During the team’s undefeated start to the season, Ridgefield has found tremendous balance on its roster.
The Spudders girls basketball team moved to 8-0 after earning a non-league win, 67-36, over La Center on Monday, led by junior Janessa Chatman’s 24 points plus two other starters, senior Elizabeth Swift (12 points) and sophomore Savannah Chanda (10 points), who reached double figures.
Also factoring in seven points apiece from senior starter Morgan Goode and junior Nora Martin off the bench, the Spudders’ depth means they can turn to a number of different options on any given day.
“Everyone has their nights, and if we can work together, they stop one (player) then the other has got her back,” Swift said. “It’s that ‘we’ mindset.”
“A lot of our success comes from being unselfish and working as a team,” Chanda added.
Ridgefield’s fast start to the season has the team on a fast track to first place in the 2A Greater St. Helens League. It will face an important test on Wednesday at Hudson’s Bay, which currently sits in third place of the nine-team league.
Only three weeks into December, the Spudders (8-0, 5-0 2A GSHL) are on pace to top last season’s 12-12 mark. They’ve shown growth under second-year head coach Lauren Hefflin with much of the core returning, plus the emergence of underclassmen like Chanda and freshman Jalise Chatman.
Every player who stepped on the floor Monday played a part in Ridgefield’s win. After Swift hit a 3-pointer nearing the second-quarter buzzer to take a 30-16 lead to the break, the Spudders opened the third on a 1-0 run, which included a pair of 3-pointers and a layup from Chanda.
Ridgefield held La Center to six points in the quarter and took a 25-point lead to the fourth.
“For us, our goals have always been composure, ‘we’ energy and just, we work hard on defense,” Swift said. “We make their lives miserable on defense. We want to keep them low scoring. … I feel like that’s something we rely upon, and that third quarter was (us) coming into our game. We finally got into it and this is like, this is what we do. This is our game.”
Ridgefield is on a mission to return to the 2A district playoffs, where its season came to an end last February in a winner-to-state, loser-out defeat to 2A GSHL champ Columbia River. After that loss, the team reflected on the areas they needed to improve and it guided them throughout the offseason.
“This year our goal is postseason,” Swift said. “(We said), what do we need to do to get to that postseason? What do we need to do to be successful? What is the work that we’re going to do this summer to figure out who we are, and how we can push forward?”
The Spudders will find out the answers to those questions over the next couple months.
RIDGEFIELD 67, LA CENTER 36
RIDGEFIELD — Abigail Vance 0, Savannah Chanda 10, Ellie Petersen 0, Allie Doman 0, Nora Martin 7, Jalise Chatman 2, Elizabeth Swift 12, Kaylen Wingerd 5, Morgan Goode 7, Kate Wikstrom 0, Janessa Chatman 24. Totals 26 (12) 3-5 67.
LA CENTER — Jesse Tomberlin 5, Bella D’Emilio 0, Paige Sherry 1, Talia Wise 12, Billie Ross 6, Adyson Maddock 9, McKenzie Schockelt 3, Quinn Erickson 0. Totals 12 (2) 10-17 36.
Ridgefield 17 13 17 20—67
La Center 7 9 6 14—36
