By Tyler Hergert
Three nights into the new year, the Washougal Panthers (2-5) headed to Woodland to face the Woodland Beavers (6-3) in an important 2A GSHL battle. Both teams struggled in their recent games and were looking to get back in the win column and start 2023 on the right foot. The Panthers entered Tuesday’s contest losing their last three games both on the season and to Woodland. Meanwhile, the Beavers were looking to bounce back after going 1-2 in the T-Town Throwdown last week.
The night started off with great defense from both squads but the baskets started to flow for both sides. John Costa had a pair of three-pointers for Washougal but Woodland’s Justin Philpot had six points of his own to help Woodland take a 17-10 lead after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the fouls started to rack up for both sides as both teams entered the bonus and Woodland was in the double bonus late in the first half. Washougal found their rhythm offensively with Sam Evers scoring all eight of his points in the second quarter and even had a brief 25-23 lead. The Beavers rallied back with an 8-0 run to close out the second quarter and held a 31-25 lead at halftime.
Then, the Dane Huddleston show took place.
Huddleston only had five points for the Beavers but the dam broke in the second half for the senior guard. Huddleston hit a few jump shots in the third quarter to get himself going but quickly started making everything, from everywhere. He went on to score a dozen points in the third quarter, outscoring Washougal by himself who only had 11 third-quarter points. Woodland would grasp a double-digit lead and never look back as the Beavers were up 52-36 after the 3rd. Huddleston continued his excellent shooting performance by adding another dozen points and outscoring Washougal again in the 4th quarter. He had 24 of his 29 points in the second half while the Panthers had 22 2nd half points. The sharpshooter made four of his 11 field goals from three-point land and was a flawless 3-3 from the charity stripe. Washougal’s Tucker Kneipp collected 10 points on the evening to lead the Panthers in scoring. The final score ended up being 69-47 with the Beavers taking the win.
With the loss, Washougal drops to 2-6 on the season and they look to bounce back against Fort Vancouver tomorrow night.
Woodland improves to 7-3 for the 2022-23 campaign, they will play R.A. Long on Thursday as we will be there to broadcast that pivotal matchup.
You can watch the entire game on the NFHS Network on-demand. Subscriptions are $11.99 per month and gives you access to the entire NFHS Network all across the country to watch the live broadcasts or any on-demand games. Go to https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/affiliates/eli-sports-network to sign-up if you don’t have a subscription or to find the on-demand replay of this game.
