FOREST GROVE — When the St. Helens Lions put together 32 solid minutes against the Baker Bulldogs on Friday night, especially the last 3:03 of the third quarter.
St. Helens’ Libby Hasenkamp, Devan Lee, and Brooke Stevens hit consecutive 3-pointers to key a 9-0 run to close the third quarter and help carry the No. 6 Lions to a 46-39 victory over the No. 2 Bulldogs in Friday’s OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 4A girls basketball semifinals at Forest Grove High School.
Lee finished with a team-high 16 points and eight rebounds, and D’aye Davison added 12 points and six rebounds as the Lions (20-5) advanced to Saturday’s 8:15 p.m. championship final against the top-ranked and defending champion Stayton Eagles.
“We kind of came out with our foot on the gas and we didn’t let up from the beginning,” St. Helens coach Jillian Ross-Dean said. “We put all four quarters together.
“I think that was kind of our mantra going into this: If we can put all four quarters together, we can make it to the championship tomorrow.”
Through the first two and a half quarters, there were eight lead changes and two ties before Baker’s Molly Rasmussen scored off an offensive rebound to tie the score at 27-27 with 3:27 to play in the third quarter.
The last few minutes of the half belonged to St. Helens, starting with Hasenkamp’s 3-pointer from the left wing that gave the Lions a 30-27 lead with 3:03 left in the third quarter.
Lee and Stevens followed with two more 3-pointers, both from the top-right of the arc in the final minute of the quarter, pushing the lead to 36-27 heading into the fourth quarter.
“I think that run was huge for us,” Ross-Dean said. “We practice those shots, so they translate into big games like this. And everybody needs to be ready to shoot.
“We can’t rely on one player to win these big games. I know that happened in Thursday’s quarterfinal, but I think everybody stepped up and understood their role today.”
While St. Helens mounted its 9-0 run, Baker came away empty on its final six possessions of the third quarter, including a pair misses from long range.
“I think that was the difference in the game,” Baker coach Jason Ramos said. “I mean, St. Helens has a ton of confidence shooting the basketball and those three 3s at the end of the third quarter obviously gave them a pretty good cushion.
“They were able to execute down the stretch and we could never really claw our way back. You know, with 3-pointers, if a team is making ‘em, they can change a game in a hurry.”
Baker cut the deficit to five points at 44-39, but that wasn’t until the final minute of the fourth quarter and by then it was too late.
“It’s not what we expected,” Ramos said. “Hats off to St. Helens. They came out and outplayed us for four quarters. They shot really well. We had some buckets that normally we make that we just didn't put in the hole today.
“We just didn’t execute the way we needed to in the second half. We thought we were in a good position at halftime. We’ve been in that spot before. We just kind of got outplayed.”
Ross-Dean said the Lions drew inspiration from a 38-28 loss to Baker in December and game planned accordingly, namely doing everything in their power to keep the ball away from Rasmussen, the Bulldogs’ 6-foot sophomore guard.
“Baker wants to run their offense through No. 15 (Rasmussen),” Ross-Dean said. “We knew if she gave up the ball, we didn’t want her to get the ball back, because we know she can go off.
“We knew we had to limit her touches and we had to put pressure on their guards. I think we did that really well, because we went through a scoring lull ourselves to start the fourth quarter, but our defensive energy was there.”
It also helped St. Helens to have a nine-point lead to start the fourth.
“We were able to use the clock a little bit more in the fourth quarter and not force our offense,” Ross-Dean said. “When we’re forcing shots on offense, we’re not playing our game. So, I think being able to run through a few sets and run some time off the clock really served us well.”
And now the Lions are in the finals for the first time in school history.
“It makes me want to cry,” Ross-Dean said. “I’m a St. Helens’ alum, so I’m very passionate about this entire program. I’ve had these seniors since their freshman year and we went from a losing record, to a .500 record, to making the playoffs, to being Cowapa League champions and playing for a state championship.
“It’s huge for us. It’s huge for our school.”
No. 1 Stayton 66, No. 5 Henley 52: If Stayton’s game plan was to try and beat the Henley Hornets from 3-point range, the strategy looked flawed when Eagles missed their first seven shots from beyond the arc.
Then the shots started to drop for the defending state champions.
Stayton’s Breeci Hampton knocked down six 3-pointers and led all scorers with 22 points, lifting the top-ranked Eagles (23-3) over the Hornets of Klamath Falls and into Saturday’s championship final against St. Helens.
