HOOD RIVER — Hood River Valley (HRV) opened its 2024-25 Northwest Oregon Conference (NWOC) girls basketball season by winning one of three games this past week. Though there is plenty of basketball yet to be played, the victory could prove to be an important one in terms of future league playoff status.
The Eagles (who entered this week 7-6 overall, 1-2 NWOC) won at Hillsboro, 49-45, on Jan. 18, and followed that victory with a seven-point loss two days later at La Salle Prep. Hood River opened the conference season Jan. 6 against Wilsonville, which won, 82-25.
La Salle and Wilsonville are the top two teams in the league, HRV Coach Steve Noteboom said, adding that if the Eagles continue to improve, they will be in the hunt for one of the league’s four Class 5A automatic state playoff berths.
“As far as our league goes, it’s Wilsonville and La Salle, and then probably Canby and Hillsboro and us,” the coach said. “By us beating Hillsboro, that puts us in a decent place to finish in the top four and make a playoff run.”
Hood River was scheduled to play one more road game this week — Jan. 13 at Canby — before taking an 11-day break from games until playing again Jan. 24 at Putnam.
Hood River proved resilient in its win at Hillsboro. HRV trailed by six points in the third quarter but kept battling. Some full-court pressure gave the Eagles a few extra possessions by turning Hillsboro over. Julia Rowan got hot from the outside as Noteboom adjusted his offensive spacing against the Spartan’s 2-3 zone defense.
“We got her open and she has such a quick release and such a high release that anyone who is guarding her has difficulty blocking her shot,” Noteboom said of Rowan, who finished with 23 points, including six 3-pointers, nine rebounds and three steals. “She can come off a screen and pretty easily get a shot off.”
Hood River also improved its free-throw shooting from the first quarter to the fourth. “Where we missed our free throws in the first quarter, we made them in the fourth quarter and that was a really big difference,” Noteboom said.
Isa Rivera was 4-for-4 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, and Bella Howe and Addi Van Metre each added two free throws. Rivera finished with nine points, Howe added eight, and Emily Doss grabbed eight rebounds.
The game against La Salle was about scoring runs. Hood River was within 32-28 of La Salle entering the fourth quarter, but the Falcons went on an 8-0 run to start the period to provide enough of a cushion to hold off the Eagles.
Hood River outscored La Salle 8-2 to open the second period, as Howe scored five points, and Rivera added a 3-pointer to pull HRV within 16-15. La Salle, led by guard Lindsey Kapanoske, reeled off eight straight points before Mia Garcia led a Hood River mini comeback. Garcia scored, drew a charge at the defensive end and scored again to pull the Eagles within 24-19.
Hood River was hurt in the second quarter when leading scorer Rowan went to the bench with her third foul with more than seven minutes remaining in the half. She started the second half but was whistled for foul No. 4 with 5:45 on the third period clock and had to return to the bench.
Rowan finished with 14 points in limited playing time, while Howe added 11.
Wilsonville, whose 4-8 record is deceiving, used pressure defense, a distinctive size advantage, and a superior transition game, to build a 22-7 first-quarter lead in the Wildcats’ win in Hood River. Howe led HRV in scoring with 11 points.
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