The Sweet Home girls basketball team opened league play with a pair of tough matchups, falling to No. 2 Philomath 55-11 at home Tuesday, Jan. 21, and then to top-ranked Stayton  60-25 on Friday, Jan. 24.

Despite the losses, Coach Erika Evans emphasized the team’s improvement over the week, crediting their focus and effort in practice.

“Tuesday’s performance showed us the consistency and intensity it takes to compete in the toughest 4A league in the state,” Evans said. “But by Friday, you could really tell the girls had paid attention to detail and applied our practice focuses to the game.”

Against Stayton, the Huskies showed early energy, starting the game with a jump ball win, an inside bucket from Aaliyah Brown, and a steal by Addy Vannice. The team’s increased confidence and physicality stood out, with Sweet Home achieving one of their goals of drawing offensive fouls – earning two charges during the game.

“We’ve had a habit of being hesitant to create contact and be confident, but you could see the difference in our post play and our guards attacking the key,” Evans said. “The improvement this week is 100% on the girls, and I’m really proud of them.”

The Huskies (0-2 in league play) will look to build on this progress in two key games this week: a road matchup at North Marion on Tuesday, Jan. 28, followed by a home game against Newport on Friday, Jan. 31.

“We’d love to have as much community support as possible on Friday as we strive to reclaim our close loss to Newport at home last season,” Evans said.