Raven girls basketball rolls through Stadium
Published 2:30 pm Friday, January 16, 2026
Auburn Riverside’s girls basketball team is looking for some consistency this season and after dropping two straight games by over 25 points to Auburn and Tahoma.
But against Stadium, the Ravens had a good chance to get back on the right foot and build some momentum toward the end of the season. The Ravens cleaned up Stadium 55-15 for their fifth win of the season on Jan. 15.
“Tonight was a great example of that intensity. Stadium has come a long way since the start of the season. But if we play well, we are a good team. When we don’t, we show some inconsistencies,” head coach Grady Lowe said.
Stadium has not had a great year. The Tigers rank last in the NPSL points scored (364) and have allowed the most points in the NPSL (848) in 3A and 4A this season. The Ravens saw this game as an opportunity to get their confidence back.
“We wanted to set the tone early and play to our standard (tonight). It wasn’t about the stat line and scoreboard. It was about Kentwood, Kentridge and Mount Rainier. Those are three conference games we’ve got to win,” Lowe said. “We were just trying to play to our standard tonight and I think we did that.”
The Ravens had already beaten Stadium 67-29 back on Dec. 9, but this time around, the Ravens have an extra weapon. Zoe Wilder transferred from Stadium to Auburn Riverside this past offseason and had to sit out 40% of the season before she was eligible to play.
“Tonight it was personal for Zoe because she made a personal choice to leave Stadium. Not that she is against the school or players there. It was a choice for her to come here and she doesn’t want to lose that game,” Lowe said.
Wilder finished the game with 12 points, but didn’t play nearly the amount of minutes she would have if the game was close.
“These games are about gaining confidence. We came off of a couple tough games. We used this game to execute. I think we have a hard time getting into our sets against these really tough teams. But tonight we could focus on those really intricate details of our offense and running new sets and drawing up new plays,” Wilder said.
Auburn Riverside scored the game’s first 12 points to open the first quarter and held Stadium to zero points.
Cora Lowe was the game’s top scorer as she outscored Stadium on her own with 18 points and only needed three quarters to do it.
Early in the first quarter, Grady Lowe went with a hockey style substitution. He subbed in his entire bench, who were rotated in and out more than they had all season. Lowe saw this as an opportunity to give the bench players valuable playing time, that they had earned all season.
“I wanted to use tonight to play to our standard and get ready for the other district games. What I thought that would do was give us a chance to play players who hadn’t played a lot,” Lowe said.
Beating Stadium isn’t the goal of the season for Lowe and the Ravens. The goal is to compete for a playoff spot, and so far this season, the Ravens have shown their potential.
Back on Dec. 29, the Ravens played Oregon City (Oregon), which was undefeated at the time, and the Ravens won 49-37. Then Auburn Riverside played Kentridge and handled them with a 12 point win and took a full steam of momentum to their first meeting of the season with Auburn. But the Ravens fell by 28 to the Trojans and seemingly lost all that momentum.
“We dominated them, the intensity and energy was there. Then we come home and do the same thing against Kentridge. Then the two games before this we score 31 against Auburn and lose by 28 and score 30 against Tahoma and lose by 40. Both good teams, but our intensity wasn’t there,” Lowe said.
Now Camas (6-8) is on the horizon, a team that is historically excellent. A win on the road at Camas could do loads for the Ravens’ confidence this season.
“We are two very like teams. They are a perimeter oriented team, we are a perimeter guard oriented team. I think it’s a game where two-like teams linked up and are hungry for a win,” Lowe said.
