Hood River comeback falls just short; The Dalles tops Eagle girls

The Dalles Coach Darcey Hodges said, “It was stressful, and it was a nail biter, but we pulled it off. It was a very scrappy battle that went back and forth. There were a lot of missed shots and that’s why it wasn’t a high-scoring game. Neither team was hitting their shots very well.”

The Dalles took advantage of HRV’s cold shooting and its own tough man-to-man defense to build a 15-3 lead in the second period. A big chunk of Hood River’s success this season is predicated on its three-point shooting and the Riverhawks’ defense limited those opportunities. Hood River, which entered the game with a 2-4 record, including a 52-26 loss the day before to visiting North Eugene, became more aggressive. The Eagles outscored the Riverhawks 7-0 to close out the first half trailing 15-10.

Abby Schrankel started the scoring spurt with a three-pointer from the top of the key before halftime. Hood River, which last beat The Dalles in 2018, then made four of six free throws to close out the first-half scoring. Megan Griggs twice was fouled on drives to the basket and converted 2 of 4 from the line, and teammate Marina Castaneda was fouled on an offensive rebound and converted her one-and-one opportunity.

The Dallas twice led by seven points in the third period. Zoe LeBreton’s offensive rebound and putback gave the Riverhawks at 17-10 advantage. After Hood River responded with a Griggs steal and layup, The Dalles sophomore post Sydney Newby dribbled the length of the floor for a layup of her own off a nice spin move to push the margin to 19-12.

Then things got tight. Julia Rowan converted a Griggs’ skip pass into a short jumper from 10 feet to pull HRV within 19-14 at 5:50 of the third period. Griggs took a charge and then at the other end dribbled from left to right across the key for an eight-foot runner and it was 19-16.

Castaneda, HRV’s leading scorer who was saddled by fouls much of the game before fouling out, drove hard, was fouled, and made one of two free throws to pull the Eagles within 19-17. For The Dalles, Newby also played limited minutes because of foul trouble before fouling out, as well. The Dalles responded to the HRV run following an Eagle timeout. LeBreton, who finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds, scored on a short jumper. Laci Hoylman added another basket after taking an entry pass from Natasha Muzechenko and making a nice pump fake and side-step move to give the Riverhawks a 23-17 lead.

But just as they did at the end of the first half, HRV responded by closing out the third period strong. Schrankel hit a deep three-pointer from straight away and, a short time later, Ryann Rosselle was fouled on a put-back attempt after grabbing an offensive rebound. She swished both free throws and Hood River was within 23-22. Holyman closed out the period with two free throws after she was fouled making another step-through post move.

The Dalles’ reserve post then opened the final period with her third side-step basket, giving The Dalles what proved to be its largest lead of the quarter. Rosselle found Mallory McNerney with an assist to pull HRV within 27-24.

Griggs broke a three-and-a-half minute scoring drought for both teams with her contested jumper from the right side of the key to pull Hood River within a point, 27-26, with 2:45 on the clock. Hood River took its first lead of the game less than half a minute later. McNerney missed the front end of a one-and-one, but The Dalles was called for a lane violation giving the Eagle senior another chance. She made both of her next two foul shots, pushing the Eagles in front, 28-27, with 2:18 remaining.

The Dalles responded with two LeBreton free throws and two more by Muzechenko for an insurmountable lead, 31-28, with 31 seconds remaining. Noteboom called a timeout and Rosselle made a runner in the key going to her left to make the score final with 13 seconds showing.

“The free throws that Natasha sank near the end were big shots that helped us get the win,” said Hodges. “We kept fighting and we never gave up. We fought for every basket that we got. It wasn’t pretty, but we pulled it off and I’ll take any win over Hood River.”

Hood River had one final chance. The Dalles turned the ball over trying to break HRV’s full-court pressure. Rowan gained possession and her deep three-point attempt from the left wing was on target, but it bounced off the back rim. Rosselle grabbed the long rebound, but she was unable to get up another shot before the final buzzer sounded.

Noteboom said, “It was good that we were able to at least get a last-second shot for the win; it just didn’t fall for us. I felt like a we played hard, we just had too many turnovers and didn’t shoot the ball well enough.” The Eagles had a balanced offense with six players scoring, including six points each for Castaneda, McNerney, Schrankel and Griggs.