PORTLAND – Playing on an NBA court is a special treat for most high school players – at least until the tape measure comes out.
The Forest Grove girls basketball team enjoyed a rare opportunity to play at the Rose Garden Monday night, squaring off against Mountain View (Wash.) in a non-league game on the home floor of the Portland Trail Blazers – a court that is 10 feet longer than the one at both high schools.
“Playing here adds another dimension,” Forest Grove coach Dan Lumpkin said. “Especially when you run up and down the court 40 to 50 times.”
The extra distance didn’t seem to bother the Lady Vikings or point guard Rebecca Kelsay, who scored the final four points of the game to lift Forest Grove to a 38-32 victory.
“We rely on Kelsay to be our floor general,” said Lumpkin, whose team rallied from a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
“When we started the fourth quarter, we really had yet to play our game,” Lumpkin said. “We are a defensive team. I told the girls, we have eight minutes left to [get it done].”
The Lady Vikings (5-4) held Mountain View scoreless through the first five minutes of fourth-quarter play and took the lead on two foul shots from Kristi VandeBergh.
“We were playing lethargic for most of the game,” Lumpkin said. “We finally played our game in the fourth.”
The first quarter opened with a quick 4-0 Forest Grove lead – a lead that would have been 5-0 on a regular high school court when Amoore Shutt hit a long two-point shot – and ended with the Lady Viks leading 10-6 behind Val Bongiorno’s four points and one block. She finished with 12 points.
Shutt opened the second quarter with another long two-pointer to make it 12-6, but Forest Grove didn’t score again for another four minutes. Mountain View used defense and aggressive shooting to fight back into the game. The Thunder’s Carly Halbroke scored six points in the second quarter and the teams went into the half tied at 18-18.
The Forest Grove offense was stagnant in the third quarter, scoring all four points at the free throw line. Meanwhile, Mountain View remained aggressive. The Thunder scored 10 points in the third by snaring offensive rebounds for second-chance opportunities and by making shots in traffic.
“In the fourth, we focused on getting good defensive stops,” Lumpkin said.
The Lady Vikings played solid team defense in the final quarter and Bongiorno led the offense. She scored six points in the opening minutes and, with a turnaround jumper at the 4:22 mark, pulled her team into the lead at 30-28.
That was when Kelsay took over.
The senior guard controlled the tempo of the game, forcing turnovers on defense and absorbing contact on her shots to get to the free throw line, where she helped seal the victory.
The Lady Vikings will open Pacific Conference play at home on Friday against McMinnville.
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