The Tualatin girls basketball team is the state champs for the first time after erasing a 19-point second-half deficit against nationally-ranked Clackamas.
“We were on the ropes, but what champions do is we got knocked down,” Tualatin Coach Wes Pappas said. “We got literally and figuratively punched in the face. We got up and we stepped up and we took the fight to them.”
Tualatin cut the deficit to 12 heading into the fourth, and turned up the defensive intensity.
“Our energy was down, but we had to just force ourselves to have energy,” said junior Ries Miadich. “When we’re down, we always fall back to the defense and we did in this case, and we got some stops and scored off of that.”
Tualatin out-scored Clackamas 21-4 in the fourth quarter, holding the Cavaliers to 15 percent shooting in the final quarter. Miadich was a key catalyst of that defensive turnaround, according to Pappas.
“She had an extra gear tonight, like she was moving faster than everyone else,” Pappas said. “She’s a heck of an athlete, but she just summoned something from within tonight.”
Miadich wasn’t just turning up on the offensive side in the fourth, as she also brought some much-needed offense. She hit two early lay-ins to keep the comeback in play. With the game tied, she hit a three-pointer with 1:53 left in the game to give Tualatin its first lead of the entire contest.
Freshman Kendall Dawkins also played a significant role in the fourth-quarter comeback. Dawkins scored six points in the fourth, all from the free-throw line. With Tualatin leading by three, fellow freshman Love Lei Best also went to the free throw line and calmly sank two free throws of her own.
“They attack the rim,” Pappas said. “That’s what Love and Kendall do. We had some shots falling, but the bottom line is you got to get to the free throw line.”
Best said she felt confident at the line, even in front of a raucous, packed Chiles Center. She said it was on her to stay calm even as Clackamas went on run after run while seemingly running away with the game.
“I was just trying to make sure I stayed calm and composed, so then my teammates don’t get riled up,” she said. “I’m the point guard. I have to stay calm.”
It was another star-making performance for Best, who dropped a game-high 26 points. Miadich had 18, including a 4-6 performance from three. The team’s lone senior, Jordyn Smith, scored seven and pulled down 15 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.
She also had to guard against Clackamas start Jazzy Davidson, the three-time state player of the year and a USC commit who is ranked as one of the top players in the nation. Joining her on the impressive Cavaliers is fellow senior Sara Barhoum, who will play for the University of Oregon in college.
“I went in confident and in my abilities and my team’s abilities to be able to shut them down,” Smith said.
The loss was the third for Clackamas this year, but the first loss to a team from Oregon.
Davidson finished with 17 points, and did come down hard and roll her ankle late in the third. She sat for a few minutes but returned early in the fourth. Barhoum finished with 18 points in the game.
Nearing the fourth quarter, it looked as though the Cavaliers were going to cruise to their second state title in the last three years. The Cavaliers took a five-point into the half, and then unloaded a barrage of haymakers. Clackamas hit three straight three-pointers to jump out to a 14-point lead, which eventually ballooned to a 19-point advantage with roughly two-and-a-half minutes left in the period.
At that point, Tualatin switched up its defense to a one-three-one to bring a little more pressure and start picking up Clackamas about three-quarters of the entire floor.
“It takes different angles and you just keep on switching the defense around until you find something that’s throwing them off,” Pappas said. “They struggled with the angles we were taking away.”
It’s Pappas’ first state title as a coach. He’s in his sixth year at Tualatin after coaching in Sherwood.
Not to look ahead too much, but Tualatin should also bring back most of this team for its championship defense. The team has just one senior, Smith, who said she was thrilled to finish her high school career with a title.
“It feels great to not only win the state championship, but also to win it with this team,” Smith said. “This is a really special group of girls. They’re my best friends. We spend every day together. It’s just so amazing to end it like this with them.”
