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After a loss in their Three Rivers League opener against St. Mary’s, the Canby girls basketball team returned to their stingy ways vs. the Lake Oswego Lakers Tuesday before holding their own against the sixth-ranked Lakeridge Pacers two days later.
The Cougars (7-5, 1-2 TRL) began their week with a road matchup against Lake Oswego (4-8, 0-4 TRL). The Cougars, who haven’t lost to the Lakers since 2017, made their mark from the beginning.
After the Lakers took an early 3-2 lead, Allie Mead scored four straight to give the Cougars a 6-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
As if allowing only three points for an entire quarter weren’t impressive enough, the Cougs’ next stretch was even more dominant. Lake Oswego didn’t score a single point in the second quarter as head coach Ingrid McCoy’s defense held them scoreless for 14 minutes.
While the Canby offense struggled, their defense made sure that that was never an issue. At the end of the second, Canby led 13-3.
Both teams came out of halftime somewhat invigorated, and the offense started flowing again — at least by Canby’s standards. Canby outscored the Lakers 10-8 in the period, with the teams getting several layups both ways.
Mead continued to control the pace, with assists to both McKenna Kraft and Mallory Block to push the Cougars’ lead to 12.
In the fourth quarter, the game returned to the usual defensive battle. Canby held the Lakers to two points and head back home with their first league win of the season — and ninth-straight win over Lake Oswego — taking the game, 32-13.
The Cougars returned to the road on Thursday for a highly anticipated tilt with Lakeridge (10-3, 3-0 TRL). Though the Pacers won the game, 50-37, the Cougars held their own against an elite, top-10 team.
Canby returns home to face the West Linn Lions, a team that beat Lake Owego 71-11 earlier in the year. Suffice to say, Canby will have their hands full with this matchup, which is set to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.
