Eagle girls remain in 5A state playoff contention

Readers might need a scorecard to follow along, but here it goes: Wilsonville (10-9 overall, 8-0 NWOC), the team which beat Hood River, 62-17, on Feb. 4, leads the standings. La Salle (11-8, 7-1), the team Hood River was scheduled to play Feb. 10, is in second. Hillsboro (10-8, 5-4), the team the Eagles beat, 37-30, on Feb. 7, is in third place. Canby (10-9, 4-4) and Putnam (5-8, 4-4), the two teams tied for fourth place, are the next two opponents for HRV — the Cougars on Feb. 13 and Putnam on Feb. 25.

“We really have a pretty favorable schedule,” Coach Steve Noteboom said. “We have La Salle, Canby, and Putnam all at home.”

The top four teams in the conference automatically qualify for the 5A state playoffs. There are two other statewide playoff berths based on Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) power rankings.

HRV’s loss at Wilsonville followed a similar pattern of their first meeting this season, an 82-25 Wildcat win on Jan. 6 in Hood River. Wilsonville’s front-line size and its overall athleticism enabled the Wildcats to score inside and force turnovers. Wilsonville led 14-0 in the first quarter and 48-10 in the third period.

Things were different against Hillsboro, which Hood River also beat when the two teams first met this season on Jan. 8. The HRV sweep of the Spartans will loom large should the teams finish tied in the final standings with a state playoff berth at stake.

In last week’s game, Hood River outscored Hillsboro 19-11 in the second half to pull out the victory. Neither team shot well from the field (both were at 25 percent), but HRV hit 13 of 16 free throws. The teams evenly split 44 turnovers, but Hood River had the advantage in points off the miscues, 25-14.

Eagle senior Julia Rowan, used to hearing “Shooter” when she lines up from 3-point range, may be hearing “Defender” from now on after her defensive work on Hillsboro’s leading scorer, Braxtyn Ellsworth. She had 21 points in the first game between the two teams, but 10 in the rematch (also a game-high 11 rebounds). Rowan, who missed the Wilsonville game because of illness, limited Ellsworth’s touches and dogged her the entire game.

“They do a lot of screen-and-roll on top and Julia Rowan would not allow them to screen her; she just got over the top or in between the point guard and the screen and they just could not get her the ball,” Noteboom said.

Also standing out on the defensive end was Isabel Rivera, 5-foot-5, who guarded 6-2 Addyson Reberry a good portion of the contest and helped limit her to 1-for-9 shooting.

Hood River had three players score eight points, Rivera, Rowan and Bella Howe. Hillsboro was led by Zoe Rodriguez, who scored 11 points.

“We still didn’t shoot the ball great, but we played really good defense … and we also rebounded well [HRV held a 36-29 advantage on the boards against the much taller Spartans],” Noteboom said.