In its first showdown with defending state champion Vale, the Umatilla girls basketball team struggled from the floor in both taking good shots and making them.

Thursday night, another poor shooting night from the Lady Viks and a big first quarter from Vale doomed Umatilla to its first consecutive losses this season as Vale came into The Pit and downed the Lady Viks 43-35.

Umatilla trailed 41-30 with just 1:38 on the clock and cut the lead to as few as six points in the final minute but couldn’t get any closer than that.

With the loss, Umatilla (16-5, 4-2) trails Vale (18-1, 6-0) by two games in the Eastern Oregon League and is still up on Nyssa by two games.

“Too little, too late,” Umatilla head coach Scott Bow said of his team’s effort. “We just didn’t have enough left in the tank. That’s a big gap to close.”

Aleesha Watson led the Lady Viks in scoring with nine points, and Iri Campos had eight. Watson made just one of six from deep in another rough night from the floor.

“(We) just gotta get her more opportunities,” Bow said of the sophomore. “We tried to get her a bunch of opportunities (Thursday), but (Vale’s) defense adjusted really well and denied her most of the game. I think, as a team, we need to do a better job of finding ways to get her open.”

For Vale, Kami Hawkins paced the visiting Vikings with 15 points and made three 3-balls in the first quarter. In that period, Vale jumped to a quick 16-4 lead. Hawkins and Madison Johnson each hit 3s in that period, opening up the big cushion.

Bow said his defense was in position; Vale just made tough, contested shots.

“I told the girls, ‘Hey, when they got hot like that, we just need to sit through it,’ ” Bow said. “Our defense was where it was supposed to be. There’s no adjustments we can do, and they’re not going to stay that hot.

Umatilla maintained its aggressive man look and didn’t allow more than 11 points in any quarter the rest of the way. Just 12 points were scored in the entire second quarter, and Bow was pleased that his defense could come right back and essentially shut out an offense that was hot in the previous quarter.

Early in the third quarter, Umatilla was fighting its way back into the game. Hawkins and Hannah Bates each got buckets to stretch Vale’s lead to 26-15, but Watson and Courtney Dohman responded with buckets of their own to cut the lead to seven at 26-19. Vale, though, stretched the lead to 12 at 32-30 on free throws by Kiara Cooper and a 3 from Kylee DeLong.

Vale led by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter before Umatilla started to chip away at the score. Campos and Kassandra Galbraith had back-to-back hoops off of Vale turnovers. Watson got one to go two possessions later, and Vale called timeout with 4:45 on the clock with Vale up 35-26. Out of the timeout, Vale stretched the lead back out to 39-26 with three minutes to play.

Dohman scored her second basket with 2:13 left off a Vale turnover, and Mari Paz was fouled and made one. Then the frantic comeback bid began.

Watson was fouled and hit both free throw, shrinking the lead to 10 at 41-31. Vale coughed it up, and Galbraith had a free look at the basket and was fouled. She made the free throws, cutting the lead to eight. Vale called timeout, turned the ball over again and Galbraith laid it in to cut the lead to six with 19.9 seconds left.

Umatilla finished with 13 steals, but couldn’t come up with any in the last 20 seconds.

“That’s the competition we’re going to see at state over and over,” Bow said. “As long as we feel we’re competitive in every game over there, we feel confident in ourselves.”

Umatilla plays Vale for the third and final time Feb. 14 in Vale. The girls play again at 5 p.m. (MT) today in Nyssa.

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VALE 43, UMATILLA 35

VHS 16 5 11 11 43

UHS 6 7 7 15 35

Vale — Ki. Hawkins 2, Ka. Hawkins 15, K. DeLong 3, M. Johnson 5, A. Trenkel 0, M. Wolfe 2, K. Weber 6, A. Hamilton 4, H. Bates 4, K. Cooper 2, A. Burkhardt 0, B. Bourasa 0.

Umatilla — B. Chavez 0, M. Paz 0, K. Barajas 0, I. Campos 8, B. Campos 4, S. Webb 6, K. Galbraith 5, C. Dohman 4, A. Watson 9.

3-point field goals — Vale 5, Umatilla 1. Free throws — Vale 7-13, Umatilla 8-14.

Fouls — Vale 14, Umatilla 14.

BOYS BASKETBALL

UMATILLA 45, VALE 42

In a game that played out almost exactly like its predecessor last week, the Umatilla Vikings edged the Vale Vikings 45-42 Thursday night in The Pit.

Eric Garcia didn’t have quite the night he did when he went for 33, but he still scored 19 points, including eight in the third quarter.

Umatilla was down two at halftime but came out hot in the third when Garcia and Tristan Sanguino each hit three-pointers to put Umatilla up. Garcia then made a layup and was fouled to grab a small slice of momentum.

“It was just that third quarter for us that the hoop was a little bit bigger for us and shots decided to fall,” Umatilla head coach Derrek Lete said.

Vale had a chance to take the lead late, but two missed layups doomed the visitors to a long drive back without a win.

With the win, Umatilla ties Nyssa at 5-1 in the EOL and has an overall record of 11-10. Umatilla heads to Nyssa today. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (MT).

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UMATILLA 45, VALE 42

VHS 13 9 8 12 42

UHS 14 6 14 11 45

Vale — Z. Jacobs 2, D. Hiatt 1, J. Schoorl 5, A. Weber 13, M. Ramirez 0, M. Skerjanec 0, C. Schulpe 0, C. Towers 0, T. Mesa 5, L. Noethe 6, B. Mattos 10.

Umatilla — D. Ayala 1, E. Garcia 19, J. Coria 0, K. Webb 0, D. Garcia 0, A. Jaime 9, J. Tejada 0, T. Sanguino 6, A. Simmons 10, E. Morales 0.

3-point field goals — Vale 3, Umatilla 6. Free throws — Vale 9-11, Umatilla 5-9.

Fouls — Vale 12, Umatilla 10.