JOHN DAY – The Grant Girls are headed for Harrisburg.

Grant Union stole sole possession of third place in league from Nyssa with a 65-51 win against Umatilla last Friday, Feb. 15.

They advance to face the Harrisburg Eagles Friday, Feb. 22, in the first round of the 3A girls basketball state championships. It’s the first playoff appearance for the Grant Girls in five years.

Grant Union and Nyssa were tied at 4-5 in Eastern Oregon League play going into their games last Friday. The Grant Girls faced fourth-place Umatilla while Nyssa played second-place Vale. If both Grant Union and Nyssa had won, they would have played a game at a neutral site for the final playoff spot.

For the local girls, the waiting game began as soon as their basketball game finished. Grant Union’s game started at 4:30 p.m., and Nyssa’s didn’t begin until 5:30. The girls gathered their stuff and had the postgame talk with coach Ryan Carpenter. As time passed most of the girls joined friends and family to watch the District 8 1A tournament or get some food.

Then Carpenter heard the news from Grant Union Athletic director Curt Shelley. He caught the attention of assistant coach Steve Speth and breathlessly told him, “Vale won.”

“It feels great,” Carpenter said. “It’s a huge relief. I feel, I don’t know, rejoiceful. It’s exciting for the girls. They deserve the opportunity to do something special like this. They’ve worked hard for four straight months.”

The teams kept close throughout the game, but Grant Union never trailed. The Vikings were behind 23-21 at halftime.

Each time Grant Union pulled ahead Umatilla closed the gap. The Grant Girls took a 34-27 lead midway through the third quarter only to see Umatilla tie the game 34-34 by the end of the quarter. Umatilla brought the ball in with 18.3 seconds on the clock, and they managed to get three shots off, but none fell forcing the game into overtime.

Grant Union took control of the game after the teams retook the floor. They outscored Umatilla 19-5 in the overtime period to close out the game.

“I was kind of scared at the end of the fourth quarter,” Katelyn Page said. “They got a few shots off. We could have played better, but we pulled together and focused as a team at the end.”

Sabrina Hoffman had 19 points, and played strong defense often causing turnovers Friday. Hoffman has been a team leader all season, but what stood out about Friday’s performance is that she did it all after dislocating her shoulder. She has a medical condition that causes her shoulder to dislocate occasionally. Hoffman also received an elbow to the face during the second half.

“She dislocated her shoulder two times and still stayed in,” Carpenter said. “It just shows how tough she is. It took having her out there for us to win. She’s the heart of this team.”

Marzuri Waggoner led the team with 21 points on the night.