Banks doubles up TD in opener

The Riverhawks, guided by second-year Coach Darcey Hodges, were hoping to bounce back from the setback on Tuesday at home against the Pendleton High Buckaroos (result was after the printed edition deadline).

“They (Braves) are a very, very solid team,” said Hodges. “We knew going into the game that it was going to be a tough matchup for us. It was a kind of a good eye opener experience for these kids to see what else is out there and it shows us that we just need to keep working hard in practice.”

The Braves took control of the game early, jumping out to a 16-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. Banks held onto the momentum for the entire contest, while building a 28-11 halftime lead and a 50-18 lead after three quarters.

“It was a good in a way for us to kind of see what we need to focus on and what we need to work on so we can kind of hone in on those things,” said Hodges. “You don’t really know what’s missing until you have your first game. We found out what a lot of those missing pieces are and we’ll work on improving that at practice.”

Junior Laci Hoylman led The Dalles in scoring with eight points and senior guard Zoe LeBreton had seven. Sophomore Sydney Newby, the Riverhawks’ leading scorer in nearly every game last season, was held to three points.

“They (Braves) put a lot of pressure on our guards and so we had a lot of turnovers,” said Hodges. “Sydney didn’t get the ball too much and she got in foul trouble, so it limited her playing time.”

The Dalles got some bad news in the second half when Jackie Begay suffered a knee injury near the end of the third quarter. The extent of Begay’s injury was unknown.

“Jackie came off the bench and she was creating a lot of good things and she was playing very well, so it was very sad to see her get injured,” said Hodges. “We’re hoping that she doesn’t have a serious injury though and maybe she’ll be back in the lineup soon.”