The addition of one of the state's top freshmen has Springfield looking like a legitimate threat to win its second 5A girls basketball championship in four seasons.
Nunu Filipe, a versatile 6-foot guard/forward, is averaging 20.0 points and 7.8 rebounds for the No. 1 Millers (16-1, 5-0), who carry a 15-game winning streak into a Midwestern League showdown Friday against No. 2 Crater (14-3, 5-0).
Springfield coach Joe Williamson compared her impact to that of guard Danaeja Romero-Ah Sam, who was the 5A player of the year in leading Springfield to the 2023 state title and is now a sophomore on the team at Eastern Arizona.
“Nunu stepped right in and it's like she's a junior," Williamson said. "It's always great to have a freshman like that, that you know you've got her for the next three years. We're really excited.”
Filipe is the daughter of former Oregon defensive lineman Victor Filipe. Her sister, Ikunaday, was a senior starter for the Millers last season and is on the team at Tacoma Community College. Her brother, Leofatu, is a sophomore starter for Thurston's boys team.
Filipe not only has size, but rare strength, built from working out at a weight training facility owned by her parents. She is a force inside and has guard skills, including three-point range.
“We knew as a seventh-grader that she was good enough to play in our varsity program,” Williamson said. “She's been ready. She could play point guard full-time, but I have some really good guards. We just play her where the mismatch is. It's not like we just pound the ball into her.”
Filipe is in a groove of late. In each of the last three games, she has scored 19 points in the first half and finished with 25 points, exiting before the fourth quarter.
The Millers brought back two starters from last year's team, which went 19-9 and lost in the state quarterfinals: Darissa Romero-Ah Sam, a 5-7 wing who made second-team all-state, and 5-8 junior sharpshooter Sailor Hall.
Williamson said he didn't know if Romero Ah-Sam, plagued by a sore back in the second half of 2024-25, would be able to play this season, but she got medical clearance one week prior to the season. He said she is playing at about 80 percent but is making an impact, averaging 11.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists.
“She's competitive as heck, and defends,” Williamson said. “When Darissa plays well, we're hard to beat. She's a very aggressive scorer.”
Hall (15.0 points, 5.6 rebounds) is the team's best deep shooter. She made seven three-pointers in the first half of Friday's home win over Ashland and was 4 for 4 from behind the arc in Tuesday's win at North Eugene.
The other two starters are 5-6 sophomore point guard Lia Jones and 5-9 senior wing Kimora Wright, who sat out last season after her sister, Diamond, transferred from Springfield to Willamette.
Springfield has wins over three teams currently ranked in the top 10 of the OSAAtoday 5A coaches poll, dropping No. 7 Silverton 54-48, No. 8 Crook County 73-55 and No. 10 Summit 69-49.
The Millers also have beaten three ranked 4A teams, handling No. 1 Stayton 56-31 and No. 6 Marist Catholic 66-32 and edging No. 7 Cascade 57-52.
A 49-32 loss at 6A No. 6 Jesuit in the second game of the season is their only setback. That defeat came when the Millers had yet to establish their identity, according to Williamson.
“We weren't ready for that game,” he said. “Early in the year, we weren't coming out in the first quarter and playing well. We were getting down in every game.”
That pattern changed when Springfield went 4-0 in the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas in December. In their first game, the Millers trailed by 14 points late in the third quarter but rallied to beat Liberty (Nev.) 49-47.
“Ever since then, we've been the ones to jump on teams in the first quarter,” Williamson said.
On Friday, Springfield will play its most important game of the season to date when it plays host to reigning state champion Crater. The Comets also have been in a roll, winning 11 in a row.
The Millers first goal is to win the Midwestern League, but they don't plan on stopping there.
“We have goals of winning a state championship,” Williamson said. “In 5A, the top eight, they all are capable of winning a state championship this year.”
Creswell pulls even in Mountain West
No. 6 Creswell struck the latest blow in the highly competitive 3A Mountain West Conference with a 53-44 win at No. 4 Pleasant Hill on Tuesday. With the victory, the Bulldogs (13-6, 4-1) moved into a first-place tie with the Billies (14-4, 4-1), ahead of No. 5 Sisters (14-4, 3-1).
Last year, Creswell finished at the top of the conference standings but second-place Pleasant Hill defeated the Bulldogs in a league playoff to claim the conference's top seed to state.
"Our coach says it every time — they're coming after us. We're the team that needs to be beaten," Creswell junior Mila Nguyen told the Register-Guard. "Going into the game knowing that, you've got to stay on your toes and you've got to stay sharp. I think our defense is where we get our energy from. It's where we get our confidence."
Senior forward Elliette Kinney scored 20 points to lead Creswell, which got 12 points each from Nguyen and senior Raelee Green. Junior Anna Crawford and senior Ashlyn Johnson scored 12 and 10 points, respectively, for Pleasant Hill.
Creswell led 33-23 after three quarters before Pleasant Hill rallied, pulling even at 35-35 on a basket by junior Karsyn Stapleton. But Kinney answered with a three-point play to put the Bulldogs ahead for good. Nguyen and Kinney followed with baskets and senior Kylie Leonard made a three-pointer as Creswell pulled away.
Notes: Wilsonville senior guard Gabi Moultrie surpassed 2,000 career points Jan. 22 when she scored 31 points in a 79-33 home win over Canby. Moultrie, who is averaging 24.2 points, 5.0 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 3.1 steals, is the 26th player in state history to reach the 2,000-point plateau. … Crook County freshman McKinley Sloper recorded 28 points, 12 rebounds and 10 steals in a 67-54 win over Mountain View in a 5A Intermountain Conference game Jan. 20. The 5-9 Sloper followed that performance by posting 19 points, nine rebounds and five steals as Crook County defeated Summit 55-47 on Jan. 23. For the season, she is averaging 18.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 5.5 steals. … Harper Charter junior Lindsay Talbot made seven three-pointers and scored 37 points to lead her team past host Spray/Mitchell/Wheeler 67-32 in a 1A nonleague game Saturday. She also had six rebounds and six steals in the game.
jerryu@osaa.org
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