Wilsonville's Karina Borgen drives to the basket against Putnam's Maddie Olma on Thursday night. (Photo by Greg Artman)

WILSONVILLE – It was shaping up to be a painful week for Wilsonville girls basketball.

Not only did the fourth-ranked Wildcats suffer their first 5A Northwest Oregon Conference loss Monday, but with first place on the line Thursday, they trailed visiting Putnam by seven points late in the third quarter.

Backed against the wall, Wilsonville tightened up on defense and found just enough offense to overtake the Kingsmen and win 40-36. It helped to ease the sting of Monday's 16-point loss at La Salle Prep.

“It was real important that we came out with one of the two this week,” Wildcats senior point guard Karina Borgen said. “We did not play great against La Salle on Monday, and we knew coming in that Putnam wanted it bad.”

Wilsonville (16-6, 10-1) had won eight in a row over Putnam (14-6, 8-2), but in the last meeting, had to come from behind in the second half to beat the Kingsmen 50-43. Putnam was riding a six-game winning streak since that defeat and was hungry to take down the Wildcats.

Kingsmen junior Emma McDonald scored seven points during a 9-0 run in the third quarter as Putnam took a 29-22 lead. The Kingsmen were on the brink of taking total control of the game.

But Wilsonville sophomore Lily Scanlan came off the bench for back-to-back baskets to end the third quarter and Borgen converted a steal into a basket to start the fourth quarter, making it 29-28.

The teams traded the lead down the stretch. After Putnam took a 36-35 lead on a free throw by sophomore Rylee Lemen with 2:21 left, the Wildcats went ahead to stay 37-36 on a drive by freshman Audrey Counts with 1:32 remaining.

“At the end of the day, I think we were just gritty,” Borgen said. “We wanted it bad, and we pulled it together.”

Wilsonville coach Justin Duke liked how his team responded after Monday's loss.

“I think If we didn't go through that scenario Monday night, we're not prepared as much for what we went through tonight,” Duke said. “Monday night we didn't fight back like that. The kids did tonight.”

Putnam had its chances down the stretch. Down 38-36, senior guard Maddie Olma missed a three-point attempt with 30 seconds left. Trailing 39-36, Olma came up empty on another three-point try in the last 10 seconds.

The Kingsmen lamented the missed opportunity against the Wildcats, who have become their nemesis. Putnam's only loss in the COVID-shortened season last year came against Wilsonville.

“This game definitely meant a lot because this was our opportunity to win league,” Olma said. “We kind of thought they stole it from us last year. We definitely could have won this one. We should have won this one. We should've won the last one, too, but that's the way it goes.”

Borgen made two three-pointers and scored 10 points to lead Wilsonville, which also got nine points from Counts and eight points from sophomore Zoey Davis. Scanlan provided a big spark by scoring all six of her points in the second half.

“I have not seen Lily play like she did tonight,” Borgen said. “She really came alive and made some big shots down the stretch. I credit her a lot because she's grinded and grinded every single practice, and today it really showed. She drove and she took shots, and she was super confident off the dribble, and that really helped us.”

The Wildcats also got a boost from its youth program, which showed up for youth night and cheered wildly.

“Great crowd,” Duke said. “We had a lot of youngsters come in and I think it made a big difference. We've been on spectator restriction for a long time, so it was kind of our first opportunity to get those kids in the gym. We love having those kids in.”

Lemen scored 15 points to lead Putnam. McDonald, the team's leading scorer this season, finished with nine points on 4-of-14 shooting. Olma added seven points.

“We'll see what we did wrong in film and try to work on it,” Olma said. “We'll be ready next time.”

Duke credited Putnam and coach Max d'Auvergne, noting that Olma is the team's only senior.

“We knew last year how good they could be,” Duke said. “Coach has got them set up for a good run. I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon.”