 midway through the first quarter. But Summit ended the period on a 6-0 run to go on top 11-9.
The Summit lead extended late into the second quarter as McNary trailed 17-14 at the 1:18 mark. However, all the momentum swung in McNary’s favor before the half.
After a pair of free throws by Bekah Grimmer to cut the lead to one, Doutt got to the rim on the next McNary possession for a layup, which allowed the Celtics to re-take the lead.
Summit committed back-to-back turnovers on their final two possessions of the half, which led to a triple from Doutt and a buzzer-beating runner by Kylie Nepstad, which completed a 9-0 run for McNary and put them up 23-17.
The Storm trimmed the deficit to four at 27-23 with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter. But once again, the Celtics would go on a run that wound up decimating Summit’s chances.
Kendyl Jennings swished a mid-range jumper, which was followed by a triple from Doutt. Moments later, Doutt picked up one of her three steals, then hit Kenzie Proctor with a beautiful outlet pass for a an easy lay-in.
“We always talk about how the first four minutes of the third quarter are the most important part of the game, so we really wanted to come out strong,” Doutt said.
A hoop from Grimmer off an offensive rebound gave the Celtics their first double-digit advantage and Proctor nailed a 3-pointer at the top of the key to extend the advantage to 14 at the end of three.
But the run didn’t stop there. Doutt completed a nifty three-point play to begin the final period. Then, a bucket from Annie Leigh Besa completed the Celtics 17-2 run.
“Summit came out of the half pretty strong at first, but then we started hitting some shots and playing really aggressively on offense,” McNary head coach Elizabeth Doran said.
Doran also credited the Celtics swarming zone defense that held Summit to 30 percent shooting from the field.
“Our defense was pretty solid today. The girls were moving and communicating in our zone defense better than they have all season and I think that was a huge part of this game,” Doran said.
Buss put an exclamation point on the contest with three straight treys late in the fourth quarter.
“We wanted it more. We wanted to prove that we were the better team, because deep down, we knew that we could beat them,” Buss said.
McNary hosts Bend at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14.