Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The Husky girls’ basketball team spent last week in a pressure cooker facing off against the top two teams in the state to open their season.
When the pressure came off the second day of the Yamhill-Carlton tournament, they were able to put points on the board during a down-to-the-wire 48-47 loss to Yamhill-Carlton.
The girls opened their season at Cascade on Nov. 28 and lost 52-20, Coach Jason Gorham said. Cascade is the number two team in the state behind Capital Conference rival Stayton at number one.
“They’ve got some real quality players that are going to go on and play college basketball,” Gorham said. The same thing happened Thursday when the Huskies hosted Stayton and lost 54-23.
The Huskies faced Cascade again Friday night in the tournament and lost 44-18 and then moved on to face Yamhill-Carlton Saturday.
“We went out and played some really good teams this week,” Gorham said. “It’s tough playing these teams, but at the same time, it prepares you and tells you what you need to do to play at that level.”
After three of probably the toughest games the Huskies will have this season, they faced a team that didn’t pressure them as much and gave up some looks that neither Cascade nor Stayton would permit.
The girls were able to run the ball more and put up some easier shots and lay-ins, Gorham said. They were able to put some points on the board.
“We almost had them,” Gorham said. The team had been struggling to score. I was happy to see us get points.”
The lead was back and forth all game, with the Huskies easily leading half the game. It just went down to the wire, and Yamhill-Carlton took advantage of last-minute turnovers to score the winning hoops.
“It was a tough week coming out,” Gorham said. “I was really happy with the way the girls performed and improved from the beginning of the week to the end.”
The girls played quality ball even without Sara Brocard, who was taking SAT tests, on the floor Saturday. Makenzie Marchbanks stepped up and filled in on Brocard’s scoring load.
The difficult preseason will give the team a good idea where it needs to improve, Gorham said, and the Huskies will focus on the things they can control rather than whether they are playing top-ranked teams.
“They know these teams are really good, and they know we’re getting better by playing them,” Gorham said.
“When we went out against (Yamhill-Carlton), we took advantage of what was there.
“Overall, I was happy with our first week. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a win.”
It was still good experience, he said.
Brocard and Trahan led scoring throughout the week, Gorham said. “They both played very well. Tabby’s doing a nice job playing the number one for us and moving the ball around.”
Brocard not only excelled offensively but also defensively, Gorham said.
Against Cascade Nov. 28, Trahan led scoring with eight points. Brocard added four; Marchbanks, three; Erika Snow, three; and Michelle Aerni, two.
Against Stayton, Brocard led scoring with 10 points. Trahan added nine; Snow, three; and Alex Thompson, one.
In their second game against Cascade, Trahan led scoring with nine points. Brocard added five; Ashley Danielson, two; and Snow, two.
Against Yamhill-Carlton, Marchbanks led scoring with 10 points; Trahan, Jenny Hamn and Danielson added eight each; Aerni, four; Snow, three; Nicole Fagan, three; and Paige Niemi, two.