The South Wasco County girls’ basketball team opened eyes during the regular season with 21 wins and a 15-game winning streak.
It appears that the Lady Redsides are hitting their stride at the right time for Big Sky Conference girls’ basketball competition at Madras High School.
“The girls are playing together, they have a real tenacious attitude and those have been the keys to our success so far,” SWC head coach Lynn Cowdrey said. “But, we are not done improving either. There are still some things we are working on and adding to, so we can elevate our game and make our team better. Work ethic is going to come into play again and that team spirit will keep everybody going.”
SWC is ranked eighth in the 1A classification and swept through league play with 14 consecutive wins, including two wins apiece against district clubs, Sherman, Ione and Horizon Christian by an average margin of 22.6 points.
With some added depth from underclassmen Destiny Mora-Lopez, Jenna Wraught and Jade McCoy, Cowdrey has an ability to mix and match his roster to try for the best matchups.
Joining that trio are seniors Ana Popchock, Katy Delco, Allie Noland and Kiana Moody. Juniors Jada Myers, Madisen Davis, Abby Birman and Kyrsten Sprouse provide support for a Redside group that averaged 50.0 points a contest and allowed 32.6 to gain the No. 1 seed in districts.
Those numbers are big uptick from last year, where the team racked up 36.4 points a clip and surrendered 34.8 points a game.
“We are seeing different players step up on any given night,” Cowdrey said. “When you have that, it makes us hard to defend. We can bring a different wave of athletes in to contribute, so that is a real good aspect of this team. We have height, speed, shooters and a little bit of everything to show our opponents.”
SWC (21-3 overall, 14-0 league) squares off in an opening-round tilt versus Ione (10-14, 9-5) at 6 p.m. Friday night with the winner moving on to the title game at 3 p.m. Saturday.
The loser plays at 1:30 p.m. Saturday for the third and final seed to advance to state.
Ione started the year with a 2-10 record, but finished strong at 8-4 to secure the No. 4 seed.
Aside from a three-game losing streak in the first week of February, the Cardinals have averaged 57.2 points a game in their last 10 games, as Morgan Orem, Maggie Flynn and Jessica Medina have led the resurgence.
When SWC and Ione have faced each other, the Redsides have dominated play with victories by scores of 56-26 and 61-45 in a two-game sweep.
Last season, the Redsides broke new ground on hoops success with their first state berth since the 2002 campaign.
They are looking to start a new trend this weekend with hopes of winning the program’s first district crown since the 1983 campaign.
The added postseason experience should help, but Cowdrey said the focus is going to remain the same as it has through the season.
“We are going to hold ourselves to our standards,” Cowdrey said. “How big the game is, and that sort of thing is a big aspect to this weekend, but on the other hand, the baskets are still 10-feet high and the ball is still 28 and a half inches round, so that means we are going to focus on our team, focus on each other, focus on our effort and focus on the things that we can control. We can’t control that it is a great, big game, but what we can control how we play, we can control our effort and we can control our attitudes. We will continue to focus on that.”
Sherman head coach Steve Bird can feel the excitement.
His Lady Husky squad ended the regular season on a hot streak and he wants that momentum to continue this weekend at the Buffalo Dome in Madras, where they are a legitimate threat to win a district title and make a run at state.
This year is the first year since 2014-2015 that the Huskies have vaulted into district play, where they advanced to the title game versus Condon-Wheeler.
After that, Sherman amassed a record of 11-25, but posted a winning record this winter at 12-11 and chalked up the No. 2 seed with a solid core of seniors sparking the turnaround.
Of that veteran core, Kiersten Casper, Lexi Grenvik and Bri McKinney are the senior court mavens, and they are joined by Desiree Winslow, Makayla Macnab, Sammie Lepinski and Emma Stutzman.
Making up the underclassmen will be Savanna Orendorff, Nancy Ambriz, Lindsey Jones, Jaelyn Justesen and Grace Poirier.
Sherman takes on a Horizon Christian team that features Fionna Marsalis, Alexis Ruiz, Kaitlin Wenz and Marena Decker, as the Hawks have won six of their last eight games.
“The Huskies will need to bring their pressure-style basketball to Madras, then reward themselves with scores when the opportunity presents itself,” Bird said. “We must play with confidence and improve with every game.”
Many improvements were made by the Lady Huskies, especially when players returned healthy and in full order for Bird to use his pressure defense to wreak havoc on the opposition.
Seven times this year, Sherman has allowed 32 points or fewer, the last time coming in a season finale on Feb. 10 against Horizon Christian, a 39-30 win.
“This is an exciting time for all of us,” Bird said. “We should have everybody back and we will need a full effort on Friday to win against a very good Horizon team.”
Sherman battles it out with Horizon Christian at 3 p.m. Friday, and then Horizon Christian and Condon-Wheeler fight it out in a boy’s contest at 4:30 p.m.
The top-seeded South Wasco County girls’ basketball squad plays Ione at 6 p.m., and the two-time defending champion Sherman boys’ basketball squad caps opening night at 7:30 p.m. versus Arlington.
On Saturday, the first two matchups are for the third seed at state, with the girls starting at noon and the boys follow.
The championship games are at 3 and 4:30 p.m.
After play, league awards will be given out.
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