Basketball coaches often use game film to show their players what the other team is doing.
But last week, Columbia River girls basketball coach Tuileisu Anderson used game film to show her players what they weren’t doing.
River suffered a lackluster 49-44 win against Hudson’s Bay on Wednesday, handing River its first 2A Greater St. Helens League loss of the season.
“On Wednesday, we simply didn’t want it,” Anderson said. “Like you could tell the energy, it was not there. And we had some players having a rough game. And it’s really, really hard when you’re having a rough game to pull yourself out when the other team has all the momentum. And Bay wanted it more.”
So Anderson started Thursday’s practice watching film.
“We spent an hour watching film, so they could see what happened,” Anderson said. “Then we got after it in the gym for about 45 minutes. And I felt like that’s all we needed. We needed to see it.”
That helped River rally back for a 43-33 win on Friday over previously unbeaten Ridgefield.
“In that 45 minutes (of practice), 35 minutes was all defensive stuff,” Anderson said. “All rebounding, catching it strong, pivoting. And the last 10 minutes, I just let them play.”
The Rapids brought that experience on Thursday into Friday’s game. River held Ridgefield without a field goal in the fourth quarter, as the Rapids rallied from a 31-29 deficit.
EVERGREEN OUT FRONT — The Evergreen boys basketball team came out of the winter break with two big wins last week in the 3A Greater St. Helens League.
First, the Plainsmen beat Prairie 71-67 to avenge a loss to the Falcons in a 3A GSHL tiebreaker last winter that ended Evergreen’s season.
Then on Friday, Arthur Ban had 17 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks as Plainsmen beat Kelso 59-56 to improve to 4-0 in 3A GSHL play.
But the news last week wasn’t all good for the Plainsmen. Leading scorer Dez Daniel left Friday’s game with a knee injury shortly before halftime and did not return.
WEEKEND WRESTLING — Faith Tarrant captured the 235-pound division title at the Braided 64 girls wrestling tournament in Kelso, which featured more than 100 teams.
Tarrant won all four of her matches by fall, including one in 1:02 over Lindsay Perkins of Hermiston in the final.
Other top local placers included Janessa O’Connell of Union (second, 135), Ahmiya Brox of Union (third, 190), Niah Cassidy of Union (third, 130), Kamiah Gaerlan of Kelso (third, 115); Olivia Engel of Kelso (fourth, 120) and Grace Cooper of Evergreen (fourth, 155).
THE WEEK AHEAD — The Woodland girls basketball team thrust itself back into the 2A GSHL playoff hunt with a 58-49 win over Hudson’s Bay on Friday.
Now the Beavers face a tough week ahead with a road game Tuesday at Ridgefield before hosting Columbia River on Thursday.
The King’s Way Christian and Seton Catholic girls teams will renew their rivalry when the two teams meet Thursday night at Seton Catholic.
Both the Knights and the Cougars opened Trico League play with two league wins.
Two league games represent one-third of the league schedule in the 4A Greater St. Helens League.
So the fact that the Skyview and Camas boys teams will head into their 4A GSHL matchup Friday both 2-0 in league play makes this game at Camas a key matchup.
And if the forecast for potential snow doesn’t foul up the schedule, wrestlers will convene Friday and Saturday at Heritage High School for the annual Clark County Championships.
