Sweet Home’s young girls basketball team ran into trouble in its first two outings last week, losing 58-33 to Harrisburg at home Saturday and 71-16 at South Albany Nov. 30.
Coach Dave McNeil said he was a little disappointed in the Harrisburg game, but “the girls are such a young squad, with no seniors.”
One exchange student who has never played is a senior on the junior varsity team.
While he views this as a building year, “I fully expect to get a full handful of wins,” McNeil said, and from one game to the next, he saw the young team making improvements.
Against Harrisburg, the Huskies did a better job looking at the post and developing a post game, McNeil said. With the guards, the Huskies still need to work on being smart with penetration, to know recognize when to drive and when to pull up, and they’re working on it in practices.
Sweet Home had difficulty with turnovers, dribbling into two players and telegraphing passes, McNeil said. On the plus side, they played a better post game and baseline help side defense to shut down the drive, and they matched Harrisburg in the second quarter.
“They still played hard,” McNeil said. “Our number one goal is to play with heart and passion.”
The more competitive play they experience the better, McNeil said. To make up for a lack of competitive experience, he has girls on the varsity and junior varsity swinging to get five quarters each and maximize their playing time.
The Huskies are fundamentally sound in some areas, he said, but not in others. That’s where building a “scaffolding” at every level in the community is important.
Against Harrisburg, the Huskies trailed 14-4 after a quarter and 24-14 at halftime. Harrisburg blew the game wide open in the third quarter, leading 48-22.
Kayla Miller led scoring for the Huskies with nine points. Alana Silver and Hailey Silver each added six; April Underwood and Kennedi Waldrop, five each; and Anna Coleman, 2. Stephanie Pelkey led Harrisburg with 18.
At South Albany, the Huskies trailed 18-3 at the end of the first quarter and 40-6 at halftime. South Albany extended its lead to 53-9 in the third quarter.
April Underwood led the Huskies with seven points. Miller added five; H. Silver, two; Waldrop, one; and A. Silver, one. Katie Mayhue led South Albany with 23.
The Huskies were scheduled to face Central Linn Monday evening and travel to southern Oregon to play Phoenix Friday and North Valley Saturday. They will host Jefferson at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Harrisburg 14 10 24 10 – 58
Sweet Home 4 10 8 11 – 33
Harrisburg scoring: Stephanie Pelkey 18, Brown 10, Campbell 9, Thompson 8, Bucher 6, Fraser 2, Langly 2, Christensen 2, Cheek.
Sweet Home scoring: Kayla Miller 9, Alana Silver 6, Hailey Silver 6, April Underwood 5, Kennedi Waldrop 5, Anna Coleman 2, Sydney Mauer, Kelika Aiona, Ashley Farthing, Elizabeth Chelstad, Abby Underwood.
Sweet Home 3 3 3 7 – 16
South Albany 18 22 13 18 – 71
Sweet Home scoring: April Underwood 7, Miller 5, H. Silver 2, Waldrop 1, A. Silver 1, Mauer, Coleman, Farthing, Chelstad, Abby Underwood.
South Albany scoring: Katie Mayhue 23, Diller 17, DeVyldere 6, Shlabach 6, Flores 4, Lawson 4, Maynard 3, Vargas 3, Mitchell 2, Barbee 2.