Sweet Home girls basketball (4-8, No. 20-ranked in the 4A), dropped both contests last week, losing to Corbett (11-0, No. 3) 58-44 at home on Jan. 4 and later falling to league-rival Woodburn (8-2, No. 8) 39-32 on the road.
Despite the losses, Head Coach Michelle Knight is pleased with her team’s level of play. “The girls are playing so well,” she said. “We are just playing great basketball. We’re hanging in there with top 10 teams. We’re going to keep working hard in practice, and then show up every night and try to win.”
Against Corbett, Sweet Home was only down five points at one juncture in the fourth quarter, before ultimately losing by 14. Junior Brooke Burke led the team in scoring with 23 points, while senior Adaira Sleutel added 16.
Against Woodburn, Burke again led the team in scoring with 14, while Sleutel added 11. Sleutel pulled down 23 rebounds against the Bulldogs. Senior Mercedes Burks had four steals along with three points for the Huskies.
In practice, Knight said her team is working on, among other things, “fine tuning our offense, our press break, and passing to the shooting pocket.”
She expressed confidence for the future. “We are working so hard and playing so well. The wins are going to come.”
This week, Sweet Home is scheduled to host Philomath (7-2, No. 1) on Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 5:30 p.m. They then play Sisters (5-6, No. 29) on the road on Friday, Jan. 14 at 5:30 p.m.