Riverhawk girls halt losing skid to end 2023

Against Dallas, the Riverhawks seemed to be in control with a 10-point, fourth-quarter lead. But junior post Sydney Newby (12 points) and junior forward Laci Hoylman (eight points) fouled out in the final four minutes of the game.

“We played with a high energy level, and everyone was playing with a lot of confidence to keep us going strong and help us pull out the win,” said third-year Coach Darcey Hodges. “We’re just trying to keep our heads up and keep working hard.”

The Riverhawks were hoping that their momentum would continue in the Jan. 3 non-league match-up versus Pendleton, who had lost five of their past seven games. The Riverhawks had home-court advantage and the knowledge that they beat the Buckaroos 55-39 a year ago at Pendleton.

The younger Riverhawks (no seniors) were unable to overcome a season-high 27 turnovers, while facing a much more experienced (seven seniors) Buckaroos squad.

“I think the experience factor helped them [Buckaroos], and they put a lot of pressure on us, too, defensively that also caused us some problems,” Hodges said. “When we took care of the ball and made good passes, we made it through their press. But then there were other times that we panicked, and we made a poor pass that ended up being a costly turnover.”

After falling behind 6-0 at the outset, Newby spearheaded a Riverhawks’ rally, as she scored six of her team-high 20 points to help trim the margin to 9-7 after she sank a pair of free throws. The Dalles then outscored Pendleton 4-2, knotting it 11-11 at the end of the first quarter. The Riverhawks never led in the contest, but they were tied with the Buckaroos early in the second at 13-13.

“Sidney runs circles around everyone on the court; she’s always hustling and doing everything she can to try to help our team,” Hodges said. “We’re focusing on improving all the little things, and if we can get better in those aspects of our game, then that will help us overall.”

Hailey Johnston said, “They [Buckaroos] worked together much better than we did, and that’s because we’re a much younger team and the turnovers hurt us a lot. It was nice getting a win over Dallas … I think we just have to continue pushing hard at practice to improve and if we do that then we’ll be successful against our league opponents.”

The Riverhawks trailed 41-25 after three, but a 7-1 rally, capped by Johnston’s fast break layup, trimming the margin to 42-32 and forced a Buckaroo timeout with 4:38 left. Following the timeout, Pendleton standout senior guard Hailey Schmidt (20 points) fired in a three-point field goal — her fourth one — extending the margin.

Hoylman said the experience factor was a difference in the game, but there were other factors, as well. “We didn’t have a lot of rebounds and we didn’t take care of the ball, so that hurt us a lot,” she said. “We’re looking forward to having a clean slate when league play starts.”

The Dalles begins its 10-game Tri-Valley Conference schedule Jan. 16 with a 5:30 p.m. contest versus the Crook County High Cowgirls (7-5) in Prineville.