By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The South Salem Girls Basketball team were prepared for what Amity was capable of doing when the two teams met Monday night in the Capitol City Classic Camry Bracket Championship Game at Chemeketa Community College. They just needed to be able to capitalized id they hoped not to be the Warriors third-straight 6A causality.
“They’re a really good team, they play a really good offensively and defensively. So for us, it was just seeing their zone and seeing how strong they were as a team playing together,” said South Salem’s Emma Burlison. “It was seeing how we could get through that. It was team against team is what we really focused on. “
The Saxons jumped out to a 21-6 lead to start the game. But then, Amity came around.
The little 3A school, the Cinderella team going up and defeating these 6A squads, with their large home squad that made the trip to Salem, responded and got the game back to five early in the third quarter.
It was 27-22 at this point. Then the shots went cold for stretch and South Salem was winning the rebounding battle and were converting them into points.
Soon enough, the Saxons were back ahead by 14 late in the third quarter.
But those dang Warriors, they kept battling. A minute into the fourth quarter they were back within nine points of South Salem.
They proved that they deserved a seat at the table in a tournament of this magnitude.
“They have no quit. It’s just who they are, it’s built in them. That’s why they’re here. They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t have that tenacity and that fight,” said Amity’s Jed McMullen. “That’s why they earned the right to play in a tournament like this.
“We can compete at this level and that we’re able to rise to another level.”
The Saxons, who had a sizable home crowd show up for the game as well, were able to hold off the Warriors final push to hand the defending 3A State Champions their first defeat since the 3A State Title Game on March 2, 2024. A 35-Game winning streak.
It was those little things. The rebounding, the turnovers, the execution that helped South Salem to the victory on Monday to close out the 2025 iteration of the Capitol City Classic.
“We’ve been emphasizing the little things like the turnovers, the rebounds, the boxing out, so it felt good to see the outcome of that,” said Burlison. “As a whole team, we have been working so hard to minimize all those. Especially the turnovers, to get every rebound, every box out and actually move to our player and I felt like we did that tonight. “
Burlison finished with 17 points and Brook Tate contributed another 16 points for South Salem, who will play at Bend on January 2.
Eliza Nisly led the Warriors, who will be at the Crusader Classic at Salem Academy on January 2, with 13 points.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
