PENDLETON — Every time Stanfield and Weston-McEwen play each other, it’s donnybrook.
Their 2A state quarterfinal game Thursday night at the Pendleton Convention Center was no different as the Tigers pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 43-37 victory and a spot in the semifinals.
“I’m just glad we don’t have to do it again,” Stanfield coach Dan Sharp said of playing the TigerScots. “It’s been great this year, but let’s just keep it at 2-2.”
The Tigers (19-6) advance to play Western Christian in the semifinals.
“We played them earlier this year,” said Sharp, whose team lost a 39-38 game to the Pioneers. “We have to stop the (Savannah) Newman girl. They are patient and smart. It will be good competition for us.”
The No. 2 TigerScots (23-3) will face Bandon in the consolation semifinals.
Weston-McEwen had the upper hand in the first half, leading 12-10 in the first quarter as Evie Hodgson and Charlotte Hansell hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the last 1:21 of the quarter.
The TigerScots outscored the Tigers 8-5 in the second quarter to take a 20-15 lead at the half.
Kenya Dovalina scored a pair of baskets for Stanfield to open the third quarter, and Taylor Sperr made a free throw to tie the score at 20-20. The teams traded baskets, and Kayla Monkus hit a shot with 39 seconds remaining for a 28-28 game heading into the fourth quarter.
“Coming out of halftime, there were a couple of shots that didn’t fall,” W-M coach Jeremy Wolf said. “We didn’t stop. We gave a good effort. They were able to get a few good on us and get caught back up.”
Sperr scored eight of her 13 points in the fourth quarter to give the Tigers a little breathing room and the win.
“Taylor got some offensive rebounds and allowed us to get a little bit of a lead,” Sharp said. “We got stops, which was important because we weren’t scoring a lot of points today.”
Kahleigha Haney led Stanfield with 15 points, including three 3-pointers, five rebounds and four steals, while Sperr added nine rebounds and four blocked shots, and Dovalina had nine points and seven rebounds.
“Taylor was super active around the ball,” Sharp said. “Kayla had a rough night and Taylor picked up the slack.”
Addy Hall, who hit three 3-pointers, finished with14 points and five steals for Weston-McEwen, while Hansell had 12 points and four rebounds and Hodgson had seven points and three rebounds.
“We had a lot of good visions of what we are capable of and who we are,” Wolf said.
Hall and Sperr were named the Moda Health Players of the Game.
