Laker girls hoping to be No. 3 in TRL
The Lake Oswego girls team is playing some of its best basketball of the season and it couldn’t be coming at a better time.
The Lakers have virtually clinched a playoff berth thanks in large part to a huge 38-29 victory over West Linn last week.
The Lions were playing without their leading scorer and best player Andi Maleike who tore her ACL in an earlier game against Lakeridge.
However, Lake Oswego was at less than full strength as well with the absence of Aimee Chase.
But the Lakers were able to take advantage of a West Linn team that was somewhat discombobulated on offense and turned in one of their best defensive efforts of the year.
Lake Oswego was so dominant on defense that it actually kept a Lions team that can be fairly high scoring entirely off the board in the first quarter.
It wasn’t pretty by any means but the Lakers thrive in low-scoring methodical games.
Lake Oswego led 5-0 after the first quarter and West Linn didn’t get its first point until a made free throw early in the second period.
West Linn coach Glen Lee joked about the game looking like a baseball score for the first half.
The Lakers led 9-5 at the break and were particularly dominant in the paint. Post Brandy Herald bottled up the Lions’ interior presence as much of West Linn’s scoring came on jump shots.
Lake Oswego started to pull away in the third quarter when it more than doubled its scoring output from the first half, scoring 14 points and taking a 23-12 lead into the final period.
West Linn finally started to hit some shots but never threatened the Lakers’ lead. Kate Childs and Miranda Babcock-Krenk each scored 10 points to lead Lake Oswego.
The win put some much needed breathing room between the Lakers and rival Lakeridge in what has been a hotly contested battle for the third and fourth playoff spots in the competitive Three Rivers League.
And with Clackamas’s victory over the Pacers on Tuesday, Lake Oswego will clinch a postseason berth with an Oregon City win over Lakeridge or a win over Clackamas.
Lake Oswego’s game tonight (Thursday) against the Cavaliers is for third place.
On Tuesday, Lake Oswego fell to Oregon City 61-26. Babcock-Krenk had over half of her team’s points with 16 in the game.