Eagles face final two games in girls basketball

Hood River beat Class 4A St. Helens (11-13 overall, 5-7 Cowapa League) 57-44 on Feb. 20 in a nonleague contest at Vannet Court.

The next day, HRV hosted Wilsonville, the sixth-ranked 5A team at 18-6 this season (12-1 NWOC). The Wildcats took advantage of nine turnovers in the first period to slowly take control of the game. Hood River played much better than it did in the first meeting between the two teams this season; the Eagles lost 85-16 at Wilsonville on Feb. 12.

In the rematch, Hood River led 6-2 early against the 2024 NWOC champion Wildcats on two Julia Rowan 3-pointers. But the Eagles didn’t score again for almost six minutes, enabling Wilsonville to build a 17-6 lead. Rowan stopped the Wildcat scoring spurt at 15 when she made another 3-pointer 32 seconds before the end of the first period.

Wilsonville held a 27-14 lead midway through the second quarter when reserve guard Bella Howe hit back-to-back 3-pointers for HRV to pull the Eagles within 27-20. Wilsonville padded its lead with a 9-3 scoring advantage to close the half.

The lead was 14 late in the third period — 46-32 after Howe made another trey — before the visitors closed out the quarter once again, this time with a 7-0 scoring burst.

Howe finished with 14 points, while Rowan led the Eagles with 20 — including six 3-pointers.

Wilsonville, playing without starting senior forward Grace Wilson, was led by Audrey Counts’ 22 points.

Hood River’s third contest last week — Feb. 23 at Hillsboro — was its third in four days and resulted in a 43-35 Eagle loss to the Spartans (10-12, 5-8).