Fine-tuning the details

After losing 48-38 Saturday evening in Moro to Big Sky opponent, Sherman, the South Wasco County girls’ basketball team is 0-4 in league action and eighth place in the eight-team conference.

The top-6 can extend their year into play-ins, so any team can catch a hot or cold streak and the standings can shuffle quickly.

SWC head coach Bill Mead still believes in his team – he is gunning for third place.

“Condon and Dufur are excellent teams. I am not going to count them out,” Mead said. “I think we can play Dufur really well and maybe give them a game. And Condon at Condon, if we can play our game we have a chance. I think the rest of the season is up for grabs. I think whoever shows up for that game is going to win it and play their game. And I want to be one of them and this team wants to be one of them.”

In Saturday’s tilt, Sherman had first-half runs of 12-9 and 14-9 to jump ahead 26-18 at halftime.

The Huskies swelled the lead to as much as 33-21 after a 3-pointer by senior post Makenzie Blaylock.

Over the next four minutes, the Redsides slowly began to chip away on a 6-1 run, using a 6 for 16 effort from the free throw line to make it a 34-27 score with 1:24 left on the clock.

On SWC’s next possession, Kiana Moody sank a jump shot to put her team to within a 34-29 deficit in the final minutes.

Janet Guzman hit 1 of 2 free throws to stop a Sherman drought of 3:38 to extend the lead to 35-29, but the Redsides had another opportunity to inch closer, but two missed free throws kept the deficit at six points entering the fourth quarter.

Shelby Moody hit a field goal, Blaylock hit 1 of 2 free throws and Guzman made a layup to move Sherman’s lead to 37-32 with 4:41 left.

Ally Muhleman and Allie Noland then combined to make 2 of 4 free throw shots to move SWC to a three-point deficit, at 37-34, with 4:11 remaining.

Down the stretch, Sherman made 7 of 8 free throws and Blaylock had a steal and a layup to give Sherman a 46-34 advantage with 1:40 on the clock.

Overall, the Huskies sank 13 field goals, three from long range, and added a 19 for 37 from the free throw line.

Blaylock led all scorers with 20 points, Guzman had 16 and Emily Hill was good for six points.

“I think that we are nowhere near where we could be,” said senior post Katie Asher. “We got a lot of improvements to do, but we keep going and keep pushing every day.”

South Wasco County made 12 field goals and went 14 of 32 from the line, 10 for 25 in the second half.

Muhleman led the Redsides with 12 points, Roxanne O’Neal tacked on seven and Kiana Moody hit two field goals for five points.

When soaking in all that transpired Saturday, Muhleman said the sentiment amongst her mates was one of disappointment, as free throw shooting proved to lead to their demise.

She assured that the Redsides our going to continue to put in extra work to achieve success.

“We are going to try our hardest,” Muhleman said. “There are still some things we need to improve on big time. But, we keep on pushing.

“We never stop, no matter if we are down a lot. We still push, we still go and we go after balls and we put our hearts into it.”

Sherman coach Steve Kaseberg liked the fact that he had six players hit the scoresheet, including youngsters Briana McKinney, Meagan McKinney and Kiersten Casper.

“In those early games we played without players who were injured or sick, it paid off tonight because we got a big lift from Brittney (Orendorff) and Katie Asher and Emily Hill,” Kaseberg said. “They battled through it and then the seniors came in and showed some leadership in the last two-to-three minutes and made some free throws. They stepped up and made them when it counted.”

Sherman (5-5 overall, 3-1 league) puts its three-game winning streak on the line with road date at 6 p.m. Friday in Dufur (7-4, 4-0).

The Lady Redsides (2-11, 0-4) hosts Horizon Christian (3-9, 0-3) at 6 p.m. Friday.