By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

TURNER, Ore.–  Silverton gave Cascade their first tough challenge of the season Wednesday night at Cascade High School.

The Foxes, riding high winners of six of their last seven, knew that the Cougars led by longtime Head Coach Mark Stevens weren’t going to be an easy task as they had to be ready from the opening tip in their 56-25 win over Cascade.  Handing the Cougs just their first loss of the season eight games in.

“They’re super good and we’ve heard good things about them so we were all super excited.  I think we were all pumped up, we came out here and did what we needed to do,” Paige Trager said.  “We just hustled and we worked together well.  Our shots fell, which always helps and I think it was just a mindset thing tonight.  We went out with the right mindset.”

Treager scored 17 points and Lilly Horner contributed another 12 to fill the void left by Kyleigh Brown, who was held to nine points in the win by the Cascade defense.

Silverton set the tone with a 21-7 first quarter behind seven points by Treager and two threes by Horner, catching the Cougars in a jam early that Cascade couldn’t fully pull out of over the remainder of the game.

It was a good eye opener as the Foxes exposed weaknesses and things they can improve upon going up against the press of Valley Catholic on Tuesday before Oregon West Conference play starts.

“It was a really good eye-opener because they’re a really good team and it just sets the tone for us to where we need to be now.  We need to work on the little things on our offense, but I think we did pretty good for playing the teams we have and they’re a great team,” Cascade’s Meah Carley said.  “You gotta keep your head up and keep playing.

“It taught me that you have to stay strong.  When you play such a good team and you’re losing by 30, you gotta stay strong and keep going.  I think we, as a unit, stayed strong and kept fighting.”

Carley finished with seven points.  Ariel Tobiasson led the Cougars with 11 points.  Kenna Coleman scored another seven for Cascade going into their January 5 game with the Valiants on the road at 6pm.

Silverton entered the bulk of their Mid-Willamette Conference schedule sitting 6-3 on the year as they host Dallas January 3 at 7:30pm.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald