No. 2 Springfield girls basketball was throwing everything at No. 5 West Albany junior sharpshooter Payton Starwalt in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 5A girls basketball final on Saturday, March 14 at Linfield University.
With the Millers swarming, the Bulldogs had to find a way to either get Starwalt open or have her create opportunities for her teammates.
West Albany decided to do both as Starwalt, who broke the single-season 3-pointers made record this season, ended up knocking down four 3-pointers and scored 26 points while handing out three assists while also drawing the defensive attention throughout the night.
In the end, it was a 51-48 victory for the Bulldogs, giving them the first state title in program history.
“It means everything, it just shows hard work is unrivaled and you can do anything you want to,” Starwalt said. “When a team of girls comes together like this, it’s something truly special. We felt like we could take on the world by the end of the season. I’m just so happy I get to share it with these girls and my coaches and all of our families.”
Springfield was succeeding early on as it held West Albany to only six first-quarter points. On the other end, senior Darissa Romero-Ah Sam knocked down two 3-pointers to make it a 12-6 lead after one.
However, the Bulldogs started to move the ball around more on offense while also drawing the Millers into foul trouble, creating more open looks.
Starwalt drove and kicked out to junior Natalie Tidwell who hit a 3-pointer to tie the game with 3:25 left in the first half.
Springfield battled its way to a 23-22 halftime lead, but Romero-Ah Sam, sophomore Lia Jones and senior Kimora Wright all had three fouls.
"The foul trouble kind of limited how we wanted to play," Springfield head coach Joe Williamson said. "Once those three got into foul trouble, it completely changed how we were going to play them.”
West Albany quickly moved ahead in the second half when Starwalt hit a three, then threaded a needle on a pass inside to sophomore Lily Hamblin in the paint to make it a 29-26 Bulldogs advantage.
The Bulldogs would hold that advantage the rest of the way as Springfield could never mount the kind of run it needed.
Freshman Nuari Filipe certainly tried though, scoring 14 points in the second half mostly down in the paint along with a made 3-pointer.
“She’s so strong, physical,” West Albany head coach Shawn Stinson said of Filipe. “She is mature physically, she is athletic, she can shoot, she can go inside. She’s tough to stop, she’s a great player.”
While Filipe was getting hers, so was Starwalt in the second half as she drained two more 3-pointers and scored 17 points in the half alone.
When it wasn’t Starwalt, senior Cate Kurth was able to drill two important 3-pointers in the third quarter that helped keep the Bulldogs in front.
“I’m so happy for Cate, she has pushed through so much this season,” Tidwell said. “There was a transfer, she didn’t really know her place at the beginning last year, but she has solidified her spot and we knew she could do it. And I’m so happy we did it for her last week.”
The Millers never went away though, pulling within three points at 46-43 with 3:27 to go in the game.
Starwalt and Filipe traded baskets, and neither side could hit the big shot to either draw closer or increase the lead.
Finally, Starwalt was fouled and hit the front end, but missed the back end and the Millers grabbed the board. They raced ahead and got the ball to Sailor Hall who drilled a 3-pointer to make it 49-48 West Albany with 2.8 seconds to go.
However, the time wasn’t enough as Kurth was fouled and hit both free throws to go up 51-48 with only 1.3 seconds to go. Springfield couldn’t get the three-quarters heave off and the party ensued for the Bulldogs.
“I had so much belief and passion that we could do this and the fact that we really pulled it off, I’m just speechless,” Tidwell said. “I think we’re all just in shock that we did it.”
“I think it’s 73-years in the making, we didn’t have a girls basketball title,” Stinson said. “Now we’re finally going to put one on the wall. These girls believed from day one they were capable and they proved it tonight.”
When the basketball season started, there was a different Albany atop most rankings.
In late December, the chatter continued about South Albany, the runnerups in 2025 with a strong core back, being the team to beat at the state tournament.
That talk, mixed with a growing confidence gained throughout the season, allowed the Bulldogs to believe the moment on the Ted Wilson Gymnasium was possible.
“We came in here as No. 5 and after that quote, we just went on beast mode, we saw red,” Tidwell said. “We saw one thing and that was our goal. After every single win, after every single loss, we knew that we’d be here. … It just put more fuel in the fire.”
Stinson said earlier this week that he wanted his team to play with the confidence they found during the start of league play where the Bulldogs took down that South Albany squad, along with other tough programs in Silverton and Crescent Valley.
Finding that confidence then was the catalyst for making Saturday happen.
“I think it’s always been running in the back of our minds, we just had to stick our heads down and trust the work,” Kurth said. “Trust that all that hard work pays off.”
As for Starwalt, who finishes the year with 136 made 3-pointers, the most of any boy or girl in a single-season, the title was also sweet for the ones who might have doubted her.
“I think so many people have doubted me in my life,” Starwalt said. “I think that’s a big thing for me and it fuels me almost every day to work as hard as I do and to have a community that believes in me like this is just something I can’t describe.”
The win also avenges the 2011 West Albany girls team, which prior to Saturday was the only time the Bulldogs played for a girls basketball title. That was a 42-40 loss to the same Springfield program.
But that’s the past and the present is West Albany, and it just might be the future too with the core of this team being juniors and sophomores.
“I’m so grateful I got to do it with my best friends, we’re all smiling and we’re all happy and we all had the best season ever,” Tidwell said. “We will come back next year swinging.”
austinw@osaa.org
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