Pirates fall flat after first-round thriller

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The girls basketball team falls in the second round of the playoffs.

Sam Scott

PERRYDALE -- Perrydale's girls basketball team won 34-33 in thrilling and somewhat controversial fashion Feb. 23 at Damascus Christian in the first round of the Class 1A state playoffs.

The Pirates, though, weren't able to duplicate that performance Feb. 26 at Mohawk and suffered a season-ending 31-20 loss.

"Overall, I think it was a positive," Perrydale coach Luke Lindell said. "Winning that game at Damascus was big. Winning on the road in the playoffs is big. It was a little bit of a letdown for us against Mohawk.

"All-in-all, when you go on the road twice, it's tough to win both games. It shows how tough it is to make it to (the finals at) Baker City. At this point, all the teams are good. You can't just show up. You've got to show up and play well."

Perrydale showed up and played well enough against Damascus to have a six-point lead with a little more than two minutes left in the game. But three straight Lady Pirate turnovers led to three consecutive baskets for Damascus, tying the score 33-33 with about 60 seconds to go.

The teams battled down to the final seconds, and Perrydale's Elizabeth Overaasen was fouled just as the final horn sounded. Overaasen was awarded free throw attempts even though there was no time left on the clock. She made the first, ending the game.

"Their coaching staff was a little bit upset," Lindell said of the unusual ending. "I felt like we controlled the game in the second half. We battled hard all night and didn't get a lot of calls. We got the call that mattered. When you're aggressive and resilient, good things happen."

Hailey Woods paced Perrydale (19-8 overall) with 11 points. Audrey Regan finished with nine, and Calandra Cruickshank added eight.

Perrydale's roster this season included only three seniors -- Overaasen, Julie Beenan and Samantha Fonken.

"The kids played extremely hard this season," Lindell said. "All I ask is that they work as hard as they can. I never questioned their effort. Because of that, we were able to make a run late in the season. If they keep working like they have, the sky's the limit for this group."