March 2 Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Ashland High School coach Ken Lathen instructs his players during a timeout in their opening round game against Lake Oswego at the 2006 state girl's basketball tournament. Ashland won the game 48-40 to advance to the semifinal round.

I talked my way into a media pass at the 4A girl's tournament, which was held at the Chiles Center at the University of Portland at the beginning of March. That was probably the most fun event I have photographed to date, but it was intense—I shot seven games over three days. Still, I hope I get a chance to shoot it again. (I would have tried to shoot the boy's tournament as well, but that's held in Eugene, about two hours south of Portland.)

In the process, I got the opportunity to photograph some of the future stars of the women's game. For Ashland, all the hype is about their 6'3" center, Brenna Heater. In this game, she scored 12 points and collected 9 rebounds. She was the second-highest scorer in the tournament with 46 points and was selected to the First All-Tournament Team. Not bad for a freshman.