By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
FOREST GROVE, Ore.– The Stayton Girls Basketball team are one step closer to defending their State Title.
It took a little bit of time for them to wake up, but once they did, they looked like the Eagle squad that they know they can be.
Stayton trailed Oregon West Conference rival Philomath 12-9 after the opening quarter. The Eagles looked stuck in the mud, sluggish really, to start. Maybe it was having nearly a week off from their 4A State Quarterfinal victory over Klamath Union that played into it. But nonetheless, Stayton eventually found their footing and began to build some momentum.
The Eagles outscored the Warriors 13-4 in the second quarter, taking a 22-14 lead into the halftime break. And that was enough of a momentum swing for them to feed off from going into the second half of the game on Thursday afternoon at Forest Grove High School.
“It was our defense, our defense in the first quarter was not how we usually play. So we talked about it and decided that was one thing we’re going to focus on and I think it really helped us with our energy,” said Kathryn Samek. “We knew we had to pick it up if we wanted to win the game, we all worked together to do that and we accomplished our goal. We kept making good plays, good defense and we were hyping each other up and it worked out really well for us.
Samek led the Eagles with 17 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks in what became a 41-26 victory over Philomath. Zuri Anderson contributed another nine points in the victory.
The Eagles will play Henley in the 4A State Semi’s at 6:30pm at Forest Grove High School. Winner plays in the State Championship Game Saturday night.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
