Wilsonville remains number one despite the heartbreaking loss to La Salle
Photo by Greg Artman
On Tuesday, Wilsonville and La Salle went head to head in a battle for the Northwest Oregon Conference (NWOC) title. Wilsonville played on La Salle’s home court earlier this season and pulled out a fantastic win on the road. They were able to end the Falcons 83 game winning streak in the brick oven– La Salle’s legendary gymnasium.
Both teams had the same record going into Tuesday’s game at 16-4. La Salle has won the NWOC six years in a row and were looking to continue this streak.
Wilsonville showed dominance the majority of the game until the last few minutes of the 4th quarter. At the beginning of the final quarter, the Wildcats were up by 12 points. La Salle’s head coach Kelli Wedin took a time out early in the fourth to make a few adjustments, and her team was back in the game within just a few minutes of play.
In the final 5 minutes of the game, it was a battle back and forth as each team kept the score within a couple points of each other. LaSalle’ sophomore guard Addison Wedin took control of the game and hit a crucial three-pointer to take the lead. Wilsonville turned the ball over and La Salle was able to score another basket.
With under a minute left on the scoreboard and Wilsonville down by 5, they attempted to draw up a play but ran out of time. La Salle pulled out the win and will be NWOC Co-Champions with Wilsonville.
Despite the loss, the Cats had a lot to celebrate. Wilsonville’s starting sophomore post Emi Bishop scored a career-high 25 points. She responded, “I don’t really think about how much I’m scoring, I feel like I just do what I can to support the team.”
Bishop and her teammates have decided to take the loss and turn it into motivation. Reflecting on the game Bishop said, “this game really exposed some of my defensive weaknesses so I am going to work hard to improve in practice.” Sydney Burns also said, “this loss is good motivation going into playoffs because I know the team doesn’t want to feel that way after a game again.”
This was a tough loss for the Wilsonville girls to swallow, but there is a good possibility that they will meet up La Salle later in the playoffs. “It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row, so we will take the loss now rather than later down the road,” says Junior Kayla Hieb.
Wilsonville had a nice run going this season, only losing to out of state teams prior to Tuesday night. As the rankings stand now, Wilsonville still holds the number one spot in the state. It is possible that their ranking could change before state playoffs.
The playoff standings will be finalized February 26th. You can stay updated with the girls basketball team on OSAA and watch the games live on NFHS.