WOODLAND — The Columbia River Rapids wanted this matchup, knowing how important a win against the Woodland Beavers would be. A clash of the top two 2A Greater St. Helens League girls basketball teams Tuesday provided a tough test the visiting Rapids craved. Camy Drake hit a go-ahead free throw to break a 41-41 tie, and River’s defense held back Woodland in the final minute to propel the Rapids to a 42-41 win. “We really, really wanted to win this game because it would set the tone for the rest of the season,” Drake said. “This is our best opponent, I feel like, in our league, so beating them pushes us to continue on.”

Olivia Carroll grabbed a steal with under 10 seconds left as the Beavers (10-4, 6-1) tried to lob the ball inside to sophomore post Kennedy Bockert, who scored a game-high 24 points. Woodland’s final shot, a 3-point attempt on a full-court inbounds pass, drew iron but fell off the mark as time expired. Now, as the Rapids (12-1, 7-0) chase their third straight 2A GSHL title, they stand alone atop standings at the halfway point of the season. “I’ve been telling the girls just from last year (to) the start of this season, we have a target on our back,” River coach Tee Anderson said. “We’re going to get every single team’s best shot. … I told them it can go two ways — we can either fold with this target on our back, or we can excel with this target on our back. Everyone knows where we’re at, but we’re going to dictate where we’re gonna go.” River didn’t fold, despite some late-game drama. Leading scorer Gracie Glavin (16 points) was forced out of the game with four-and-a-half minutes left when she was whistled for her fifth foul.

Then, after Woodland’s Addison Christensen hit a go-ahead 3-pointer and River’s Peyton Dukes countered with a game-tying basket on the other end, Marley Myers (10 points) fouled out with 1:38 left, putting the Rapids’ top two offensive options on the bench. It was a credit to the Rapids’ defense that they didn’t allow another point from then on. River took the lead for good when Drake made the second of two free throws after missing the first. “Don’t miss it,” Drake said when asked what was going through her mind at the charity stripe. “Then I did miss it, but I made the second one. I’ve been working really hard on my shooting, so to have it pay off was really nice.” The Rapids made arguably the play of the game on defense when Kaya Mirtich and Avi Desjarlais doubled-teamed Bockert and denied an entry pass into the post ending up in the hands of Carroll for a steal.

“They have a couple great players that work really well together, so it was difficult to try to adjust to guard it,” Myers said. “But we have really good defensive principles and it just showed how well we worked as a team today.” Anderson estimates the Rapids spend an average of 45 to 60 minutes of practice working on the defensive end. It paid dividends in crunch time Tuesday. “Our big point of emphasis is defense all the time,” the coach said. “Not having two of our main scorers and two of our main defensive players, all of our girls know, they didn’t take that as a setback, they took it as an opportunity. … That group that was in there with Gracie and Marley out, complete kudos to them. That just really showed that those long 45-minute, hour defensive practices, they really stepped up and they implemented the stuff that we’re learning.” Early on, the Rapids had their hands full against Bockert, who scored Woodland’s first 11 points to give the Beavers an 11-9 lead through the first quarter, and had 16 points by halftime.

In the second half, the Rapids’ perimeter defense tightened up and they threw multiple players — Mirtich, Dejarlais and Dukes — at Bockert, who’s averaging a league-best 22.3 points per game. “It was hard for sure in the beginning of the game,” Drake said. “But once we got the momentum and we figured out the back side help, standing there, not jumping, not fouling, it was really crucial.” It was a new challenge thrown the Rapids’ way in the middle of what they hope is a long season. They embraced the moment and learned from it. “We’re just going take every opportunity and anything that any team throws at us, and we’re just going to take that as an opportunity to get better,” Anderson said.

COLUMBIA RIVER 42, WOODLAND 41 COLUMBIA RIVER — Olivia Carroll 0, Marley Myers 10, Peyton Dukes 7, Camy Drake 1,  Mikayla King 5, Kaya Mirtich 0, Avi Desjarlais 2, Gracie Glavin 16. Totals 14 (4) 6-14 42. WOODLAND — Addi Stading 7, Kennedy Bockert 24, Madison Walker 0, Emma Barrow 4, Addison Christensen 3, Makynzie Guthrie 2, Lainey Haden 1, Carly Coltrin 0. Totals 17 (1) 6-16 41. Col. River         9            9           14          10—42 Woodland        11          10          11          9—41