The Sweet Home girls’ basketball team took care of business Friday, Feb. 18, with a 50-25 road win at Newport, earning its third straight win and fifth victory in the last seven games.
The Huskies (10-12, No. 18 in 4A action) never trailed against the Cubs (6-16, No. 29), who have yet to win in the 4A-3 Oregon West Conference.
“It wasn’t our prettiest game,” Head Coach Michelle Knight said. “We’ve been practicing hard to just improve every game, figure out who has hurt us in previous games and work to shut those people down.”
She said that despite Newport’s record, “They’re not a bad team. They played very aggressive and extremely rough, and they definitely weren’t going down without a fight. It took us a little bit by surprise.”
Still, Sweet Home led 30-16 by halftime and extended that gap in the second frame.
Junior guard Brooke Burke led the Huskies with 23 points, shooting 8-for-13 from the field. Senior post player Adaira Sleutel added 16 while pulling down a team-high 14 rebounds, and senior guard Mercedes Burks contributed six.
Sweet Home faced Cascade (17-3, No. 2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in its regular season finale.
Regardless of its outcome, Knight predicted that the Huskies, sitting at fourth place in their conference, had enough wins to eke into the playoffs, where they’ll likely face Marshfield on the Pirates’ home court in a play-in game. That date has yet to be determined.