Sweet Home 58
Sisters 57
The girls finished up their best week of the basketball season by winning their first game of the season 58-57 against Sisters at home.
“They got out to a little bit of a lead after the first quarter,” Coach Jason Gorham said. “Then we had a real big second quarter.”
The Huskies trailed 12-9 after the first, then they started hitting some shots and putting points on the board. Sisters got into early foul trouble in the quarter. The Huskies led 32-27 at halftime. The Huskies expanded their lead to 11 points, 46-35, by the end of the third quarter.
Sisters came out strong in the fourth quarter, Coach Gorham said. “Sisters played real hard in the fourth quarter. For awhile there, we were playing not to lose instead of playing to win.”
Sisters cut the Husky lead away and went ahead to turn the last minute and a half into a dogfight.
“They pressed us really well,” Coach Gorham said. Sisters took advantage a momentarily rattled Husky team and turned turnovers into transition buckets.
The Huskies stopped the Sisters rally on two Chelsea Hackworth free throws at about 1:30 left in the game. Sisters hit a shot with 26 seconds left to go up by one.
The Huskies had the ball for most of the last 25 seconds, and Teresa Lewis scored with just four seconds on the clock to take a one-point lead and win the game. Sisters shot the ball but missed.
Hackworth led Husky scoring with 13. Lewis and Kendra Greene each added 10 points; Rachel Gaskey and Lei Himan-Teves, eight; Cindy Jones, seven; and Ashley Wall, one.
Molly Broadbent led Sisters with 16 points. Amber Craig added 13 points.
The Sisters followed on a good game against Molalla, a 50-38 loss, Tuesday night at home, Coach Gorham said. The game was possibly the Huskies’ best effort all year until Friday’s game against Sisters.
“Last week was a really big week for us,” Coach Gorham said. “We gained a lot of confidence.”
The Huskies trailed Molalla 11-8 after one quarter. They trailed 24-17 at halftime. Molalla broke away in the third to lead 41-26. The Huskies cut the lead to eight at times during the last quarter in a bucket-for-bucket contest until the final minutes of the game.
The Huskies were able to confuse Molalla switching defenses and scoring transition baskets off forced turnovers.
Greene led the Huskies with nine points; Himan-Teves, seven; Gaskey, six; and Jones, Lewis, Hackworth and Hannah Swanson, four each.
Yoder led Molalla in scoring with 12 points.
The Molalla game showed the Huskies they could play competitively against tougher teams. With Cascade and Stayton coming up, Coach Gorham believes his team has the confidence to compete with either team.
The girls hold a 1-6 league record.
The junior varsity lost 36-21 to Molalla and 42-26 to Sisters. The freshmen lost to Sisters.