Led by one of the most prolific three-point shooters in state history in junior point guard Payton Starwalt, West Albany has surged to the top of the hotly contested 5A Mid-Willamette Conference.
The Bulldogs (12-4, 8-0), ranked No. 5 in the OSAAtoday 5A coaches poll, ran the table in the first round of conference play for the first time in their 11 seasons under coach Shawn Stinson. They begin the second round with a tough three-game stretch against Crescent Valley (8-9, 4-4), No. 7 Silverton (11-6, 6-2) and No. 2 South Albany (13-3, 7-1).
“If we can survive that, I think it's going to be hard to stop us,” Stinson said. “Now we feel like we've got the offense cracking and the defense is still pretty stiff. So we feel like we're cruising.”
West Albany brought back four starters from a team that went 20-8 and lost in the state quarterfinals, including the 5-foot-7 Starwalt, who made second-team all-state and averaged 22 points as a sophomore.
“We had a really young group last year,” Stinson said. “I felt like the only thing we really lacked was experience.”
Starwalt has been outstanding this season, averaging 25.6 points, 5.8 assists and 3.3 steals and shooting 45.1 percent from three-point range (78 for 173) and 85 percent on free throws. She has 269 career three-pointers, putting her on pace to smash the state career record of 359, set by La Salle Prep's Taycee Wedin (2015-18).
Starwalt has had games of 40 and 41 points this season. In Friday's 74-36 win at Dallas, she made a school-record nine three-pointers and scored 31 points. With her 78 triples this season, she could threaten the state single-season mark of 126, established by Clackamas' Sara Barhoum last season.
Starwalt has 23 Division I scholarship offers, including Arkansas, Marquette and Arizona State. Among the schools showing interest of late are Oregon, UCLA, Arizona, Texas Tech and Virginia Tech.
“She's a very, very special player,” Stinson said. “When I think I've seen everything, she just keeps stacking it up. Last year, teams didn't prepare for her quite as much. This year, everybody's throwing everything they can at us, and she's performing at an even higher level.”
Opponents often start double-teaming Starwalt – West Albany's primary ballhandler -- in the backcourt. Aware of her deep range, they guard her tight well beyond the arc.
“She doesn't get a normal three ever,” Stinson said. “When she is open, she's ready to pull, and she's on time. She makes great decisions.”
The Bulldogs' other returning starters are junior guard Natalie Tidwell (10.5 points, 5.3 rebounds), junior forward Lola Chamberlain (6.7 points, 8.1 rebounds) and senior guard Cate Kurth (6.5 points). The other starting spot has been filled by 6-3 sophomore Lily Hamblin (8.1 points, 7.2 rebounds).
Tidwell provides another deep threat, knocking down 37 three-pointers this season. She had seven of the team's 18 three-pointers in Friday's win over Dallas.
The athletic Hamblin, who came off the bench last season, has become more of a scoring threat as well as an interior presence on defense.
“I jokingly call her 'The Freak' because she does stuff that's not normal,” Stinson said. “She can grab the rim. She was pretty raw coming into high school and has progressed tremendously. She's got a really high ceiling.”
The Bulldogs dropped four of their first eight games, losing to 6A Sheldon 44-40, 4A No. 6 Philomath 51-45, 6A No. 3 South Medford 57-39 and Bingham (Utah) 60-46. They struggled with handling pressure defense early in the season but have improved their composure and cut down on turnovers.
In the first round of conference play, they won at Silverton 72-56 and South Albany 40-34 in back-to-back games. Beating South Albany, last year's state runner-up, gave them a jolt of confidence, according to Stinson.
“We knew we were a quality team to begin with, but we just hadn't performed all that well,” he said. “We didn't perform offensively against South, but our defense has really come a long ways.”
West Albany has not won a conference title since 2013. The Bulldogs have appeared in the state final once, losing to Springfield in 2011.
No. 1 Springfield routs Crater
Top-ranked Springfield dominated the second half to dispatch visiting Crater 73-52 in a clash between co-leaders in the 5A Midwestern League on Friday.
Freshman forward Nunu Filipe scored a season-high 34 points for the Millers (17-1, 6-0), who grabbed sole possession of first place over the Comets (14-4, 5-1). With the loss, Crater slipped from No. 2 to No. 4 in this week's OSAAtoday 5A coaches poll.
The Comets jumped to a 20-11 lead late in the first quarter. Springfield drew within 29-27 at half behind Filipe, who scored 11 points in the second quarter.
The Millers took control in the second half, opening a 49-41 lead after three quarters and pushing the edge to 55-43 on a three-pointer by junior Iyanha Woodard.
Senior guard Darissa Romero Ah-Sam scored 17 points for Springfield, making four three-pointers in the second half. Junior Sailor Hall added 10 points in the win.
The Millers have won 16 in a row since a 49-32 loss at 6A No. 6 Jesuit.
“I don't want this ever to end,” Filipe said to the Register-Guard about the winning streak. “I hope we go undefeated the rest of the season. We still bring up that one loss. We can't do that again. That loss plays in our head every film session. ... Just using that game moving forward has helped us a lot."
Senior guard Taylor Young led Crater with 30 points.
No. 1 Regis tops No. 2 WC to pad lead
No. 1 Regis turned back a late rally by No. 2 Western Christian to win 72-55 at home in a pivotal 2A Tri-River Conference game Saturday.
With the win, the Rams (19-1, 10-0) opened a two-game lead over the Pioneers (15-3, 8-2) on top of the conference. The Rams won at Western Christian 45-41 in the first round of conference play.
Regis appeared ready to cruise to the victory when it led 38-20 at half, but Western Christian battled back to within 57-52 with 4:30 left in the game. The Rams responded, however, behind freshman guard Frankie Koehnke, who scored 10 of her game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter.
“It was really tight and that really motivated us to keep going and be a good team,” Koehnke said. “We knew that they’ll fire back in the second half, and I think our coaches did a really good job preparing us for it. We can definitely improve on rebounding and setting up the offense.”
Senior guard Clara Persons scored 17 points and senior post Hadley Foster added 10 points for the Rams. Sophomore Kylie Sommer and junior Kinsey Wark led Western Christian with 19 and 15 points, respectively.
Wilsonville handles La Salle Prep
With first place in the 5A Northwest Oregon Conference at stake, No. 6 Wilsonville throttled No. 10 La Salle Prep 67-32 at home Friday.
The Wildcats (12-3, 7-0) extended their winning streak to 11 as four players scored in double figures: seniors Finley Blankenship (14) and Gabi Moultrie (13) and juniors Maisy Scanlan (12) and Elise Chiavaro (12).
Chiavaro made four three-pointers in the first half as Wilsonville built a 36-19 lead. The Wildcats finished with 11 three-pointers, also getting three from Moultrie and two each from Blankenship and Scanlan.
The loss ended a seven-game winning streak for La Salle Prep (12-5, 7-1). Falcons senior Ava Bergeson scored 12 of her game-high 16 points in the first half.
jerryu@osaa.org
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