PORTLAND, Ore. About a week ago at the Capitol City Classic, West Salem’s Emma Zuniga surpassed 1,000 career points in just her junior year.
For Zuniga, it was a special moment for her to celebrate that milestone during that Salem-based tournament going into the Christmas Holiday and going into this past weekend’s POA Holiday Classic in Portland
“It was really fun, my teammates made it fun for me, my parents made it a big deal. I was really appreciative for everyone,” Zuniga said of the milestone.
The POA Tournament, which wrapped up Monday, saw West Salem wrap up the three-game slate against Wilsonville at Grant High School. Both teams were coming off of playoff runs last season, West in 6A and the Wildcats in 5A; and both were hungry to snap their losing streaks before going into the New Year.
The game was tied at 27, going into the second half. Both teams had their runs but couldn’t sustain much in terms of energy at the end of the always difficult tournament that the PIL puts on every year. Then, in the second half, it was the Titans that managed to find some sustainability with their energy as they began to pull away.
About four-and-a-half-minutes into the third quarter, that 27-all game was now a 45-31 lead. It was an 18-4 fun by the Titans that helped spark the momentum swing for West Salem.
Zuniga, Johanna Diaz, and Samantha Griffith all led the charge with West Salem coming together as a unit in that third quarter. Wilsonville got the scored down to six, 50-44, to start the fourth quarter, but that was the closest that the Wildcats would get as the Titans buckled back down and pulled away for good in the fourth quarter for the 70-56 victory to snap their four-game skid Monday afternoon.
“During halftime, we all really flipped the switch. We decided that we were going to win this game and that it wasn’t going to be one of those nail-bitters at the end. Johanna was one’s who stepped up and helped out, Sammy too. She had a high scoring game, and it was a good game for all of us,” said Zuniga. “It’s good to prepare us for league. All of these games against some really high top teams are really just getting us ready, learning how to play with each other, and it’s really good with my teammates.”
Diaz finished with 18 points to lead the Titans. Zuniga finished with 15 points, and Griffith finished with 16 points. The trio combined to score 31 of the squad’s 43 second half points in the victory.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
