Sweet Home opened its girls basketball season Wednesday evening, Dec. 2, with a 25-21 win at Jefferson.
Then they got a taste of some tough 4A competition in a 55-17 loss to North Valley at home on Saturday.
Sweet Home 25, Jefferson 21
The Huskies got off to a tough start offensively, with the teams tied 4-4 after a quarter.
Jefferson pulled ahead to lead 10-6 at halftime. By the end of the third inning, Jefferson led 15-13.
The Huskies outscored Jefferson 12-6 in the fourth, with Ally Tow hitting a three to pull ahead, to win the game.
“We played really good defense,” said Coach Steve Brown. “We’re still trying to find our offensive pace, but we’ve stayed in it with our defense.”
Sweet Home struggled at the foul line, shooting 8-16. They shot better than 30 percent from the field, and inexperience showed through in a high number of turnovers.
“Turnovers is what killed us in Saturday’s game (against North Valley),” Brown said, but they were able to make a defensive stand and stay in these games, coming back to win against Jefferson.
“I was proud of the way they played defense,” Brown said. They gave offense a good effort.
“I don’t think they ever game up,” he said. “They played hard to the end.”
That’s the right order too, he said. Defense first. The offense will come.
“I love their attitude,” Brown said. “They want to get better. They’re asking all the right questions.
Tow led scoring with 13 points. Brittany Brownell added nine, with two from Haley Silver and one from Kaitlynn Autry.
Shelby Buskirk and Kelsey Walker led scoring for Jefferson with seven points each.
North Valley 55, Sweet Home 17
At home against North Valley, the Huskies trailed 12-1 after a quarter. They picked up the pace in the second quarter, trailing 22-10 at halftime. North Valley led 32-13 after three quarters.
Tow led scoring with 10 points. Autry added three, while Silver and Brownell added two each.
Amanda Stewart led for North Valley with 13 points.
Sweet Home 4 2 7 12 – 25
Jefferson 4 6 5 6 – 21
Sweet Home scoring: Ally Tow 13, Brittany Brownell 9, Haley Silver 2, Kaitlynn Autry 1. Bethany Gingerich, Ashley Wickline, Skylar Shoup, Kayla Miller, Chiara DiMola, Kaylee Lewis.
Jefferson scoring: Kelsey Walker 7, Shelby Buskirk 7, Bruce 3, Aguilar 2, Jimenez, Lennon, Rogers.
Coming up, the Huskies are scheduled to play Taft on the road Tuesday and host Scio on Thursday and Toledo on Friday.
North Valley 12 10 10 23 – 55
Sweet Home 1 9 3 4 – 17
North Valley scoring: Amanda Stewart 13, Otteson 10, Hall 9, Banuelos 5, Rau 5, Kersten 4, Welch 4, Kirkland 3, Robles 2.
Sweet Home scoring: Ally Tow 10, Autry 3, Silver 2, Brownell 2, Wickline, Gingerich, Miller, DiMola, Kendra Montoya.