OSAA 6A Girls Basketball Thursday, March 08, 2007

Lake Oswego's Sarah Griffin advances the ball as Sheldon's Taylor Ward gives chase in their quarterfinal match Wednesday at the University of Portland. Sheldon led for most of the game, but Lake Oswego came back for a 40-32 win. The Lakers advance to a semifinal match Friday against Southridge.

I was looking for something a bit different from the basketball games I photographed today, so after halftime at the L.O.-Sheldon game, I moved to the side and tried panning with the players for a while. Most of them are no good, but some worked pretty well. I couldn't decide which of these images I prefer, so I posted them both. The first one shows more action, but the second is sharper on the face.

The first quarter of this game was terminally dull—six minutes in, the score was 3-2 for Lake Oswego. Sheldon turned it up a bit in the remaining two minutes, to take a 9-5 lead into the first break. They held that lead until the end of the third quarter, when Lake Oswego finally tied the game. The Lakers dominated the final quarter, though, to keep their championship dreams alive.

Now, Sheldon enters the consolation bracket; the best they can finish is fourth. If they want to win their next game, though, they will have to show much more depth than they did this afternoon. They got 17 points from Theresa Brown and another 11 from Kendra Little, but the rest of the team combined for just 4.

Sheldon freshman Taylor Ward played all 32 minutes of the game. She scored two points and grabbed three rebounds for the Irish.