Lady Tigers Upset Colusa in Semi Final

Lu sets a screen as
Ellie drives for the hoop

Well sports fans, the Tigers strike again! They played a fantastic game against number one seed Colusa to make their way to the Championship game against Hamilton at Chico State's Acker Gym. Lucy played well against Colusa, but her efforts didn't show up in the stats. Her defense was ferocious, and she finished up most of the fourth quarter sitting out with 4 fouls. In the final, the girls played hard against Hamilton, but couldn't overcome their powerful team. Here's the sports story I wrote for the Portola paper.

The Portola Lady Tiger cagers upset the top seeded Lady Redskins 63 to 51 in the Northern Section Semi Final game on Tuesday March 1, in Colusa. The victory advanced Portola to the Northern Section Championship in Chico. There they fought hard, but lost to the powerful Hamilton City Braves in the title match 56 to 35 on Friday March 4.

The under dog Tigers traveled to Colusa determined to knock off the tournament favorites in front of their home town crowd. The gym was packed at the tip off as the noisy Redskin fans cheered beneath signs urging their team to "skin the tigers"! Portola came out fighting and matched Colusa bucket for bucket for several offensive sets until the Lady Redskins started to take control midway through the first period. By the end of the first act the Cats were trailing by 8, 21 to 13 and the home town fans were ecstatic. However, in the second period the relentless Tiger defensive attack began to pay off as the girls forced numerous Colusa turnovers, and capitalized with a running, driving offense outscoring the Redskins 14 to 8 to pull to within 2 points at intermission.

Lucy takes on Colusa's big center.

The Cats turned up the heat in the third period, outscoring Colusa 20 to 11 to take a handy 7 point lead into the final frame. The play was hard and aggressive as the fouls mounted on both teams, with several players from both sides playing with 3 and 4 personal fouls. As the clock ticked down, the Tigers steadily increased the lead by draining nearly all of their foul shots as the Redskins desperately tried to get back in the game. When time expired, the scoreboard showed the Lady Tigers on top 63 to 51. It was the best performance by the Portola girls all season.

Hodge rips a rebound away
from the Redskins

Sophomore Emma Briggs had a great night, leading Portola in scoring and rebounding with 26 points and 5 boards. Briggs also hooked 5 steals. Junior Lindsay Compton had her best game of the season, shooting 4 out of 6 from the field, and draining 8 of 11 charity tosses to tally a total of 16 points. Compton also nabbed 3 steals, blocked two shots, and grabbed 4 rebounds. Senior Center Anna Roach netted 8 points and gathered 3 rebounds, while Junior Marissa Wehrman tallied 7 points and pulled down 3 rebounds.

On Friday night, the Tigers traveled to Chico State followed by a full rooting bus to take on the highly rated Hamilton Braves in the Section Championship. The Cats jumped on the court at Acker Gym with their claws out, surprising the Lady Braves who had handily defeated the Tigers during the regular season. Portola fought the Braves toe-to-toe throughout the first period ending up down only 2 as the first period ended with a score of 16 to 14. Briggs was red hot in the first frame, scoring 10 of the Tigers 14 points, with Senior Lucy Wilbanks and Freshman Rachel Wehrman adding 4. However, the Braves came back with a vengeance in the second, outscoring the Tigers 17 to 7, to take a healthy 33 to 21 lead into the locker room. In the third period, the Lady Braves continued to increase the lead, and the fourth period started with Hamilton ahead, by 18, 48 to 30. The Lady Tigers kept fighting however, but the shots weren't dropping as they had in the first period. At the final horn, the Tigers were on the south side of a 56 to 35 score.

Scoring for the Tigers was Briggs with 15, Seniors Bailey Holt and Anna Roach with 6 apiece, Senior Ellie Kibble, Wilbanks, and Wehrman with 2 each, while Junior Lindsay Compton and Sophomore Kaitlin Boyd added 1 each.

The Lady Tigers hosted the Vacaville Christian Falcons in the first round of the Division V State Championship tournament on Tuesday. No scores were available at press time.

So, the Falcons are ranked 42 in California Division V, and the Tigers are tabbed at 47. We have a better record (25-4) than they do (20-10) but they look like a powerful team. It is very exciting that we don't have to travel, so we are all looking forward to screaming our heads off this Tuesday night!!

That's all!!