The No. 20 ranked South Wasco County High Redsides continue to ascend higher in the OSAA Class 1A girls basketball rankings after winning six straight games, including a Big Sky League West Division, 50-47, home win over the Dufur High Rangers Jan. 17.
In the match-up between two of the top-three Big Sky West Division squads, Dufur (2-2 league, 5-3 overall) edged out in front of the Redsides (5-0 league, 10-5) 12-11 in the first quarter. The Redsides regained the advantage and took 22-18 halftime lead.
Because of COVID protocol issues and weather-related cancellations, Dufur was playing its first game since Dec. 18. Despite the long layoff, the Rangers played well.
Led by sophomore Hayley Peterson (season-high 20 points) and senior Jadyn Fargher (career-high 16 points), Dufur pulled within 49-47 with 30 seconds left.
“I felt like our girls showed a lot of grit playing their first game in 30 days against one of the best teams in our league and we were playing without starters Brooke Beachamp and Abby Beal,” Dufur Coach Nathan Morris said. “I also felt like Jadyn played the best game of her career against South Wasco.”
Junior Allie Masterson’s steal gave Dufur an offensive possession, but a Ranger-missed breakaway layup was rebounded by the Redsides and South Wasco junior Charity Reckmann was fouled. Reckmann made one of two free throws for the final margin. On their ensuing possession, the Rangers had a chance to tie, but missed a three-point field goal.
A Dufur foul stopped the clock with three seconds left. The Redsides missed two free throws and the Rangers had one final possession, but they were unable to get a good look for a possible game-tying three.
The Rangers bounced back from the loss and won 82-20 over the short-handed Lyle/Wishram High Cougars (0-3 league, 0-6) Jan. 18 at home. Four Rangers scored in double figures, led by senior Emily Crawford’s 19 points. Junior guard Sonya Rubio scored all 20 points for Lyle, who had just five players available.
The situation was the same Jan. 19 when Lyle played at South Wasco. The Redsides took control early with a 27-3 first quarter advantage and won, 62-27.
Coach Laura McConville’s Cougar squad was down to four players for a lengthy time span after sophomore Bella Perez suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter, but she later returned to play in the third quarter. Rubio led the Cougars in scoring with a career-high 24 points. The Redsides had three players in double figure scoring, led by junior Sadie McCoy’s 14.
“It’s been pretty difficult with just five players at practice and at games along with everything else,” said McConville. “I use the timeouts often when they need rest and then we can talk about some things. With six players, at least everyone can get a couple of minutes of rest. With five, they can’t even get any rest except when we have timeouts.”
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.