Eagle boys, girls fall to Republic in opener

SOAP LAKE — Both the Soap Lake boys and girls basketball teams fell to Republic in their season openers Tuesday night, with the girls losing 40-27 before the boys team suffered a 53-37 setback. 

Soap Lake Girls 

The Eagles were down 12-5 after the first quarter of Tuesday’s game, and again down 18-12 at halftime; Republic’s defense kept the Eagles out of the paint and forced them to settle for perimeter shots throughout the first half. 

“In the beginning, they had their heads down a little bit (while) dribbling, and getting the ball inside was huge – finding those lanes,” Soap Lake girls basketball head coach Leonard Lundgren said. “As the game went on, they saw those things.” 

Junior Brooke Dana got Soap Lake moving underneath the basket on the offensive end of the court in the second half, and at one point the Eagles cut the lead to 30-26 after being down by as many as 13 points by finding success in the paint. 

“We were holding on to the ball too long in the first half, so the defense doesn’t have to move. We started to move the ball a lot better, and that opened up the inside,” Lundgren said.  

While the Eagles were able to pull within four points with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Republic went on a 10-1 run to close out the game, capitalizing off of Soap Lake turnovers and the Eagles being in foul trouble. Soap Lake lost 40-27. 

“The experience got us,” Lundgren said. “We missed a few easy shots, and when you continue to miss and they make, it seperates.” 

Junior Mylee Dana led the Eagles with 10 points, followed by Brooke Dana with nine points and junior Liana Sushik with eight points. 

Soap Lake hosts Oroville in a league game Friday at 6 p.m. 

“I was never worried about the energy on the court, it was more about the finishing – making the shots, that’s always been our struggle,” Lundgren said. “’Who’s going to step up and score?’ But the girls played really well. The chemistry’s not quite there yet, but I keep telling the girls it’s going to get better every game.” 

Soap Lake Boys 

The Eagles were down 8-6 midway through the first quarter of Tuesday’s game against the Tigers, until Republic manufactured an 8-0 run to expand the lead to 10. Soap Lake cut the lead to 22-18 with a flurry of three-pointers by junior Logan Northup, but another Republic scoring run allowed the Tigers to take a 32-23 lead into halftime.  

Republic’s Landon Short scored 25 of the 32 first-half points, Soap Lake head coach Mingo Scott said. 

“We tried to go man-to-man, we tried to double him, we tried to go zone – I think he did so well that it kind of put us in a hole, and we fought against ourselves to catch up all night,” Scott said. “That’s just sometimes how it works in basketball – you get behind the eight ball, and you fight the rest of the way trying to get on top.” 

Soap Lake cut the lead to 36-30 midway through the third quarter, but two Republic three-pointers in quick succession allowed the Tigers to go on another scoring run, this time a 10-0 run to go up 46-33 by the start of the fourth quarter.  

“We had opportunities, and we missed a lot of layups and a lot of bunnies and a lot of threes that would have brought us back in it,” Scott said. “When you try to press too much and things don’t go your way, you get more frustrated; then you press more, and it goes away from there.” 

Turnovers and missed baskets under the rim down the stretch allowed Republic to pull away, going on to win 53-37. 

“Just working on fundamentals makes that game even, if we’re not throwing the ball away,” Scott said. “It’s pretty hard to score when we’re throwing it out of bounds.” 

Soap Lake hosts Oroville on Friday at 7:30 p.m. 

Box scores 

Soap Lake Girls
RPLC: 12-6-12-10 40
SPLK: 5-7-10-5 27 

Soap Lake Boys 
RPLC: 18-14-14-7 56
SPLK: 8-15-10-4 37 

    Soap Lake junior Liana Sushik, in white, attempts a three-pointer during the first half of Tuesday’s game against Republic.
  

    Soap Lake senior Jesse Morales (15) looks for an open teammate to pass the ball to during the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s season opener against Republic.
  

    Soap Lake junior Brooke Dana (4) lays the ball up toward the basket while being fouled against Republic on Tuesday. Dana scored nine points in the game, all of which came in the second half.