MaxPreps Oregon Team of the Week: Burns girls basketball

Following a rare sub-.500 season last year and a 1-2 start, new Burns girls basketball coach Brandon McMullen could have pushed the panic button.

Instead, he and the Hilanders pushed "go" and rattled off three straight lopsided wins last week, earning them the Oregon Team of the Week, presented the Oregon National Guard.

"It is common that every year or new season a high school program is faced with incorporating new and/or talented young players into the mix. We are certainly not the exception," said McMullen. "As a program we have a quality group of upperclassmen now paired with a strong and talented group of freshman players that have been incorporated into critical positions in our lineup."

Burns (4-2), which won state titles in 2004 (27-1) and 2009 (21-2), has been led in the early going by a freshman, 5-foot-11 post and wing Cathrine Clemens, who is averaging 16.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game.

Clemens can score either down low or from the perimeter. She also gets to the line often, with 23 makes in 35 attempts.

"Cathrine posses a special athletic talent that provides her opportunities to contribute a considerable amount to our team," said McMullen. "At the age of 15, she is now moving on from a dominant middle school stage of her young career, to a varsity level of competition and game pace.

"With that in mind, Catherine, along with our other underclassmen, have faced learning opportunities in each of our games of this preseason (with both highs and lows). I could write novels about all of the players on our team, however. We certainly have a number of players that posses strengths and talents that need to be utilized, but we truly believe that all 12 players on the varsity lineup (and all players in our program for that matter) are important elements to our ultimate success."

The Hilanders also have some scoring punch from Adina Thomas (11.8 ppg), while senior Kylee Fisher (6.2), sophomore Madison Carson (5.4) and freshman Carli Feist (5.2) are also capable of filling up the stat sheet.

Carson, a 5-10 post, also helps greatly on the boards with 8.2 caroms a game.

"Off the court, these kids are some of the best young people I have known, however as a first year head coach I’ve found that so much of what we need to accomplish early on comes in the form of on-the-court chemistry in addition to a brand new system," said McMullen. "As a reminder of this objective for ourselves, those who watch our games will hear us chant, 'together' before tipoff."

Clemens had 18 points and eight rebounds in a 68-44 win at Lakeview. Burns broke open a relatively close game with a 20-9 run in the fourth quarter.

The Hilanders followed that up with a 53-34 home win over Grant Union as Clemens went for a career high 20 points to go along with a team-high nine rebounds, six coming on the offensive end.

"Part of having youth in critical positions on top of teaching a new system to the program is learning how to consistently hit the gas pedal offensively while still playing smart basketball," said McMullen. "Many teams spend a large amount of their early season practice time focused on defense. Early on, we have spent much of this time focusing on our offensive identity. As we get closer to league play, we plan on transitioning more of our focus on the defensive side."

Burns then finished up the successful week with a 63-25 home win over Jordan Valley as junior Alycia Howes was the team's Player of the Game with 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Thomas added 17 points and Clemens 12 for the Hilanders, who went on a 16-2 run in the second quarter to put this one away.

"Our ultimate goal is to make a push for the state playoffs," said McMullen. "Burns girls basketball has a rich tradition over the last 15 years of state-level success, and I am focusing our efforts on returning our program to playing at such a level again.

This year we face the hurdle of our own league being arguably the strongest in the state at our classification. You cannot overlook any team in our league, but two squads worth noting are Vale and Nyssa. They posses talent and experience that will provide a tough and challenging hurdle for us in our goal. The message that I must promote (and ask) to our players is: 'Did you get better today?' If we can apply that mentality I feel we will be in a good position as a team heading into our tough league matchups."

MaxPreps editorial assistant Kirstin Beal contributed to this report.

Do you know a team that deserves consideration for Oregon Team of the Week? Email us with your nominations at ORteamoftheweek@maxpreps.com.