Tigard girls basketball ready to show fight this season

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Tigard senior Ava Gregory is willing to go up against players of any size for the under-sized Tigers, according to Head Coach Anna Johnson. Adam Littman/Tigard Life
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Like plenty this time of year, the Tigard girls basketball team has been bit hard by the flu. 

Head Coach Anna Johnson knows her team will bounce back, though. It’s what she has come to expect of the Tigers early into the season. 

“They don’t let anything take them down,” she said. “We have girls who just keep stepping up when we need them. We’ve got some girls who are really coming out of the woodwork. I’m excited for them.”

As of our press deadline, the Tigers sit at 2-3 on the season. Johnson praised the team not just for their resiliency but their willingness to adapt to whatever potential struggles the team is facing. 

“We are a smaller team,” Johnson said, referring to the team’s height on the roster. “I still have (senior) Ava Gregory. She is so hard working down in the post. She will take on any sized girl down there.”

She also praised the work so far this year by sophomore guard Ginny Coleman. 

“She has put in a lot of work on her outside shot and that’s been big for us,” Johnson said. “She’s also been putting in work on her moves down low.”

Maybe the player who has made the biggest leap so far this year for Tigard is junior Kiarra Belli. 

“She has been my surprise player this year,” Johnson said. “She has been dominant on defense. We feel we can put her on the best guard on the other team every game to slow them down. Due to illness, we even had to put her at (power forward) and she did well there. I’m excited for her this year and next.”

Another player bringing in defensively this year has been senior Alliyah Singleton, who Johnson affectionately referred to as “the shorty on the team.”

“She gets in there and the intensity she brings makes the whole team energized,” Johnson said. “She’s putting in the work.”

Johnson said the team has also been getting solid play from senior Adeline Herman, who has stepped up her shooting from three-point range, and senior Jadyn Spadafora, who handles the ball a lot for the Tigers and is playing this year after missing time last season with an injury. 

“She was out a lot last year, and she’s getting back into the groove of things now,” Johnson said. “She’s one of the team leaders, so it’s great to have her back out on the court.”

Up and down the entire roster, Johnson said her players are all very coachable, adding that her coaching staff have all played a huge role in getting the team ready for games this year. That combined with they players’ willingness to do whatever is asked of them as Johnson feeling like the Tigers are in a great place early in the season. 

“I trust that if I put someone in, they’re going to work their butts off for me,” she said. “That’s why it’s so important to rotate everyone in early in the year to see where their roles will work this season. I know that if I pull girls off bench, they’re going to know what they’re supposed to do.”

While the Tigers have had some good wins early in the year, they’ve had a big tough losses, as well. In a game against Century, Tigard fell behind by double digits early and couldn’t find a way to claw back into it. Century was pressuring the ball full court, and Tigard was having trouble even getting set in its offense. 

After halftime, the Tigers managed to pick things up, and while they still lost, they were able to put together some solid stretches of play even trailing by 15-plus points. 

They followed that game up with another tough loss to Grant, and then a nail-bitter win against Westview. 

“They did not give up defensively at all,” Johnson said. “It was their best run of defense I’ve seen from them. They’re not going to give up. Their effort has been great.”

And that’s why Johnson said she is so willing to ask players to play in new positions on the court or try to expand their games.  

“I want you to be uncomfortable,” she said. “That’s the only way to learn and to get better. That’s what I ask of them.”

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