Held without a second-quarter field goal and down double digits in the second half, The Dalles Riverhawks had two chances to tie or take the lead late in the fourth quarter.
Down two points with three seconds left in regulation, the Riverhawks had the ball, but could not convert, as the No. 17-ranked Summit Storm used its pressure defense to hold the Hawks without a final shot a 36-34 win Wednesday in a non-league girls’ basketball game played in Bend.
With time running out in regulation, TD guard Iliana Telles grabbed a steal and scored a layup to draw the Riverhawks to within a 35-34 deficit with 20 seconds remaining.
Hawk coach Dan Telles called a timeout and drew up a full-court pressure defense for a quick steal.
Summit inbounded and nearly coughed up the ball, but still managed to run down 11 seconds on the clock before a foul was called sending Storm guard Sarah Heinly to the line.
The senior sank 1 of 2 free throws to put her team ahead 36-34, giving TD a final chance at hitting the tying or winning field goal with 3.5 seconds left.
TD inbounded the ball, but the Storm defense held strong and prevented any shot attempt to secure the two-point win.
In the first quarter, TD hit a 3-pointer on its first possession of the game to gain an early lead, but Summit scored seven straight points until a late basket moved the Hawks to a 7-5 deficit after one quarter of action.
Summit scored seven more points in the second quarter and held the Riverhawks scoreless to take a 14-5 lead into the locker room.
TD coach Craig Compton said word has traveled around the state that the best defense to incorporate against his squad is man pressure in half-court sets, so the Storm executed it well enough to keep the Hawk offense on their heels.
Trying to mix things up in the second half, Coach Telles and Compton devised an offensive adjustment to open things up and it worked.
TD outscored Summit 16-14 in the third quarter to creep to a 28-21 deficit entering the fourth quarter.
The run continued in the final period, as the Hawks had possession of the ball down by three points with less than two minutes remaining.
But, TD could not get the ensuing shot to fall and Summit was able to garner enough offense down the stretch.
“The nice thing that happened tonight is that we just actually went to a motion offense where we just attacked and kicked without using screens and whatnot and we played pretty well and scored a bunch of points,” Compton said. “We scored 29 points in the second half compared to five in the first half. We’re hoping that we just found a new positive.”
Heinly scored 11 points to lead a Storm team that hit 14 field goals, three 3-pointers and converted 5 of 6 free throws.
In all, the Riverhawks hit 14 field goals, three from long range, and sank 3 of 7 free throws.
Iliana Telles led TD with 15 points, 12 coming in the second half.
Lori Cimmiyotti added eight points, Brooke McCall poured in six and the duo of Jennifer Bonham and Jodi Thomasian totaled two points each.
“We are trying to knock down threes to give ourselves an advantage because we are not very tall,” Compton said. “We don’t have that big, dominant inside post. They are scrappers, they work hard and they can make a few baskets here and there, but we need to knock a few threes down to offset our lack of size. The shots have not been going down at all and that’s what happens when you are an outside shooting team.”
After cruising past Ridgeview 63-40 on Dec. 21, TD lost two games against highly-ranked 6A schools, Century and Sherwood, before beating Jefferson 71-40 in the final day of the Century Holiday Tournament in Hillsboro on Dec. 30.
On Jan. 2, the Hawks lost on the road to Bend by a 44-42 tally, and added Wednesday’s two-point setback for their fourth loss in the past five games.
“In holiday play, we played two really good 6A teams, that again, played man-to-man and we had a hard time scoring points,” Compton said. “I think that’s what transpired over to these last few games. For some reason, when that happens, you lose confidence in what you are doing. Hopefully, tonight, we found a new confidence-builder for us to get our offense going. I hope the kids are positive a little bit about that.”
With the recent string of losses, TD drops to No. 20 in the rankings, but Compton is hoping this group can battle back and keep their heads up.
The Riverhawks have two more non-league games to play until the start of Columbia River Conference action on Jan. 22 against No. 6 Hermiston, so there is plenty of time to find a rhythm.
“We have to find a way to get back to the positive thinking in the game. I am confident that we can,” Compton said. “I know these girls can beat good teams. They have beaten some good teams, so we just have to go forward and not decline when we get down to the last two or three weeks of the basketball season, so we can go to the play-in game or the basketball playoffs on a high.”
TD (6-6 overall) hosts Redmond (2-6) at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 15, and then they host Union, Wash. at 4:30 p.m. that next Saturday at Kurtz Gym.
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