Kathryn Samek added 17 points, nine rebounds, and seven blocked shots for the Eagles, who erased a six-point halftime deficit before pulling away in the fourth quarter.
“What a game of swings and momentum,” Stayton coach Tal Wold said. “It’s funny, we had talked about Henley being so athletic and talented that you have to stay the course. And I thought we stayed the course.”
When Stayton came away empty on its first 10 possessions of the game and Henley jumped out to a 9-0 lead, it looked as if the Hornets had devised the perfect game plan.
But Khloe John and Hampton each knocked down a 3-pointer for Stayton in the final 30 seconds of the first quarter, cutting Henley’s lead to 11-7 and breathing life into the Eagles’ offense.
Even as Henley outscored Stayton 17-15 in the second quarter to take a 28-22 halftime lead, the Eagles continued to fire freely from long distance.
Of the 20 shots Stayton took in the first half, 15 were from beyond the arc, including five that found the mark.
So, was the Eagles’ plan to live or die by the 3-pointer?
“No, we didn’t want that,” Wold said. “I called an early timeout and kinda said, ‘We’re just sitting back and gunning 3s. Let’s be creative here. Let’s find some other ways to score.’ And I thought in the second half we did.
"We don’t want to just live by 3-pointers. We’re usually a little more balanced.”
Stayton opened the third quarter on a 19-5 run to take over control of the game. Again, the Eagles did significant damage from long range with a pair of 3s from Hampton and another from Samek during that stretch. But they also created some offense by going to the basket, including a Zuri Andersen layup that gave Stayton a 41-33 lead with 1:13 left in the quarter.
Henley’s response? The Hornets really didn’t have one as Stayton piled on in the fourth quarter.
“I knew Stayton was a good 3-point shooting team,” Henley coach Bryan Denson said. “I was thankful in the first half they didn’t hit as many, but their shooting kind of caught up to us and the score kind of snowballed.
“We went down six, then it went to eight, and then they hit a couple 3-pointers and we were a little stagnant offensively. We missed a couple of shots and in these games, you’ve got to come back and respond.”
Throughout the game, Henley’s best offense was Makayla Schroeder scoring under the basket, Schroeder scoring off an offensive rebound, and Schroeder getting fouled in the act of shooting and scoring at the free-throw line.
Schroeder, the Hornets' 6-foot sophomore post, finished with a team-high 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field and 7-for-12 shooting from the free-throw line. She also had a game-high 15 rebounds, including eight offensive boards.
Lily Fussell scored 12 points and was the only other Henley player in double figures. Gretchen Cheyne chipped in nine points and Senia Campos came off the Hornets’ bench and scored seven.
No. 8 Philomath 53, No. 4 Marist Catholic 27: Philomath’s Reagan Heiken scored a game-high 15 points with six rebounds and Annaleise Brown added 12 points and six rebounds as the Warriors overwhelmed the Spartans of Eugene in Friday’s 9 a.m. consolation opener.
Shaylee May scored eight points to help the Warriors bounce back from Thursday’s 41-26 quarterfinal loss to top-seeded Stayton and advance to Saturday’s fourth-place game against Oregon West Conference-rival Cascade.
Marist Catholic scored the game’s first basket, but Philomath took charge soon after, rolling to a 24-9 halftime lead.
Bridget Stephenson had a team-high nine points for the Spartans (19-8), who shot 18 percent (9 for 50) from the field, including 10.7 percent (3 for 28) from 3-point range.
No. 7 Cascade 62, No. 3 Seaside 44: Rozalyn Schmunk scored a game-high 25 points with 10 rebounds, three blocked shots, and three steals, lifting the Cougars of Turner over the Seagulls in the second of Friday’s two elimination games.
Cascade’s Olivia Bennett added 17 points and eight assists, and Cassidy Crabtree scored eight points as the Cougars (15-11) advanced to Saturday’s fourth-place game against Philomath.
Seaside led 18-15 at the end of the first quarter, but then went into catch-up mode after Cascade outscored the Seagulls 15-5 in the second quarter to take a 30-23 halftime lead.
Cascade opened the third quarter on a 12-0 run that ended with a Schmunk layup, extending the Cougars’ lead to 42-23 and helping put the game out of reach.
Carly Corder led Seaside with 15 points, seven rebounds, and three steals, while Jahzara Marshall added 11 points and four assists for the Seagulls (20-7).
jimbeseda@gmail.com
Subscribe
