Oregon falls to Riverdale at 2A girls regional

PROPHETSTOWN – Riverdale wasted little time in capturing the Class 2A regional title in Prophetstown on Feb. 20. The Rams jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter against Oregon en route to a 47-25 win.

The Rams (21-9) led 13-4 after the first quarter and 25-6 at halftime to advance to face Stillman Valley at the Rock Falls Sectional on Tuesday.

Cayleigh Hungate led the Rams with 11 points, followed by Amarah Coleman with 10, Molly Skahill with nine and Katie Cox with eight.

Oregon (16-16) was led by junior Sarah Eckardt’s 10 points. Classmate Aniyah Sarver scored eight.

Riverdale’s Jay Hatch, a Hall of Fame coach with Alleman who also took the Rams to state in 2020, was proud of his team and its effort.

“We got off to a good start tonight, which was very helpful,” Hatch said. “I thought we did a good job of just maintaining it. I thought we did a pretty good job of trying to take away what we thought they wanted to do.”

First-year Oregon coach and former assistant Angela Reynolds was proud of her team after it reached its first regional title game in 11 years. The Hawks won nine more games than last season. Reynolds played on the team that last won a regional title in 2014. Oregon beat Newman 74-32 for the hardware that year before falling to eventual sectional champion and state runner-up Prophetstown 62-57 in the next round.

“We had an outstanding season this year and although tonight wasn’t the outcome we had hoped for, we still have so much to be proud of,” Reynolds said. “Riverdale played a great game and we had a slower start and didn’t get some of our shots to fall. Aside from that, our girls brought their energy and hard work ethic and battled as hard as they could. Above all, our girls played their hearts out and that’s all a coach can ever ask for.”