HERMISTON — Posts Kynzee Padilla and Maddy Juul came up big down the stretch, and the Hermiston girls basketball team advanced to the championship of the Oxford Suites Holiday Classic with a 46-40 win over Wilsonville on Friday at The Dawghouse.

Juul scored a game-high 15 points and Padilla pulled down some key late rebounds to help close out the Wildcats (0-1). Padilla finished with 12 boards to go with six points.

Hermiston (2-0) coach Juan Rodriguez said it was a good day for his bigs to take over as the Bulldogs’ outside touch was off for most of the game.

“We knew there’d be games like this when the three’s wouldn’t be falling and we’d need our posts to come up big, and Maddy and Kynzee did today,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said Wilsonville’s defensive scheme was giving the Bulldogs trouble in the first half, and Hermiston led 19-17 at halftime.

“They came out really aggressive in a zone and we had a little trouble handling it at first,” Rodriguez said. “We were getting the normal shots we like to take, we just weren’t hitting them.”

A commitment to strong defense helped set the tone for the Bulldogs in the second half, and the Bulldogs shooters were able to get into a little bit of a rhythm on the other end as well.

Shaelynn Gilbert finished with nine points, Jazlyn Romero added seven and Rileigh Andreason had six.

Teagan McNamee was high-point for Wilsonville with 10.

The Bulldogs will see what Rodriguez said should be their toughest opponent of the young season today when they face Lewiston (ID) in the championship game at 5:45 p.m.

“I thought they handled tonight mentally really well,” Rodriguez said. “I want to see how they’ll respond against a team that is as big and athletic as Lewiston.”

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WHS 8 9 8 15 — 40

HHS 7 12 12 15 — 46

WILSONVILLE — T. McNamee 10, C. Gutridge 9, M. Welberg 7, K. Hieb 5, S. Bynum 4, B. Morris 2, K. Trese 2, J. Classen 1, K. Burke.

HERMISTON — M. Juul 15, S. Gilbert 9, J. Romero 7, K. Padilla 6, R. Andreason 6, J. Thomas 2, R. Meyers 1, H. Meyers, H. Thompson.

3-pointers — WHS 1; HHS 3. Free throws — WHS 13-26; HHS 19-34. Fouls — WHS 26; HHS 19. Fouled out — T. McNamee, K. Trese (WHS).

BOYS BASKETBALL

HERMISTON 76, WILSON 70, OT — At Aloha, Andrew James’ shot with three seconds left rimmed out to send the game to overtime, but Jordan Ramirez scored five of his nine points in the extra stanza to lift Hermiston over Wilson in the first round of the Aloha Tournament on Friday night.

Chance Flores poured in a game-high 26 points for the Bulldogs (2-0), Xavier Rambo added 14 and James finished with 12. Thomas McCullough had just three points, but made them at key moments and grabbed some big rebounds said coach Casey Arstein.

The Bulldogs outscored Wilson (0-1) 10-4 in overtime after the game was knotted at 66-all at the end of regulation.

Hermiston went into halftime down 35-26, but made some key adjustments to get their offense going in the third quarter and scored 21 points in the frame.

“The second half we spread them out a little bit and started attacking the basket with out passes,” Arstein said. “Everybody played their role, especially in the second half. We fought back and kids played hard.”

Max Lommen led Wilson with 22 points and Maleek Elmi added 20.

Hermiston will play in the tournament championship today against Aloha. A game time had not been announced at press time.

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HHS 9 17 21 19 10 — 76

WHS 15 20 20 11 4 — 70

HERMISTON — C. Flores 26, X. Rambo 14, A. James 12, J. Ramirez 9, C. Ortiz 9, H. Walls 3, T. McCullough 3, A. Earl.

WILSON — M. Lommen 22, M. Elmi 20, J. Eichler 10, S. Palanuk 7, M. Hesse 4, C. Butcher 3, Z. Lensch 2, D. Young 2, J. Thompson, K. Woodland.

3-pointers — HHS 10, WHS 3. Free throws — HHS 14-33; WHS 11-14. Fouls — HHS 17, WHS 23. Fouled out — C. Butcher, J. Eichler (WHS).