East Ridge girls basketball: Wolfpack ends Raptors season in sections

Despite East Ridge’s strong start against Suburban East Conference rival Park, a few too many mistakes led to their eventual loss in the Section 3AAAA quarterfinal on Wednesday, Feb. 29 at Park High School, as the Raptors’ season came to a close.

East Ridge’s adjustments helped them score an early lead against the Wolfpack. With center Katherine Hagberg moved to the perimeter, seventh-seeded East Ridge (8-19) was able to create some inside-out passes and keep Park to 10 points for the beginning of the first half, but the team was unable to stifle the second-seeded Wolfpack for long.

Park took a 23-17 halftime lead and outscored the Raptors 33-19 in the second half for the 56-36 win.

In her final high school game, Hagberg led the way for East Ridge, scoring a game-high 18 points.

“Hagberg played very well, going into the game making the adjustments that we did, she ended the night with 18 points, just played a solid game for us,” said East Ridge head coach Glenn Wurm. “We felt good about what we were able to do defensively, it was 16 to 10 with four minutes to go in the first half with us leading.”

But once Park (20-8) called a timeout, the game’s momentum turned to the Pack’s favor. Soon, the Raptors were down by five points, finishing the first half 23-17. They continued to fall behind as Park’s defense managed to keep the ball out of the hands of Raptor’s top-scorers Hagberg and Jamie Swanson.

As mistakes and turnovers added up for East Ridge, Park was able to take advantage of the opportunities and create a 14-point lead in the second half. East Ridge’s hopes to continue to the next round of sections quickly disappeared with the sound of the buzzer.

The Raptors must now say good-bye to three seniors from its youthful roster – Hagberg, Kelsey Basten and Allison Berry.

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