Philomath's Reagan Nuno (2) draws pressure from Stayton's Breeci Hampton during Thursday's 4A girls basketball quarterfinal.

FOREST GROVE — The minute the Stayton Eagles turned up the heat on defense, the Philomath Warriors went into an offensive funk.

Stayton’s Kathryn Samek scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, pacing the top-ranked and defending-champion Eagles to a 41-26 victory over the No. 9 Warriors in Thursday’s quarterfinals of the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 4A girls basketball quarterfinals at Forest Grove High School.

Zuri Anderson finished with nine points and Maken Schacher added six points on a pair of 3-pointers as the Eagles (22-3) advanced to Friday’s semifinals against No. 5 Henley.

“It was amazing,” said Samek, who also had four blocked shots and four steals. “We knew it was going to be a tough game, but we all stuck together. This is what we’e been working for all year.”

In a rematch of last year’s championship final, Philomath jumped out to a 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Warriors’ momentum didn’t extend much beyond that.

The Eagles tightened the screws on defense in the second quarter and outscored their Oregon West Conference rivals 13-2 in the period to open a 22-14 halftime lead.

Philomath never got closer than six points in the second half as Stayton stayed on course to become the first 4A girls team to win back-to-back championships since Sutherlin won four in a row from 2014-17.

“We allowed 12 points in the first quarter and then just really buckled down and did an awesome job defensively,” Stayton coach Tal Wold said. “Philomath is so hard to guard. They’re physical. They’re tough. They’re athletic. They’re long. But I just loved the battle and fight from all our girls. I just thought they did a great job.”

Philomath came away empty on 13 of 14 possession the second quarter, going 1-for-8 from the field with one offensive rebound and seven turnovers.

So, what adjustments did Stayton make on defense to get that kind of result?

“We just talked about maybe getting a little more ball pressure and working a little harder in the post,” Wold said. “Like, you can’t just sit behind them or they’ll bury you. So, we talking to posts about being a little quicker, moving with the ball, and getting off of them. But then all our guards had to help and get a little better ball pressure.”

Whatever the Eagles did, it sent Philomath sideways and the Eagles never could find their footing at the offensive end after that.

“I thought we executed the game plan pretty well early on, but then we went into a drought offensively,” Philomath coach Ben Silva said. “Stayton is just so consistent on both ends of the floor. They just keep coming at you. They don’t get too high, and they don’t get too low.

“When you make some mistakes, turn the ball over a little bit, and struggle with execution, then you can’t beat teams like that.”

Philomath shot 22.9 percent (8 for 35) from the field and the Warriors’ 26 points were a season low.

“At halftime, it was still only an eight-point game,” Silva said. “I thought we had a couple shots in the first half that could have gone our way that didn’t go in. So, you’re kind of hoping that some of those do fall in the second half.

“We talked about bringing some more full-court pressure, but Stayton is just so tough to be able to do that against. And then we talked about executing and getting through multiple rotations of our offense and being able to get ourselves better looks, because their defense was just so solid and packed in the key. It’s hard to score on the first rotation.”

Reagan Heiken led Philomath with nine points, while Shaylee May added seven points, six rebounds and four assists for the Warriors (15-11).

No. 5 Henley 46, No. 4 Marist Catholic 41: Henley's Makayla Schroeder scored a game-high 19 points with nine rebounds to help lift the Hornets of Klamath Falls over the Spartans of Eugene.

Prestyn Schade scored nine points and Gretchen Cheyne added eight points off the Henley bench as the Hornets (21-5) advanced to the semifinals for the second time in three seasons.

After a sluggish first half, Henley opened the third quarter on a 14-3 run thata turned a four-point halftime deficit into a 31-24 lead.

Marist Catholic rallied within a point four different times in the fourth quarter — the last time on a basket by Katelyn Shoemaker that made it 42-41 with 1:24 to play.

Henley finally put the game away at the free-throw line with Senia Campos, Lily Fussell, and Schade going a combined 4-for-6 at the charity stripe in the final 1:19.

“Our halftime message was to lay it out on the line,” Henley coach Randy Denson said. “I felt like we were a little shell-shocked, a little stiff in the first half. I told them if we continued to play that way, we were going to lose, so we might as well just give it our all.”

Shoemaker led Marist Catholic with 15 points and Ashley Powell added 12 points and six rebounds for the Spartans (19-7).

“I give a lot of credit to Marist,” Denson said. “They’re tough and they kind of came at us with some intensity. We played a poor first half, but I was proud of our girls to gut it out and get us a win.

“The first game is hard up here. You’ve got to get that chip off your shoulder, because you want to make it to Saturday. Our program goal is to just make it to the last day, whether that’s the 8 a.m. game or 8 o’clock at night. Getting that first game relieves a lot of pressure.”

No. 6 St. Helens 40, No. 3 Seaside 33: St. Helens’ Devan Lee scored 22 of her game-high 26 points in the second half as the Lions rallied from 13-point halftime deficit and knocked off their Cowapa League rivals.

Lee also had 14 rebounds and Madelyn Hancock added five points and nine rebounds to help send the Lions (19-5) into Friday’s semifinals against Baker.

“It’s so exciting,” said Lee, one of three seniors in the Lions’ starting lineup. “I know us seniors have worked four years for this. It’s such an exciting thing to feel. 

“I mean, going into the elite eight was a different kind of feeling, but being able to step on it against a team we know and go to the final four, it’s such an exciting feeling.”

Trailing 23-10 at halftime, St. Helens went on a 16-3 run in the third quarter to turn the game around. Lee led the third-quarter charge, scoring 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field with four 3-pointers.

Lee’s final 3-pointer of the quarter banked it at the buzzer, giving the Lions a 26-25 lead.

Seaside pulled even twice in the fourth quarter — the second time when Carly Corder knocked down a pull-up jumper in the lane made it 33-33 with 1:48 remaining.

St. Helens’ D’aye Davidson then coverted a left-handed layup for the go-ahead basket, sparking a 7-0 run over the closing 1:30 to put the game away.

Corder finished with a team-high 12 points for the Seagulls, who shot a dismal 12.5 percent (3 for 24) from the field in the second half.

No. 2 Baker 35, No. 7 Cascade 25: Baker’s Molly Rasmussen scored a game-high 12 points with 12 rebounds, and three streals, and Gwen Rasmussen added eight points, eight rebounds, and five steals, lifting the Bulldogs past the Cougars of Turner.

Lily Logsdon chipped in seven points and a team-high three assists off the Baker bench, helping send the Bulldogs (23-4) into the semifinals for the third time in four seasons.

Baker trailed 18-16 at halftime and then opened the third quarter on an 11-3 run to seize momentum and take a 27-23 lead. The Bulldogs then outscored Cascade 8-2 in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

“Well, it was ugly, but sometimes you’ve got to win ugly in state tournament basketball,” Baker coach Jason Ramos said. “Kudos to our kids for playing really good defense, especially in the second half, and especially in the fourth quarter.

“We struggled to score all night. Hats off to Cascade. They played pretty good defense. We just got some stops, lots of stops late, and then just enough buckets to pull it out. Hopefully, our girls are kind of over the nerves a little bit and we can relax and get after it again tomorrow.”

Cascade’s Rozalyn Schmunk scored seven points with eight rebounds and three steals, while Cassidy Crabtree added seven points, six rebounds, and three assists for the Cougars (14-11).