Newport 53
Sweet Home 41
The Husky girls basketball team took a scoring press and transition game to Newport, but it wasn’t enough to hold off a 53-41 loss.
“We started out kind of slowly,” Coach Jason Gorham said. “Then in the second quarter, we pressed a little bit and got back in the game. That kind of took all of our energy.”
The Huskies trailed 19-8 after the first quarter, but they got within six, 27-21, by halftime.
After spending the energy in the second quarter to close the gap, the Huskies were tired, Coach Gorham said. Newport pushed its lead to eight or nine points through most of the third quarter. By the end of the quarter, they trailed 42-27.
“We played well in the fourth to give ourselves a chance to get back in it,” Coach Gorham said, but they could never close the gap to less than seven.
Point guard Teresa Lewis led scoring with 12 points. Guards Kendra Greene and Lei Himan-Teves added 10 points each to lead the Husky attack.
“That was good production out of the guards,” Coach Gorham said. “We were trying to push the ball more in transition.”
The Husky press also generated some buckets through the guards.
Also scoring were Hannah Swanson, Ashley Wall, Chelsea Hackworth and Rachel Gaskey with two each. Cindy Jones added one point.
Banks 52
Sweet Home 46
The Huskies lost a close contest 52-46 at home on Friday night.
“It was pretty balanced the whole game for both teams,” Coach Gorham said.
The Huskies led much of the first quarter but trailed 14-12 at the end. Just before halftime, Banks generated a 29-24 lead. The Huskies closed that lead to 39-36 by the end of the third quarter.
They were within three points three times in the last four minutes of the game, Coach Gorham said, but they could never close the gap. Every time they stole the ball and scored, Banks had an answer.
“We didn’t shoot the ball great,” Coach Gorham said. “We’re still struggling a little bit with that, getting some shots to fall.”
The Huskies did slow down Banks’ leading scorer, who had 14 in the first half. She was held to four in the second half.
That made a difference in keeping up with Banks in the last half, Coach Gorham said. The Huskies held their turnovers to less than 20.
“We handled the ball much better than we have been the last couple of weeks,” Coach Gorham said. The team is improving piece by piece, in specific areas, each week.
Lewis, Greene and Himan-Teves all hit double digits in scoring again. Lewis had 16; Greene, 11; and Himan-Teves, 10.
“They’re coming from the guards in transition and getting some good looks,” Coach Gorham said. “The posts are rebounding better and getting (the ball) to the guards.”
Wall added three points to the Husky total; Hackworth, two; Gaskey two; and Jones, two.
The girls, winless at this point, open league play at Molalla Friday night.
“We have some real strong teams in our league,” Coach Gorham said. North Marion is ranked fourth in the state and has not lost a game yet. Cascade has lost only one or two games.
“I think we’re playing better basketball than we have all year,” Coach Gorham said. With a few breaks going the Huskies’ way, he thinks the team can compete with Sisters and Molalla and possibly Stayton which is “pretty good again.”
“There won’t be any easy nights in the conference,” Coach Gorham said. “But I’m happy with where we are right now.”