No. 3 Tigard sent a shockwave through the state’s girls basketball landscape Friday with a 54-50 win at No. 1 Southridge, the two-time reigning 6A champion.
Southridge had won 44 consecutive games against Oregon teams, dating to a 54-53 loss to 5A La Salle Prep in the Nike Interstate Shootout on Dec. 29, 2016. The Skyhawks had not lost a home game since falling to Canby in the 6A playoffs on March 4, 2016.
“I think the rest of the state probably thinks now it’s wide open,” Tigard coach Steve Naylor said. “There’s been so much Southridge dominance the last two years. I think the rest of the state now goes, ‘OK, Tigard’s not a physically imposing team,’ and a lot of teams think they can beat us, so it’s kind of wide open now.”
Senior guard Campbell Gray had 18 points and 11 rebounds, junior guard Delaney Leavitt made five three-pointers and scored 15 points and freshman post Sarah Lamet added 12 points for the Tigers (4-0).
Tigard committed only five turnovers in the game, with two coming in the first minute. Senior point guard Paige LaFountain was the catalyst for the Tigers navigating Southridge’s game-long, full-court press.
Tigard led by seven with 4:07 left, but Southridge (2-1) went on a 7-0 run to pull even with 2:50 remaining. The score was tied 50-50 inside the final minute when the Tigers plotted for the go-ahead shot.
Gray drove into the lane, stopped and hit a turnaround jumper from about 10 feet off the rim and backboard, giving Tigard a 52-50 lead with 11 seconds left. Southridge junior Cameron Brink missed a jumper from the top of the key, Gray got the ball, was fouled and made two free throws with 0.9 seconds on the clock to clinch the win.
The 6-foot-5 Brink, who has committed to Stanford, finished with 14 points. She had only two points in the first half – on two free throws – as Tigard bracketed her with a 1-3-1 zone.
The Tigers paid special attention to Brink and did their best to cover up Southridge’s outside shooters. Junior guard Kaylen Blair made four three-pointers and scored 14 points, but the Skyhawks shot 28 percent (16 for 57) for the game.
“We had a solid strategy of how to defend Brink, and the girls came out and executed it,” Naylor said. “We had success with it. We had a pecking order of who we wanted to leave open and who we didn’t. It was a little bit complicated and we got confused a couple times, but holding them to 23 points in the first half really helped.”
Tigard trailed by six points with two minutes left in the first half but finished strong and took a 25-23 lead into the break.
“We had a lot of confidence going in, almost too much,” Naylor said of halftime. “The girls were really excited and we had a whole ’nother half to play against Southridge, and you could still lose the game by 20. We were cautiously optimistic.”
