Prairie has set the standard for area girls basketball for more than two decades. The Falcons are the measuring stick and for the past three years, Hudson’s Bay’s budding squad has tried and failed to meet the mark.
But in the teams’ final meeting of importance for the foreseeable future, the Eagles summoned greatness and toppled rival Prairie 46-45 in the 3A West Central/Southwest Bi-District semifinal on Wednesday at Columbia River High School.
“It means everything because we’ve always had that goal to beat Prairie,” Bay coach Michael Rainville said. “We didn’t know it was going to be this year but we played a great game.”
Hudson’s Bay, which will play in the 2A Greater St. Helens League next season, has been on the cusp before. But each time they mounted a significant push, Prairie batted away the effort. On Wednesday, that nearly proved the case again.
Hudson’s Bay led by as many as 17 points with just seconds left in the first half as Martin poured in all of her game-high 17 points in the opening 16 minutes to give the Falcons a 33-16 advantage. She was 7 for 10 in the first half.
“I came into the game knowing I had to finish this game if we were going to win,” Martin said. “I had to be strong; I had to finish at the hoop. I knew I had to go in there and had to work and had to finish.”
The Eagles maintained a double-digit lead into the fourth quarter. Paytin Ballard, who scored 14 points, hit a driving shot to make it 45-32 early in the final period.
Then Prairie mounted its run. Claire Heitschmidt, Dayna Vera and Kylie Diaz all made baskets to cut the deficit to 45-39 with 3:52 remaining and the Falcons’ defense stiffened. The Eagles didn’t make a field for the final five minutes of the game.
Alli Corral’s 3-pointer with 2:19 cut the Eagles’ lead to 46-42. Heitschmidt followed with a 3-pointer to make it 46-45 with a minute remaining. After a Heitschmidt steal, the Falcons inbounded the ball to Corral with 7.8 seconds remaining. Ballard smothered her, forcing coach Hala Corral to call a timeout with 1.8 seconds remaining.
“We knew we had a foul to give,” Rainville said. “They didn’t call the foul. We were trying to get them to get it out of bounds. But they didn’t call it, so we’ll take that.”
With 1.8 seconds remaining, Prairie inbounded to Vera in the corner for a 3-pointer, which rimmed out. For the fifth time in six years, the Falcons lost in the bi-district semifinals. Heitscmidt finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, Corral added 11 points and Vera finished with 10.
The Falcons (14-8) play Bethel in the third-place seeding game at 5 p.m. Saturday at Rogers High School in Puyallup.
Hudson’s Bay, which was the third seed out of the 3A Greater St. Helens League entering the postseason, eyes a championship game with Lincoln at 2 p.m. Saturday at Puyallup High School.
“We’re definitely very confident, probably more than we should be,” Ballard said of the team’s morale entering the weekend.
The Eagles entered the year with bright hopes. A youthful squad laden with talent. But injuries derailed the year. Aniyah Hampton began the year sidelined with an Achilles injury. Upon return, she broke her arm and was ruled out for the year. Mahaila Harrison was sidelined for the start the season with a broken hand. Devon Johnson-Brown has missed the past several games with injury.
And still, the Eagles found a way Wednesday as the crowd stormed J. Hoover Gymnasium’s court and the celebration roared into the night.
“We’ve always wanted to come and do this and beat Prairie,” Bay junior Jaydia Martin said. “It’s so amazing being able to turn around and see our family and supporters come together and cheer each other on.”
HUDSON’S BAY 46, PRAIRIE 45
PRAIRIE (14-8) — Dayna Vera 10, Meri Dunford 8, Alli Corral 11, Kaitlyn Caughey 0, Claire Heitschmidt 15, Hannah Clouse 2, Kylie Diaz 2. Totals 14-49 (7-28) 10-14 45.
HUDSON’S BAY (19-5) — Mae Carse 0, Paytin Ballard 14, Jaydia Martin 17, Ashley Rodriguez 5, Mahaila Harrison 5, Kamelai Powell 5, Stacia Mikaele 0. Totals 19-44 (2-6) 6-9 45.
Prairie 11 8 12 14—45
H. Bay 18 15 8 5—46
