By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.–The South Salem Girls Basketball were slowly pulling away from the West Salem Titans for the Central Valley Conference League Title during the third quarter of the game Tuesday night.
Leading 30-18 following a 15-4 run stemming back to the first half, the Saxons seemed in full control of the contest at home and were on their way to their first league title since the 2019-2020 season. Winning the then-Mountain Valley Conference that year.
But the Titans, who have won the last three CVC titles, weren’t done just yet in the game. They had already come back from a near double-digit deficit in the first half, West Salem went to work and got themselves back into the game.
It was a difficult task as South Salem’s defense was on point in shutting down the Titans offense. Emma Zuniga was held scoreless through three quarters, but Braeli Martin and Chica Casas stepped up in her role. Casas scored ten, and Martin scored 13 points to pace West Salem, Martin scored six in the third quarter alone as the Titans began to pull back into this game going into the fourth quarter.
With 2:45 remaining in the game, West Salem pulled ahead 40-38 as Zuniga hit the go-ahead free throws, a pair of them, to hand West the lead. Zungia scored all ten of her points in the fourth quarter
“It was difficult. That team is a great team. We love playing them, and we love the competition. It’s fun playing them. I respect all those girls. Our team needed to come together more, and when it mattered the most, we weren’t able to pull it off,” Zungia said of the comeback. “We can do it. As a team, we just need to come together as one. We all love each other. It wasn’t our best game, it’s alright, it happens. We’ll bring it together.”
South Salem was faced with a challenge, fold-up, and call it a day after West made their comeback or battle. The Saxons chose the latter and got a few stops, drove to the hole on offense, drew the fouls, and hit their free throws when they needed them the most to eventually pull ahead.
Leah Ioane hit two of her four late free throws with 1:28 left in the game that gave South a 44-42 lead. Brook Tate and Emma Burlison each hit free throws that gave the Saxons a little more breathing room in the closing seconds to close out the game 46-42 on Tuesday night. South Salem entered the year on a six-game losing streak to West Salem, and defeating them twice in one season was an accomplishment pointed out Tate, especially with the League Title on the line.
“It was huge for us, especially for me and Emma, we’ve been wanting to do this since freshman year and finally being able to do it twice in one year and winning league is huge for us,” Tate said. “It was very stressful, but we held our composure and finished strong, which helped us win the game.”
Tate finished with 11 points. Burlison finished with another ten, and Sophia Berger finished with nine points for South Salem.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
