Tualatin girls basketball team made history in 2025: ‘There’s just something magical about this group of girls’

Even a 19-point second-half deficit against a nationally ranked opponent wasn't enough to derail the Timberwolves from reaching their goal

The Tualatin girls basketball players and cheerleaders gather after the Timberwolves’ victory in Saturday’s Class 6A state championship game. / Dan Brood

PORTLAND — Get to the state championship game.

Win the state championship.

Cement your spot in history.

For the Tualatin girls basketball team, in a season of firsts for the Timberwolves, it was done, done and DONE.

Tualatin claimed its spot in history and lived up to its aspirations by rallying for an absolutely thrilling 63-58 come-from-behind win over Clackamas in the Class 6A state championship game Saturday at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center. Making the victory even more significant is the fact it gave Tualatin High School, which opened its doors in the fall of 1992, its first girls basketball state crown.

“We’re the team to do it! It’s awesome,” senior post Jordyn Smith said after the historic victory. “We’ve been expecting this all season. We never doubted ourselves.”

“It means the world,” junior guard Ries Miadich said with tears of joy running down her cheeks. “We worked hard, so hard, all season, and it just means so much to finally get the championship — the first one for Tualatin. I’m just so excited.”

“This means a bunch,” junior guard Maaya Lucas said. “This is our first time winning this, but even getting here means a lot. It’s such an honor getting here.”

The Class 6A girls basketball championship trophy is given to Tualatin’s (from left) Kendall Dawkins, Evelyn Freepons, Jordyn Smith and Bella Amens. / Dan Brood

“It means the world. It just means everything,” said freshman guard Love Lei Best, who had a game-high 26 points.

“It means a lot,” freshman Kendall Dawkins said. “This is the first time this has happened here (for Tualatin). We worked really hard for this — this is what we’ve been waiting for.”

And it’s been quite a lengthy wait.

While the Tualatin girls basketball program has produced strong teams and standout players, no squad had reached the pinnacle of Oregon high school girls basketball.

The Timberwolves first reached the state tournament semifinal round in 1997, but they fell 71-33 to Westview in their first trip to the final four. That Tualatin squad bounced back to beat Beaverton 71-62 in the third-place game.

The 2005 Tualatin team came close to becoming the first Timberwolves squad to reach the title game, as it was edged 51-50 by Southridge in the semifinals. In 2006, Tualatin again got to the semifinals, where it lost 75-65 to Oregon City. The team came back to beat Ashland 81-49 in the third-place contest.

That left the third-place trophy as the bright spot for Tualatin girls basketball entering this season. The current group of Timberwolves were determined not to just better that, but to make history.

“It’s been the goal the whole time,” Miadich said. “We worked hard every day to get it, and we did.”

“There were a couple things that happened this year that made me think we were destined to do this,” Tualatin coach Wes Pappas said as he accepted congratulations after congratulations. “It’s just special stuff. In the last couple weeks of the season, I ended up in the emergency room, and my assistant ended up in the emergency room for several days in intensive care, and all of that kind of stuff, but that didn’t matter. Everything just worked out.”

Head coach Wes Pappas guided the Tualatin girls basketball team to its first state championship. / Dan Brood

For Tualatin, it worked out in amazing fashion. In the title game against the nationally ranked Cavaliers, the Timberwolves found themselves facing a 19-point deficit with 2 minutes and 32 seconds left in the third quarter.

Even that daunting hill to climb wasn’t going to deny Tualatin its first state championship.

“We didn’t stop fighting,” Dawkins said. “Even though we went down by a lot, we didn’t stop fighting.”

That fight, which included some heroics from Best, Miadich, Dawkins, Smith and junior Alex Padilla, resulted in the 63-58 win — and Tualatin’s wild celebration.

“It was just amazing,” Dawkins said. “We were crying tears of happiness. We were just so happy for each other.”

“It really means everything,” Smith said. “We’ve put in so much work this season that not a lot of people have seen, and it’s great that it can be shown on this huge platform.”

The Timberwolves showed they very well possessed something exceptional.

“There’s just something magical about this group of girls,” Pappas said. “They’ve got just so much heart. To be down like we were against one of the best teams in state history, and it did not look good. But they just dug down and did something special.”

Tualatin’s (from left) Maela Tsaknardis, Eloise Davis, Kylie Weaver, Bella Amens and Maaya Lucas smile in anticipation during the final moments of Saturday’s Class 6A state championship game. / Dan Brood

“It makes it special. It’s crazy. We have a special group,” Best said. “It’s just all the parts that come together. We just push each other in practice. We have really good, all-around players. We fight really hard, and we have a lot of heart and grit.”

And, after Saturday’s victory, a lot of smiles.

“It’s been great playing with this team,” Lucas said.

“It’s really fun,” Dawkins said. “We all played really hard. We all worked for it.”

“It’s great not to only live up to our expectations, but also to live up to everyone’s expectations for us,” Smith said.

The Tualatin girls basketball team is all smiles after its 63-58 win over Clackamas in the Class 6A girls basketball state championship game. / Dan Brood

Next season’s expectations could be even higher, as Smith is the only senior player on the Tualatin roster.

But, the Timberwolves say, bring on those expectations — because they also have them.

“Oh yeah, that’s exciting,” Lucas said. “We expect to win it again. That’s the goal.”

“We have a great chance for next year, too,” Dawkins said.

“I’m so excited,” Best said. “Same thing — run it back.”

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