The Philomath High School girls basketball team had a rough night on the offensive end in a 34-23 loss at Cascade Thursday in a battle for first place in the Oregon West Conference.
The Cougars (9-6 overall, 5-0 Oregon West) had the upper hand in the third and fourth quarters to pull away for the 11-point win. Philomath (11-6, 6-1) was limited to seven field goals in the game — three in the second half with none in the fourth quarter.
Cascade held an 8-4 lead after the first quarter but the Warriors tied the game, 10-10, by halftime. Freshman Emily Taunisila scored six of the team’s 10 points in the first half.
In the third quarter, the two teams started to put points on the board. Senior Hailie Couture hit a couple of baskets and sophomore Aspen Russell hit a shot with the rest coming from the foul line. Cascade junior Maddie Dustin had the hot hand for the home team by scoring eight of her 12 points in the third as the Cougars built a 24-19 lead.
In the fourth, most of the scoring was done at the free-throw line. Cascade hit a couple of field goals along with 6 of 9 on free throws. Philomath was 4 of 6 from the foul line with all four of those made by senior Abigail Brown.
Brown had a team-high nine points on one field goal and 7 of 7 on free throws.
The loss ended Philomath’s win streak at six games. The two teams will meet again in the regular-season finale on Feb. 20 at Philomath.
The Warriors will hit the court again at 7 p.m. Monday with a home game against Newport. The Cubs (10-8, 2-3) beat North Marion on Thursday, 54-40.
