Tualatin Girls Win 5th Consecutive Game in Rematch

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Natalie Lathrop (#42) had a Career High and Triple-Double in the 66-40 victory against St. Mary’s Academy. Photo: Henry Kaus.
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Tualatin fell to them once, and they weren’t going to let it happen again.

In the second round of league games, Tualatin stayed home in a rematch against the St. Mary’s Academy Blues. Only a month prior, Tualatin played a 50-56 loss against the Portland school.

“It was really hard the last time we played them because we knew as we were watching film, that we could’ve done a few little things that would’ve gotten us that game,” team captain Natalie Lathrop (#42) said.

Brook Burke (#21). Photo: Henry Kaus.

Team captain Sidney Dering (#12) added, “we were obviously looking for some revenge from the last time.”

And revenge is what they’d acquire—but not in the first few minutes. With a late start to the game, St. Mary’s Marley Johnson (#3) shot for the first two points of the game 2.5 minutes in. Combating the effort was Lathrop to score two of her own from down under.

The scores were tied, but with a lot of time left in the game and only 2-2 on the board. Yet the first quarter continued with a three-pointer by Aurora Davis (#15) to offset a St. Mary’s three, Lathrop able to just stand and snatch the ball out of open hands on a Blues attempt and a final Q1 score of 12-8.

Tualatin was playing off any momentum possible and ballooning it into something St. Mary’s couldn’t handle.

As the buzzer queued period two to begin, Tualatin let Lathrop and Dering wreak havoc on the court. In this quarter alone, Lathrop scored 14 points on top of her previous six and Dering added six of her own. Already at a 12 point lead and with 1.4 seconds to go, Sophie Bennett (#5) was fouled on and was two for three at the free-throw-line.

They took rebounds, possible shots, missed a few, but still maintained a heavy lead. Tualatin won the past four games and they had a thirst for a fifth. With the fourth quarter about to begin, they led 50-32.

With 5:21 left in the game, Brook Burke (#21) spawned back-to-back assists for Lathrop, one of which had been a half-court pass. These would be Lathrop’s final points of the game for a staggering grand total of a 35 points.

Lusi Tapasa (#24) and Burke would finish out the quarter with a steal into a two-pointer and a final score of 66-40.

Sidney Dering (#12). Photo: Henry Kaus.

They got their revenge from a six-point loss to a 26 point win. “Last time, [St. Mary’s] was shooting right and we weren’t necessarily adjusting and getting out on their shooters,” Lathrop said.

Lathrop had achieved a triple-double in the game with 10 blocks, 18 rebounds and of course her career-high 35 points (as opposed to her previous record of 27) while also shooting 14-for-14 from the field.

This marks the team’s fifth consecutive win: all of which were league games with the next two matches against teams they lost to in round one. Despite the turnaround, this win wasn’t a complete surprise for the Wolves.

“Before basically every game, we watch film and it’s not usually of the other team but of ourselves, because we have specific things that we make mistakes on that we need to do properly,” Lathrop said.

The team is expected to make it into playoffs as their record stands at 15 – 4 overall, 6 – 3 league and they’re ranked ninth in state. From their success with the ball, they don’t remain alone off the court.

“We’re best friends out there, we’re always super excited for each other. Whenever somebody makes a good move we’re high-fiving them,” Dering said. “We spend a lot of time together doing team dinners and different events like that. We love playing a sport together and you know, some of us have limited time so we really try and enjoy it.”