The Henley girls and boys basketball teams stepped up a class for their first in-state matchups Wednesday, with the girls hosting and boys traveling to 5A Redmond. Here’s how each game unfolded.
Girls: Henley 65, Redmond 53
Anna Harper scored 15 points and grabbed 19 rebounds to power Henley to its first 4-0 start since the 2014-15 season with a home opening win over Redmond (1-2) Wednesday.
The Hornets led 13-10 after one quarter but outscored the Panthers 24-10 in the second—including a halftime buzzer-beater from just inside half court by Senia Campos—to take a 37-20 lead at the break. The Panthers used a 10-2 run over the first four minutes of the third quarter to pull within 9 points, but Henley outscored them 12-5 over the next four to effectively put the game away with a 51-35 lead heading into the final frame.
Harper led a dominant effort on the glass for the Hornets, who grabbed a total of 48 rebounds.
“When she’s on the glass flying around, she’s pretty hard to stop,” Henley head coach Randy Denson said. “I also thought Jewell Northcutt [6 points, 7 rebounds] and our guards did a great job.
“We knew that to win this game we were going to have to rebound and try to get every loose ball that we can.”
Other contributors for Henley were Annie Campos with 14 points, 9 rebounds, 6 steals and 4 assists; Lily Fussell with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals; Senia Campos with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists; Mya Mauch with 3 points and 3 rebounds; Kennedi Modin with 2 points; Meredith Brown with 1 point; and Prestyn Schade with 2 rebounds.
For Redmond, Dylan Cheney, Mylaena Norton and Juniper Rook each had 11 points, Aspen Morris had 6, Peyton Stewart had 4, Carson Castrow and Maisen Porter each had 3, and Rylee Morris and Jenna Gallagher each had 2.
The Henley girls travel to face Marist Catholic (0-1) in the Marist Classic at 7 p.m. Friday.
Boys: Redmond 70, Henley 48
Henley (3-1) head coach Luke Hammond knew going into Wednesday’s game that Redmond (2-2)—coming off a second straight appearance in the OSAA 5A semifinals last season—would be a significant step up in competition from the teams the Hornets faced at the Yreka Invitational last weekend.
For the first 10 minutes, Henley matched up well with the Panthers; the Hornets led 21-16 with 5:52 to go in the second quarter.
That was about when the wheels started to fall off, as Henley got into foul trouble and proceeded to give up a 22-6 run to end the half trailing 38-27.
“We never adjusted to how the game was being called,” Hammond said. “The fouls killed us and we never adjusted.”
The Hornets pulled within 40-33 with 5:10 remaining in the third quarter but couldn’t come up with the stops they needed to get closer and found themselves down 56-42 heading into the fourth.
“We need to keep in mind we’ve only had five practices together,” Hammond said. “We have a long way to go to reach our potential.
“We can’t overreact and freak out, we just need to get better at everything.”
Markus McCreadie led Henley with 23 points, followed by TJ Chavez with 8, Luke Bennett with 7, Aiden Hayes with 3, Owen Harper, Lane Frank and Bryson Montag with 2 each, and Chris Janney with 1.
For Redmond, Jack Snyder had 16 points, followed by Ian Pearson with 15, Wyatt Horner with 13, Ryker Altizer with 12, Kaleb Losoya with 8, and Johnny Brabb, Ukiah Monson and Jace Eveland with 2 each.
The Henley boys travel to face Marist Catholic (1-0) in the Marist Classic at 8:30 p.m. Friday.