By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
AMITY, Ore.– For one last time, several seniors from 2A-4A put on their High School uniforms and took to the Basketball court one last time.
And for Crosshill Christian’s Zoey Baker, she reflected on what was a successful season for her individually and a historic season by the Eagles, who finished fifth in 2A, their highest-ever finish as a program. It capped a four-year run for the senior, who will be heading to playing Women’s Basketball at Corban University this upcoming season.
“It’s been thrilling, it’s been ups-and-downs. There’s so much that has happened. But it’s had such an impact on my life,” starts Baker. “This season has been so much fun in Volleyball and Basketball, and Basketball specifically and getting coached by my dad one more time, that doesn’t happen often…so get that opportunity. The girls that I got to play with are so special and they are so unique and for us to go out there and get fifth-place when no one really expected us to make it to Pendleton, it was huge. It was so fun. So many memories made in that gym, it was a great season.”
On Saturday, Baker got to play for her dad, Kevin Baker, one last time. Friday saw the Baker’s team, who played on the West Team at the OBCA 1A-4A Senior All-Star Game, win their semi-final game to reach the tournament finale on Saturday afternoon at Amity High School. And for the younger Baker, it was nice to play with some of the girls she had played against instead of going up against them for a change.
“A lot of them, I played against them the last four years, so it’s fun to play with them. Our personalities, our attributes that we bring to basketball together, it’s been so fun. Coached by my dad and assistant coach again, it’s such a special opportunity and that doesn’t happen to a lot of people. It meant a lot to me the last two days,” Baker said.
On Baker’s team featured Laney Lee (Taft), Regina Melton (Santiam Christian), Peyton Gaskey (Central Linn), Addie Wolff (Central Linn) and Kiana McNeil (Waldport) as well as some local kids like Clara Persons (Regis), Makenzie Schacher (Stayton) and Rozalyn Schmunk (Cascade).
“It’s a great opportunity, I feel very special to be a part of this opportunity. It’s a great experience, along with some coaches that come and watch me play, it makes me feel good.” said Schmunk.
“Every game I felt like I did what I could. I tried to be there for my teammates and be a good teammate for them all,” Schmunk added of her time at Cascade.
The East team, which saw athlete’s from Vale, La Grande, Lakeview, Stanfield and Baker, took the Championship Game 60-45.
On the Boys Side of the tournament. Amity’s Diego Duibay-Lomeli, playing on the North squad, had the honor of playing on his home court one last time before heading to College. Duibay-Lomeli, who will head to Portland State University to study architecture, spoke highly of the opportunity to play on this court one last time with the Amity name on his jersey one last time. He and Haley Miersma, who played on the Girls North squad, were the two Amity athlete’s playing in the tournament the last two days.
“It’s an amazing opportunity, it’s cool to have such cool players here. We’ve had some tournaments throughout the years and we’ve had some good players, but I don’t think it has been anything like this. It’s a really cool event and it feels great to be playing one more time,” said Duibay-Lomeli.
Duibay-Lomeli saw a lot of time in the OBCA 1A-4A Boys Championship Game as his North squad had six players available. Their opposition, the West squad, saw some heavy hitters. From Kol Tolan (Taft) to Eli Silbernagel (Regis), the South squad made the Championship Game a good match-up entering the game.
For Silbernagel, this past season was his breakout year, helping the Rams to a 2A State Runner-Up finish to close his career as a Regis Basketball player. Silberngael was joined by teammate Lucas Kohnke as the Ram duo played together one last time together as well.
Reliving the Glory Days.
“That’s what it feels like,” Silberngael said playing with Koehnke. “And we get to play with all the other seniors that we use to despise cause we used to play against, and now we play with them.”
“It was definitely my breakout year,” Sibernagel added about this past season. “It was a great year. It showed that the smaller schools have a lot of good players.”
Silbernagel’s West team took the Championship to close out the two-day tournament at Amity High School.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
