Brianna Sharp takes the ball to the basket for the Lady Pros during their 59-40 win over Irrigon on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024.

JOHN DAY — The best things are worth waiting for.

The Grant Union girls basketball team’s hard work and refusal to quit paid off during the team’s final regular season game of the year, a 59-40 drubbing of Blue Mountain Conference foe Irrigon on Friday, Feb. 9, on Dean Nodine Memorial Court at Grant Union High School. The win was the second of the season for the Lady Prospectors and snapped a grueling 20-game losing streak that began all the way back on Dec. 2 of 2023.

Both teams opened the game in a bit of a scoring funk, with the contest deadlocked at 2-2 with 5:03 left in the first quarter. The Lady Pros would get it together, however, scoring the quarter’s final five points to head into the second with an 11-4 advantage.

The teams would trade scores to open the second quarter before four unanswered Lady Pro points saw their lead increase to nine at 17-6 with 6:03 left to go in the half, leading to a Lady Knight timeout.

Irrigon would come out of the timeout and outscore the Lady Pros 10-8 through the rest of the second quarter. Still, Grant Union would carry a 25-16 lead into halftime.

The Lady Pros and Lady Knights played evenly throughout the majority of the third quarter, with the Lady Pros maintaining the nine-point advantage they’d taken into halftime with 2:24 left in the third. Irrigon would get as close as 32-25 before the Lady Pros would go on a seven-point scoring blitz to end the third on top 39-25.

The Lady Pros would sink a three to open the fourth quarter and ultimately push their advantage to 44-27 to force a Lady Knight timeout with 5:38 left in the game. The Lady Pros would continue to score, increasing their lead to 56-31 with less than three minutes left in the game.

Irrigon would go on a 9-3 scoring run to close out the game, but it simply wasn’t enough as the Lady Pros emerged with a 59-40 win in front of a raucous home crowd.

Rillie Mitchell again showed out for the Lady Pros, finishing with 23 points in the game. Emma Northway added 10 points for the Lady Pros, and Morgan Walker finished with seven points on the evening.

The win leaves the Lady Pros at 2-21 on the season with a 1-9 league record. The team was scheduled to be in action next against this same Irrigon team on Monday, Feb. 12, in a league playoff game at Pilot Rock High School.