BAKER CITY – Top-seeded Crane completed a perfect season and denied St. Paul a repeat title in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 1A girls basketball final Saturday at Baker High School.
Sophomore wing Kelsie Siegner scored 17 points as the Mustangs (29-0) led wire to wire in beating the second-seeded Buckaroos 45-41.
It is the second title for the Mustangs, the other coming in 2004. St. Paul (28-2), which went 30-0 to win the championship last year, was going for its sixth title but could not overcome Crane.
Both of St. Paul's losses this season came against Crane. On Jan. 25, the Mustangs snapped the Buckaroos' 49-game winning streak by defeating them 64-49 in a neutral-site game at Bend High School.
Crane took control from the start Saturday, racing to a 9-1 lead behind five points from sophomore guard Taelor Hammack. When junior forward Laurel Witzel hit a three-pointer late in the first quarter, it was 16-3.
St. Paul outscored Crane 15-6 in the second quarter to pull within 22-18 at half. Senior post Isabelle Wyss had five points in the quarter for the Buckaroos.
But the Mustangs jumped on St. Paul at the start of the third quarter. Siegner hit a jumper and a three-pointer and junior post Riley Davis added a basket to make it 29-18. The lead grew to 37-23 when Davis scored inside late in the quarter.
A layup by Siegner gave Crane a 45-33 lead with 3:13 left in the game. St. Paul scored the last eight points, the final basket by Wyss with five seconds to go.
Siegner made 8 of 19 shots from the field and added four rebounds and three steals. Davis had five points, 17 rebounds and three blocks. Junior guard Shelie Doman had eight points, four rebounds, two blocks and four steals for the Mustangs, who shot 40.4 percent (19 for 47).
Senior guard Erin Counts led St. Paul with 14 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and five steals, making 4 of 13 shots. Wyss had seven points, seven rebounds and three steals for Buckaroos, who shot 29.8 percent (14 of 47).
osaatoday@osaa.org
Subscribe
