Tigers battle hard in tourney opener

Girls basketball: Tigard, after falling behind 11-0, plays well against Southridge

By Dan Brood

The Times, Mar 18, 2010

DAN BROOD / The Times

LOOSE BALL — Tigard senior Chelsea Biglow (12) chases down the ball in the Tigers’ game with Southridge.

ADVERTISEMENTS

PORTLAND – It wasn’t exactly an ideal situation.

First of all, the players on the Tigard High School girls basketball team were making their initial appearance at the state tournament. In fact, it was the first state berth for any Tigard team since 2003.

Also, the Tigers were already a bit apprehensive about playing in the Rose Garden. To make things even more daunting, their opponent in their state tourney debut was perennial state power Southridge.

And, to top things off, Tigard found itself facing a double-digit deficit just minutes into the game.

But none of that seemed to discourage the Tigers. They battled back strong from that uneasy, rough start to play well before falling 44-32 to the Skyhawks in a Class 6A state tournament quarterfinal game played March 10 at the Rose Garden.

“We’re not just happy to be here,” Tigard sophomore post Maddie Black said after the game. “We wanted to compete, and I think we did, especially in the second half.”

Southridge, the Metro League champion, improved to 24-2 on the season to that point with the win. The Skyhawks also advanced to the state tournament semifinals, where they defeated Oregon City. Southridge went on to beat Jesuit in the Class 6A state tournament state championship game.

Tigard, the Pacific Conference co-champion, moved to 21-6 on the season with the setback to Southridge.

“I’m proud of the girls. They played hard from buzzer to buzzer,” Tigard coach Steve Naylor said. “Last Saturday and Sunday, we were just happy to be here. After that, it was like, now let’s game plan. We wanted to play well.”

The Tigers wanted to play well from the start of the quarterfinal contest. But it didn’t quite work out that way.

Southridge, with senior guard Dominique Johnson scoring seven quick points and with junior wing Allison Greene putting in a layup, grabbed an 11-0 lead with 3 minutes and 49 seconds left to play in the first quarter.

“We were shaky at the beginning,” Tigard senior post Brittany Critchfield said. “We were nervous, but also excited.”

“We had such an adrenaline rush at the beginning,” Tigard junior point guard Kelsey Kaelin said. “This is a new environment for us. But we felt if we played hard, we could do well. But that 11-0 start they had hurt us.”

“That took us out of our game a bit,” Black said.

1 | 2 Next Page >>