East Oregonian
A game of mostly pounding defenses came to a head in extra time between Stanfield and Irrigon at the Pendleton Convention Center. The Irrigon Knights held the Tigers scoreless in overtime — and barely managed to score themselves — as a single bucket from Cheyanne Hacket with 1:20 left provided all the scoring in a 34-32 Knights’ victory at the Bounc’n Cancer Classic on Saturday night
“I’m really glad we were able to work together and make up for not scoring more,” Hacket said about the team’s defense late in the game. No Irrigon player produced more than the seven points that came from Ashli Roberts.
The Knights (12-5, 5-3 Blue Mountain Conference) had their chances to grab a lead earlier in overtime, but missed all four free throw attempts, part of a 20 percent free-throw shooting day as a team.
With yet another win, Irrigon is continuing to stake a claim at the top of the Blue Mountain Conference. The team ranks 6th in Class 2A basketball according to RPI, but is still in fourth place in its own conference. Still, the girls have come a long way from the team that finished with only two wins last season, coach Stuart Dick said.
The team underperformed on Saturday while hanging on for a win and Dick points to the pressure of playing in front of a packed convention center for that.
“Our girls have never faced that kind of pressure and they tightened up,” he said. “They’ve never been in this environment before.”
The fact that they overcame all that is a pride-worthy accomplishment, Dick added, calling his girls fighters.