By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
NORTH BEND, Ore.– The Jefferson Girls Basketball team made some history Thursday afternoon against Cascade Christian High School:
Win a Final Site Game
They’ve gotten to the Final Site in 1989 and 1993, but no luck in either bracket as they were quick exits in both tournaments once they got to them. And with how Thursday’s game started, shooting 11-percent from the field and trailing 14-5 to the Medford-based Challengers squad, it looked as if the Lions were going down a familiar tough road in order to extend their season beyond Friday.
But then. As if Coos Bay and with all its weirdness come, Tournament Time landed in favor of Jefferson. Shots began to fall for the Lions, their defense came around, and by halftime, Jefferson and Cascade Christian were tied at 18 at the halftime break.
The Lions continued on their trajectory into the third quarter. A 12-3 quarter pushed the Lions ahead of the Challengers 40-21, over the course of the second and third quarters Jefferson had swung the game into their favor thanks to a 25-7 run over the middle 16 minutes of the game.
“It really shows that we can push through anything. From playing whatever that was in the beginning. We can push through it and still win in a good tournament with the top people in the State. We’ve been dreaming of being here for the last three years and once our shots didn’t fall, we break down for a second and then we decided to move the ball, drive in and it worked out for us,” said Aziza Saad. ” We had good movement in the second quarter and then on, and it really helped us pull together as a team.”
Aziza Saad let the Lions with 19 points and had four rebounds. Gretchen Orton had a 14-point, 13 rebound double-double with eight steals. Bella Kunkel also had eight assists for Jefferson, who will now play Amity for the fourth time this season in the 3A State Semi’s at noon on Friday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
