Hood River Valley’s girls basketball fortunes slipped last week, just as did the shooting percentage of the Eagle players, and the result were home losses to Hillsboro and Putnam.
The defeats dropped HRV to 1-6 in Northwest Oregon Conference play and 5-12 overall.
Putnam topped the Eagles, 62-20, on Jan. 27 and Hillsboro won at Vannet Court, 52-32, on Jan. 24.
HRV hung around early in both games, before each opponent took advantage of extra shot attempts – caused in part by a couple of Eagle turnovers. It was 6-4 Putnam (12-3 overall, 6-1 league) early, as HRV received baskets inside from sophomore center Grace Rowan. But the Eagles turned the ball over on successive possessions and Putnam scored both times.
A hurried shot by the Eagles gave Putnam the ball again and Rylee Leman’s jump hook boosted the visitor’s lead to 12-4 with two minutes remaining in the opening period.
Julia Rowan’s 3-pointer from the right wing pulled HRV within 12-7, but Putnam closed the quarter with a 5-0 scoring run and started the second period by scoring the first 10 points to build a 27-7 lead. HRV’s next basket came with three minutes remaining before halftime on a Marina Castaneda layup. Putnam scored the final six points of the half for a 33-9 advantage.
Rowan finished with nine points and pulled down 12 rebounds.
“They had 28 points off our turnovers,” HRV Coach Steve Noteboom said. “We had a positive attitude and showed effort throughout the game. We just could not handle their pressure.”
Hillsboro (6-10, 3-4 as of Monday) and HRV traded leads throughout the first half of their contest. Hood River led 12-8 after one period and 15-8 when Julia Rowan made a 3-pointer early in the second quarter.
Hood River led 20-18 on Castaneda’s top-of-the-key 3-pointer 90 seconds before halftime, but Hillsboro responded just before the break with Jonette Singh’s step-back 3-pointer and a two-point field goal from her to retake the lead, 23-20.
Grace Rowan opened the third-period scoring with a 15-foot sideline shot, but Hillsboro scored the next 12 points. The four-minute HRV scoring drought ended when Abby Schrankel nailed a 3-pointer off a pass from Ryann Rosselle. That made the score 35-25. Schrankel, who had nine points against Putnam, hit another from the opposite wing a short time later which put the score 35-28 after three quarters.
But Hood River struggled to score the rest of the game. Singh scored on a back-door cut and Zoe Rodriguez’s wing bank shot pushed Hillsboro back in front, 40-28, to open the fourth quarter. The Spartans continued to build their lead the rest of the way. HRV didn’t score in the final period until Castaneda’s layup on an inbounds play under the Eagle basket with 1:37 left.
“We shot five of 23 in the second half compared to their 13 for 30,” Noteboom said. “We could not make shots, especially down the stretch.”
Julia Rowan scored 10 points and Castaneda added nine for HRV. Rosselle added eight rebounds and six assists.
Hood River’s NWOC play, and long home stand, continued with a game Tuesday against Canby, but will be interrupted with a nonleague contest Thursday against Mt. View, WA. Thursday’s contest is slated for a 5:45 p.m. tipoff at Vannet Court.
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