Photo by Brent Baker — Luke Kindred gets past Bridgeport’s defense for two of his 10 points during Oroville’s rout of the Mustangs last Tuesday.

OROVILLE – There wasn’t much that Oroville girls basketball coach Mike Bourn liked about the Hornets’ 61-22 loss to Brewster on Saturday, Feb. 4.

The Bears threw their relentless full court pressure at the Hornets – for all 32 minutes, even though the game was quickly in hand – and were never challenged in handing Oroville a decisive defeat. The Hornets didn’t get a shot off until midway through the first quarter, when they already trailed 8-0. Brewster extended its lead to 17-4 after one quarter and 31-11 at the half.

“We were beaten before the game even started,” Bourn said. “We just don’t believe we can beat Brewster, and it doesn’t really make sense to me. We showed we can play with Lake Roosevelt (in a 56-50 loss three weeks ago), and they lost to Brewster by two. They’re at the same level.

“For some reason we look forward to playing LR but we don’t have the same attitude with Brewster.”

The Hornets would be hard-pressed to beat Brewster with leading scorer Kelsey Hughes shelved for the season with a torn ACL, but Bourn was mostly unhappy with their response to the Bears’ pressure.

“If we’d look up court, we’d be able to see where people were open and attack it,” he said. “But we’re looking at the floor and trying to dribble past them, and nothing good can happen with that.”

The Hornets had a bit more success getting the ball past the Bears’ press in the second half, and on the defensive end drew five charging fouls.

“I’ve had whole seasons where I haven’t had a team get that many,” Bourn said. “We know Brewster will drive hard, and they won’t pull up. So I’m happy that we were willing to stand in there and take those.”

Becky Mae Taylor scored 17 points, Chandler Smith added 13 and Brette Boesel had 12 for the Bears (17-2, 11-0 CWL North), which wrapped up the league title and a top seed to next week’s district tournament with the victory.

The Hornets (10-8, 5-5) were led by Callie Barker and Sierra Speiker with seven points apiece,

Regardless of the outcome of their final two regular-season games, Oroville will open up district tournament play as the league’s fourth seed against the CWL South Division top seed. That will be either White Swan (currently 15-2, 9-0 in league play) or Riverside Christian (15-4, 9-1). Either way, game time is at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 13, at Eastmont High School in East Wenatchee.

Pateros 42, Oroville 28

PATEROS – The Hornets allowed 37 points to Pateros’ Chancy Gill in the teams’ first meeting this season.

On Friday, Feb. 3, Gill managed just eight. But after a solid start, the Hornets went cold in the fourth quarter and the Nannies pulled away to a 42-28 victory.

“For the most part, we played well,” Bourn said. “We didn’t win, but we did a good job defensively. Offensively we were in good shape until (point guard Sierra) Speiker got in foul trouble. After she came out we had trouble.”

The Hornets trailed 19-18 at the half and were still in the game at 32-27 after three quarters, but managed just one point the rest of the way.

Jamie Jo Bruno and Lorie LeDoux led Pateros (13-6, 7-4) with 11 points apiece.

Oroville 51, Bridgeport 41

OROVILLE – Oroville’s girls clinched a district playoff spot on Tuesday, Jan. 31, with a 51-41 victory over Bridgeport.

The Fillies, particularly Lidi Bucio, got off to a hot start and took a 16-10 lead through one quarter.

But Oroville clamped down on defense, allowing one point in the second quarter and opening up a 12-point lead midway through the third quarter.

Bucio hit another hot streak early in the fourth quarter to pull to within 38-35, but Callie Barker hit a short-jumper on a give-and-go with Katie Tietje, Sierra Speiker had a steal-and-score on the next possession and Briana Moralez drilled a 3-pointer to rebuild the double-digit lead.

It was the Hornets’ first game without team co-captain Kelsey Hughes, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament in their previous contest and will miss the rest of the season.

“In the first quarter you could tell we were looking for Kelsey,” Bourn said. “She was just getting back to full strength (after missing several weeks earlier in the year). We really miss her leadership, her scoring, and her post defense, which was new for her.

“Now, other than Naomi Peters, we’re playing with next year’s team.”

Peters and Lily Hilderbrand led the Hornets with 17 points, with Moralez adding nine.

“This was the game to get us into districts,” Bourn said. “So we’re definitely pleased about that.”