The girls’ basketball team hustled all season to get an 18-6 record, make the playoffs and win two league titles. The girls were Three Rivers League Champions for a second year in a row and their head coach, Steve Naylor, was named the Three Rivers League Girls’ Coach of the Year. There were six seniors this season who played their last games in a THS jersey. “I am proud of what we did this season and wouldn’t change anything for the world,” senior Lexie Sawin said. Abby Portwood, Barbara-Ann Schlabach, Lexie Sawin, Devinity Robertson, Kylie Warren, and Natalie Clark have all played basketball all four years of high school. “I’ve been playing [basketball] since kindergarten,” Sawin said. 

 

“We always found it in ourselves to pull together and put in the work,” sophomore Dani Lyons said about the past season. The team was always close. “It really helped sharing a mutual goal,” Lyons said. This season the girls played a total of 26 games, including a tough game against No. 7 West Linn that led into overtime. Luckily, Tigard ended up with a 53-47 win against West Linn. The girls made it to playoffs with an 18-6 record and played their first playoff game on March 1 against West Albany. The game was played at Tigard High School, and Tigard won 73-45. This helped the girls get some confidence for the next game. Three days later, the team went on and played Sunset for the second round of playoffs on March 4.

 

“All of the playoff games were tough because there are so many strong teams in the state,” Sawin said. Unfortunately, the girls fell to Sunset 49-56 which took them out of the playoffs. “There are always things we wish we would have done, but it’s being proud of what you did accomplish that you should be proud of,” Sawin said. Steve Naylor played a big role in having a good season along with the assistant coaches Jason Ashley and Mallory Goldammer who were always supporting the team. Naylor won league Coach of the year. “[Naylor] is such a great coach and was always watching film and figuring out what to do in our games,” Lyons said. Naylor has been coaching the girls’ varsity basketball team for 11 years and his career started as a youth coach for boys basketball before becoming the head coach at Oregon Episcopal School. Overall, the THS girls basketball team had a good season, winning two league titles and making it to playoffs.