JOHN DAY – The Grant Union girls basketball team had plenty to celebrate last weekend.

The Grant Girls earned their third win in a row with a 47-40 win against Nyssa on Friday, Feb. 1. The win moved Nyssa and Grant Union into a tie for third place in the Eastern Oregon League with records of 3-3.

Both teams lost on Saturday, Feb. 2, to keep them tied for the final playoff spot in the EOL. Grant Union lost 34-24 to Vale on Saturday.

“We are very excited about being in third place,” Grant Union’s Sabrina Hoffman said. “In the locker room we were cheering and having a good time.”

Friday’s game was the complete opposite of the first meeting between the two teams. Nyssa beat Grant Union 57-31 on Jan. 12.

A key difference in the two games was turnovers. On Jan. 12 the Grant Girls turned the ball over a whopping 38 times. They were able to cut that number to 15 on Friday.

“We’ve been averaging turnovers in the low 30s,” Grant Union Coach Ryan Carpenter said. “It was huge for us to reduce that. We took care of the ball well all weekend.”

Grant Union came out and pressured Nyssa early on Friday. They hustled on defense and grabbed numerous rebounds and loose balls. There was only a two-point spread between the teams after the first quarter, but the Grant Girls took a 22-14 lead by halftime.

The Grant Girls seemed even more aggressive when they took the court after halftime. They led by as much as 16 points in the third quarter. However, Nyssa was able to fight its way back into the game and was only down 36-31 going into the third quarter.

Despite the late comeback the Lady Dawgs were never able to get closer than five points away.

“They were fouling, and we were missing free throws,” Carpenter said. “Then they’d make shots and we were to some extent playing more of a delay-of-game style. We were looking to kill some time. That let them back into the game, but we held on.”

Marzuri Waggoner led the Grant Girls with 14 points. Sharon Houpt had 13 points, and Hoffman added eight.

Grant Union kept the game close against Vale on Saturday. The score was tied 16-16 at halftime, and 24-24 after the third quarter, but the Vikings pulled away at the end of the fourth quarter. Vale’s Katy Lutjens had two layups and free throws in the final four minutes of the game. She led her team with 16 points.

Hoffman led the Grant Girls with nine points and Waggoner had four points in the game.

“Basically we ran out of gas,” Carpenter said. “We played a huge game on Friday night that took a lot out of us. We played four tough quarters on Friday and three and a half against Vale. It just got to us.”

Grant Union travels to face the undefeated EOL league leader Burns on Thursday, Feb. 7. The Grant Girls will have their senior night at about 6 p.m. against Riverside on Tuesday, Feb. 12.