Down 19 points late against a nationally ranked opponent ... how did Tualatin do it?!

The Timberwolves trailed Clackamas 54-35 with 2:32 left in the third quarter ... and they still managed to win the game

Members of the Tualatin girls basketball team, including Ries Miadich (11), Love Lei Best (1) and Jordyn Smith (3), celebrate after rallying from a 19-point deficit to notch a 63-58 win over Clackamas in the Class 6A state championship game. / Dan Brood

PORTLAND — Things didn’t exactly look promising for the Tualatin girls basketball team.

After trailing Clackamas just 30-25 at halftime of the Class 6A state championship game at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center, the youthful Timberwolves squad watched the veteran, talented Cavaliers team start the second half absolutely ablaze.

Clackamas opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer by senior Jazzy Davidson, followed by back-to-back 3-pointers by senior guard Avery Peterson, giving the Cavaliers nine consecutive points in the first 1 minute and 24 seconds of the period and, all of a sudden, a 14-point advantage at 39-25.

Things got even dimmer for Tualatin. Another 3-pointer by Davidson gave the nationally ranked Cavaliers a 19-point lead, at 54-35, with 2:32 remaining in the third quarter.

At that point, it would be hard to fault the Timberwolves, who were playing in their first state championship game, if they were to just put their heads down and take solace and satisfaction in what was their best season ever.

No.

Make that a deafening NO!

“It didn’t look good, but I knew we’d keep fighting,” Tualatin coach Wes Pappas said of the situation.

The Tualatin players were even more adamant — and even more confident.

“No, we knew we still had it the whole time,” junior wing Maaya Lucas said.

“No, we weren’t worried,” senior post Jordyn Smith said.

Yes, the Timberwolves say they were still optimistic at that point. The reason? They knew they had some certain elements going for them — their tenacity, their determination and, of course, their defense.

That vaunted Tualatin defense might not have been at its best to that point of the game, and the Timberwolves knew it was time to tighten things up.

“We needed to get to our spots on defense,” freshman point guard Love Lei Best said. “We were getting a little lazy. But we turned it up, switched our defense and caused all kind of problems. There was no panic. We just kept encouraging each other.”

Tualatin’s (from left) Jordyn Smith, Love Lei Best, Kendall Dawkins and Ries Miadich surround Clackamas senior Dylan Mogel in the second half of Saturday’s state championship game. / Dan Brood

“We do what we do. That’s what we do, and we just had to do a better job of it,” Pappas said of the team’s defense. “The big switch we did was go to a 1-3-1. We did it earlier, in the first half, and it just didn’t work. They have some super players, and they went through it. We were on our heels. I think we were nervous. This is an intimidating team that we were playing.”

The Timberwolves were counting on that not being the case this time with the 1-3-1 and that their defense would translate to offense.

“We were hoping that, if we could just rattle them enough, we could take some balls the other way, because offense was hard to come by,” Pappas said. “Love was kind of creating her own, but in general, offense was hard to come by.”

The defensive switch paid dividends right away for Tualatin.

Tualatin’s Jordyn Smith (left) and Alex Padilla put defensive pressure on Clackamas’ Dylan Mogel in the second half of the Timberwolves’ 63-58 win in the Class 6A state championship game. / Dan Brood

Clackamas wasn’t able to score again in the third quarter, and the Timberwolves got a basket on a 17-foot jumper by junior Ries Miadich, a 3-pointer by Best and a close-range bank shot by Smith to end the quarter, cutting the deficit to 54-42 entering the fourth quarter.

Tualatin seemed to have momentum on its side going to the final period. It also hurt Clackamas that Davidson suffered an injured ankle late in the third quarter and didn’t return until 6:12 was left in the game, and she seemed to be hampered by the injury the rest of the way.

But with the way the Timberwolves were playing, it looked like they weren’t going to let anything stand in their way.

“We just knew we could never stop,” Lucas said. “We had to keep going and get the momentum back, so we could take charge of the game.”

Tualatin opened the fourth quarter with two baskets by Miadich sandwiched around two free throws by freshman Kendall Dawkins, making it 54-48 with 5:35 left.

The Cavaliers answered with a basket on a jumper by senior Sara Barhoum, but that only momentarily slowed the Timberwolves’ momentum.

Tualatin scored the next 15 points. The Timberwolves tied the score at 56-56 on two more free throws by Dawkins with 4:02 to play.

Tualatin took its first lead, at 59-56, when Miadich sank a 3-pointer with 1:53 remaining.

“I think that gave us so much motivation, so much confidence,” Smith said of the 3-pointer. “That turned the energy.”

With that energy, Tualatin added two free throws by Best and a basket on a 10-foot jumper by junior Alex Padilla to pull away for the improbable 63-58 victory — and the Timberwolves’ first state championship.

Tualatin junior Alex Padilla, who scored the final basket in the Timberwolves' 28-2 second-half run, smiles after the team’s state championship-clinching win over Clackamas. / Dan Brood

“We didn’t stop fighting. Even though we went down by a lot, we didn’t stop fighting,” Dawkins said. “We didn’t let it get in our head and we kept fighting, which really helped.”

“We made sure that we all stuck together and we never gave up,” said Lucas, who had a key follow-up basket in the fourth quarter. “We just kept fighting until the end.”

Miadich helped lead the way for Tualatin in the fourth quarter with seven points. Dawkins went 6 for 6 from the free throw line in the period, and Best scored four points in the quarter.

Smith didn’t score, but she came up big in the period with three rebounds, two blocks, two steals and an assist.

“We knew that we just needed to do what we do — cover our spots, hit our blocks, hit the line,” Smith said. “We knew that we just needed to tap in to what we can do on defense, and the offense would come with it.”

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