By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
DAYTON, Ore. The legacy of Gretchen Orton just hit another milestone Monday night against Dayton in PacWest Conference action.
The Jefferson senior entered the game 14 points away from 1,500 career points. And it didn’t take long for Orton to achieve the milestone. Her 14th point came with 5:30 left in the opening half to help put the Lions ahead at the point 27-6 in what would become a 67-36 Jefferson road victory.
There was a minor outburst from behind the Jefferson bench when she achieved the accomplishment. But Orton got more applause when, at the start of the second half, there was an announcement that accomplishment was there more of an applause for Orton’s milestone.
Being at a small school in a small community the size of a Jefferson or a Dayton, it just means more.
“I think that shows the small school community that comes out here and watches us every single day. I think that’s what gotten us as far as we’ve gone is the community that’s behind us,” starts Orton. “I think it’s a big thing for a small town. Everyone, when they get to high school, they try to get to bigger schools and everything like that. I think staying with your community and everything, building a legacy is important for small schools.
“Just having these tiny wins, it’s something good… not just for me, but for everyone. They can look up to me and know that they have someone on their team who will help them.”
Orton led the squad with 26 points, one point ahead of teammate Aziza Saad who had 25 with five three-pointers as Jefferson starts a tough week that started with Dayton and now turning their focus to Taft and Amity ahead of them Wednesday and Friday.
“Having those back-to-back games that are all tough will definitely help us. We can work on executing plays, getting out, and running the floor,” Orton said.
The Pirates saw their four-game winning streak snapped by the Lions Monday night. But sitting at 8-6 on the year, their most victories since the 2021-22 season when they won 12, and sitting 4-2 in PacWest Conference play, the game against Jefferson serves as a good eye-opener for Dayton going into Friday’s game against Taft.
“Jefferson’s definitely one of the best teams in the State, we got to practice on our hard defense and our offensive scoring against a good team. Just continue to work harder on defense and on offense to get a greater lead on other teams and use that throughout the rest of our season and the rest of our games,” said Dayton’s Hadley Hughes.
Hughes led the Pirates with 14 points.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
