La Grande puts damper on Baker girls title hopes

La Grande threw a monkey wrench into Baker’s Greater Oregon League girls basketball title hopes Friday, rallying to defeat the Bulldogs 37-35 at La Grande.

The result leaves Baker and La Grande tied for second in the GOL with 4-3 records, a game behind Ontario (5-2) with two games left in the regular season.

“Tuesday is kind of a must win game for us if we still want to reach our goal of winning the league and getting a higher seed at district,” said Baker coach Tim Smith.

“If we can beat Ontario, Ontario can take care of La Grande on Friday and we can beat Mac-Hi we could still win the league.”

Friday, Baker led La Grande 31-24 after three quarters, but couldn’t hold the Tigers off.

Breanna Partney and Shayla Powers each scored four points to help La Grande regain a 34-33 lead with 3:10 left in the game. It was the Tigers first lead since midway through the second period.

Partney added a free throw with 59 seconds left to give La Grande a 35-33 edge.

Baker rallied to tie the game at 35-35 when Ashley Trees hit a shot with 33 seconds left.

La Grande then made two free throws down the stretch for the winning margin. Baker had one last chance to tie the game with less than five seconds left but Mackenzie Warner missed the front end of a one-plus-one free throw and La Grande rebounded.

“We came out in the fourth quarter and played not to lose. We went into a prevent mode and didn’t get it done. They just outplayed us in the fourth quarter.”

Whitney Phillips led Baker with 12 points.

Baker entered the game coming off a 61-45 loss at Nyssa the previous Tuesday.

“The girls played pretty loose,” Smith said. “We played pretty darn good. I was pleased with the first three quarters. We just had two little spurts — two 6-0 Nyssa runs— that separated us.”

Warner led Baker with 14 points. Phillips added 12.

Friday game

Baker    9    14    8    4    — 35

La Grande    9    11    4    13    — 37

Baker (35) — Warner 1 5-7 7, Ward, Burk 1 1-4 3, Adams 0 0-1 0, Srack, Phillips 5 2-4 12, Trees 1 0-0 2, Smith 1 0-0 2, Ogan 2 5-6 9. Totals 11 13-22 35.

La Grande (37) — Aldred 2 1-2 6, Tracy 0 0-2 0, Tsiatsos, Partney 3 1-2 7, Alexander 2 2-2 7, Brown 2 0-0 4, Mattson, Moore 0 4-7 4, Mills, Sain 1 1-4 3, Powers 3 0-1 6. Totals 13 9-20 37.

Three-point goals — Aldred, Alexander. Fouled out — none. Total fouls — Baker 21, La Grande 20. Technicals — none.

Tuesday game

Baker    13    12    7    13    — 45

Nyssa    16    15    12    18    — 61

Baker (45) — Warner 4 3-4 14, Ward, Burk, Adams 3 0-0 7, Srack, Phillips 5 2-5 12, Trees 1 0-0 3, Baxter 1 2-2 4, Smith 0 0-2 0, Ogan 2 1-2 5, Overton. Totals 16 8-15 45.

Nyssa (61) — B. Bittinger 2 0-0 4, A. Bittinger 4 6-9 15, Kovis, Hyfell 3 0-0 6, Hernandez 2 0-0 4, Jones 3 4-11 10, M. Gonzales 5 3-4 13, Ramos 1 1-2 3, Armbenda, Rodriguez 1 0-0 3, Martinez, K. Gonzales, Williams 1 0-2 3. Totals 22 14-28 61.

Three-point goals — Warner 3, Adams, Trees, A. Bittinger, Rodriguez, Williams. Fouled out — none. Total fouls — Baker 17, Nyssa 16. Technicals — none.